Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:19 pm on 1 February 2022.
Thank you. We have constructive conversations between officials and, indeed, with Ministers in the Department for International Trade. You may not have been listening, but I actually recounted, in answer to the first set of questions from Paul Davies, the constructive conversations we had at the ministerial forum for trade, and actually our desire to have further constructive conversations around the future of our relationships with the European Union. So, actually, we have always been willing partners in wanting to do the right thing and in a constructive manner. What we won't do is roll over whilst powers are being stolen from us.
It is, frankly, ridiculous and reality-denying gaslighting rubbish to try to suggest that Boris Johnson's Government is not hostile to devolution. They have, on a fairly regular basis, threatened, or, indeed, in some cases, tried to override devolved powers and competence. The United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 is not so much a Trojan horse as a smash-and-grab on devolution whenever UK Ministers choose to use it. And it is extraordinary that people who are elected to the Welsh Parliament are then celebrating when responsibilities are taken away from the Welsh Parliament, despite the mandate—to use his term—that the people of Wales have given to this place in not one, but two referenda for powers and responsibilities to lie with the people elected to this place. When it comes to respecting mandates, this, from a man who goes on an extraordinarily hostile news organisation to claim that because Welsh Labour continue to win elections and lead the Government of Wales, he doesn't feel like he lives in a democracy. I think he may need to look at himself and think rather more carefully about some of the things he is prepared to say about people who do actually manage to win elections here in Wales. I will, though, carry on working with every constructive Member of the Welsh Conservatives and, indeed, across the Chamber to do the best for businesses and jobs and deal with the new realities of our very different relationships with the European Union.