Ports

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:00 pm on 7 March 2023.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 2:00, 7 March 2023

Well, Llywydd, the preferred outcome of the Welsh Government is that we sustain the highest level of service between Welsh ports, both Fishguard and Pembroke Dock, and that is what we have been focused on in the difficult days of the last few years. It is uncertainty that drives companies to have the sort of discussions that Sam Kurtz mentions. Hopefully, a Northern Ireland protocol deal will provide greater certainty for companies operating across the Irish sea, and what would give them not just greater certainty, but would improve the chances of being able to sustain the current level of service, is if we could, as I suggested in my answer to Joyce Watson, return to conditions where barrier-free trade was as close as possible to the circumstances we enjoyed only a few years ago.