Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:19 pm on 28 March 2023.
Well, there'll still be customs arrangements in place; these won't be customs-free places. Part of the challenge will be, like I said, reliefs and incentives, rather than saying that rules simply don't apply. I have the fortunate responsibility within the Welsh Government of having borders as part of my suite of responsibilities. So, I'm very much looking at arrangements with the island of Ireland, which I hope we'll be able to take a step forward with in the near future as well, and that's really important for the economic potential and the continued survivorship of a number of our ports as well. We have a particular interest in westward-facing ports here in Wales. So, that will form part of the discussions about what we'll look at when it comes to final bids and the process that should be in place.
I should make it clear that I have never advocated free ports as somehow replacing the way that we were able to trade with our nearest European partners. It's a matter of fact, not opinion, that Wales has more traders reporting overall trade with the European Union than other parts of UK, and, of course, there were free ports whilst we were members of the European Union. This is a new version, and I'm looking forward to seeing what we can do to deliver on the promises that we have been made and the criteria that Welsh Government have set out for what a successful free port should look like.