‘No special talks on how Brexit will affect Holyhead’
MINISTER’S ADMISSION ‘ASTONISHING’ AMID FEARS OF HARD BORDER CHAOS
THE most senior UK politician in charge of Britain’s withdrawal from the EU has admitted there have been no discussions about how Brexit could affect the port at Holyhead.
The admission, by Brexit Secretary David Davis, comes after North Wales MPs warned that there could be chaos at the Anglesey port if a ‘hard’ border is introduced.
The major concern is that a ‘soft’ EU border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland could see freight diverting to Eire to take advantage of less stringent customs checks to get into Britain, depriving Holyhead of trade and putting jobs at risk.
Arfon Plaid Cymru MP Hywel Williams, a member of Westminster’s Brexit committee, asked Mr Davis what talks he had with the Welsh Government.
Mr Davis said “nothing” had been discussed that was “explicit to Holyhead”.
He said: “Because Holyhead is the sort of Wales-Ireland border it may even have an extra layer of complexity later on if we get spe- cial arrangements there.”
Around 400,000 lorries a year travel through Holyhead to and from the Republic.
Mr Davis underscored the importance of trade across the Irish Sea, saying: “One of my aims in this is to try and get an outcome which doesn’t do harm to Ireland. Ireland is the country which is most dependent on us for trade – I think it’s about a billion a week in both directions.
“They have got a great deal of, as it were, investment in maintaining sales to us and through us to the continent, and of course much of that comes through Holyhead.”
Afterwards, Mr Williams said: “Holyhead is already the second most significant port in the UK after Dover and its operation is set to become a major international issue if the British Govern- ment insists on reintroducing customs checks between Wales and Ireland. It is astonishing that the Secretary of State has held no discussions at all on this: it is sadly indicative of the priorities of the British Government and its capacity to deal with the pile of problems created by their insistence on leaving the Customs Union and the Single Market.
“The Brexit Secretary couldn’t give me an answer on whether money has been set aside to deal with the potential of significant congestion on the already inadequate A55 through the north of Wales if customs checks are reintroduced, and between Anglesey and the mainland. There are further questions around how the new Nuclear Power Station, Wylfa Newydd, will impact on congestion and how the port itself will be able to deal with the delays of customs checks.
“These are crucial matters relating to the UK’s second busiest port and that the Brexit Secretary has held no discussions at all begs very serious questions about his, and his government’s priorities.”