These are the other Brexit negotiations

MOST of the rows in the days and months ahead about the single market will concern Britain’s trading relationship with the EU post-Brexit.

But there is another single market which is vital to the future of the UK – the one that exists between Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England.

Talks between Brexit Secretary David Davis and EU Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier command international attention – but the different governments of the UK have the task of thrashing out arrangements for how the British union of nations will operate in the years to come.

First Secretary of State Damian Green – Theresa May’s de facto Deputy Prime Minister – met with First Minister Carwyn Jones yesterday and said it was “vitally important to protect the internal UK market and to avoid making things more difficult and expensive for Welsh companies doing business across the UK”.

In other words, Mr Green does not want the different governments across the UK to put in place regulations that would make it hard for trade to flow between the nations.

He said it was “critical” that work starts now to identify the areas which “need a common UK approach”.

It is likely that agriculture will be a key area for negotiation. For many years farming across the EU has been shaped by the Common Agricultural Policy; but agriculture is a devolved responsibility, and will powers in this area which are today held by Brussels be transferred to Westminster or the Assembly?

Conservative Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns said the prospect of more powers for Wales was an “important incentive in pushing us towards an agreement”.

Talk about the need for “an agreement”, especially in the context of devolution, raises the prospect of high-tension negotiations that run late into the night. Northern Ireland’s politicians are specialists at pushing UK ministers for concessions as a deadline looms.

First Minister Mr Jones has made no secret of his desire to put the UK on a new constitutional footing and he has laid bare both his concerns about Brexit and his preferred vision for the future. The leaders of the devolved governments will grasp every opportunity to shape the outcome of the final deal with the EU.

Mr Green’s visit to Cardiff is welcome but it is important that it is not made more difficult for devolved ministers to express common concerns and aspirations. As the UK Government will be very aware, there is a special clout when ministers from across the nations speak with one voice.

It is important that talks about the future of not just the EU but the UK are not only carried out bilaterally. There is an important role for a properly-resourced Joint Ministerial Committee.

Power-sharing in Northern Ireland may have collapsed but Welsh and Scottish ministers should be able to use this body to pursue shared objectives at a time when so very much is at stake. The Western Mail newspaper is published by Media Wales a subsidiary company of Trinity Mirror PLC, which is a member of IPSO, the Independent Press Standards Organisation. The entire contents of The Western Mail are the copyright of Media Wales Ltd. It is an offence to copy any of its contents in any way without the company’s permission. If you require a licence to copy parts of it in any way or form, write to the Head of Finance at Six Park Street. The recycled paper content of UK newspapers in 2016 was 62.8%