6. Statement by the Minister for Economy: Wales and Europe — Managing a new relationship

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:05 pm on 1 February 2022.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 5:05, 1 February 2022

On inward investment, we continue to see inward investment as a balanced part of our approach to the future of the economy, together with growing Welsh firms and businesses that don't rely on foreign direct investment. I think, on your comments about regaining freedoms, it isn't that our freedoms were ever taken away from us; we were in a different trading relationship and one that worked successfully and well for Welsh businesses and Welsh jobs. If you don't believe that, go and talk to the people who run Airbus about their investment choices and what that means for good jobs in Wales, go and talk to people who've traded successfully with the European Union and now find they're in a position where that isn't possible. We've heard, of course, lots about the Welsh shellfish industry and the challenges they have. So, the real issue here is, having made a choice to leave the European Union, the form of leaving the European Union is the one that we now have, and that was a choice made by the UK Government. That's a choice that will, inevitably and undoubtedly, make it harder for Welsh businesses to trade with the rest of Europe. Now, it would be honest to say that you think that that's a price worth paying. It isn't honest to say that we're somehow in a position where the trading relationship hasn't been changed and isn't materially more difficult for Welsh businesses that want to work with European partners. Wales, as a matter of fact, has more of our trade with the rest of the world and with the rest of Europe than other parts of the UK, so it's particularly important for the interests of the Welsh economy. Of course, of the 70 countries that we have trade deals with that you mentioned, the great majority of those are roll-over trade deals that simply take on board the terms that the European Union had negotiated with those countries as well. It is misleading—I'm sure not deliberately so—to try to suggest that 70 individual trade deals have been negotiated by the UK Government in that time in an entirely novel way.

I should also point out that whilst you're trumpeting the potential to enter the pacific trade partnership, of course the difficulty is that the trade deals with Australia and New Zealand set a bar or set an entry point for doing so. That, in particular, I think is a real risk for Welsh agriculture. As I said in my statement, we're broadly in favour of new free trade agreements, but we don't agree with the approach that agriculture should be traded away as a makeweight for those trade deals to take place. But that, I'm afraid, is the approach that has been adopted in a clear-sighted way by the UK Government. Don't take my word for it; ask the Farmers Union of Wales. They're certainly not political travellers and friends of Welsh Labour. If you don't take their word, ask Minette Batters, the president of the National Farmers Union. This is not something that can simply be brushed away. There are real risks being taken not just with sectors of the Welsh economy, but with what that means for the Welsh way of life in large parts of rural Wales.

I take on board your point about opening a door to the world. Well, actually, in reality, we're doing less trade with the rest of the world since our departure. Now, we are doing all that we could and should do, I think, to support Welsh businesses to carry on trading successfully with European partners and with the rest of the world. Our challenge is doing so in a way where that trade has become more difficult. As part of that, that's why I have been keen to maintain direct relationships with regional Governments within Europe. I've spoken to regional Governments within the Netherlands and I've also spoken with the regional Government of the Basque Country recently as well to make clear that we still want to carry on the good relationships we had and the trading opportunities, and to make sure that we can share information, share resources and make sure that that's good for Welsh businesses and Welsh jobs. That will continue to be the approach that I take as long as I'm in this Government.