Wales and UK on new Brexit collision course
THE Welsh Government is on a collision course with Westminster after publishing a new assessment which argues it is in Wales’ interests to retain close economic ties with the EU.
At the weekend it was confirmed by both Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor Sajid Javid that they intend to decouple the UK’s economy from close alignment with the EU after Brexit.
But the Welsh Government’s assessment argues that, while the Welsh Government accepts that we will now leave the EU, changes to the direction of travel indicated in the Brexit deallinked Political Declaration are necessary to better protect the economic, social and environmental interests of Wales and the whole UK.
Negotiations between the UK and the EU about the two parties’ future trading relationship are likely to begin in earnest in March.
They are expected to be more difficult than the initial round of discussions leading up to the Brexit deal, which concentrated only on the UK’s “divorce” bill, the rights of EU citizens and the implications of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
Mr Johnson will want a tariff-free trade deal that gives the UK and the EU maximum access to each other’s markets, but without committing to maintain EU standards in areas like food, consumer protection, the environment and financial services.
EU negotiators are likely to say that such arrangements will not be possible without the freedom of movement Mr Johnson insists the UK rejected at the referendum and will not sign up to.
Counsel General and Brexit Minister Jeremy Miles said: “The UK Government will soon begin negotiations with the EU on a permanent longterm agreement.
“This agreement is of vital importance to Wales. It will determine the basis of our future trade and our broader relationship with the EU, for decades to come.
“The stakes could not be higher.” Mr Miles said the evidence was clear that the further the UK moves away from economic integration with the EU, the greater the economic damage.
“The EU has been and will continue to be our most important trading partner and many businesses depend on integrated supply chains across the EU which require frictionless trade,” he said.
“Given the overwhelming importance of the EU to our economy, the UK must prioritise continued barrierfree access to these markets over trade arrangements with other countries.
“We will continue to challenge an approach to the negotiations which prioritises the ‘freedom’ of the UK to diverge from EU regulatory standards above the well-being of the people of Wales.
“Such an approach would be deeply flawed and could result in lost jobs and lost investment in Wales. We need an agreement with the EU which reflects the interests of Wales and the UK.”
Mr Miles said the UK Government claimed it wanted to maintain high standards – and the Welsh Government intended to hold them to their word.
“We will therefore oppose any agenda of deregulation, which will damage consumers’ interests in the long run,” said the Minister.
“We reject a vision of Britain where the economy is based on a low-wage, low-job-security, low-regulation model, which would lead to growing inequality.
“We need a strong, innovative outward-looking UK economy underpinned by mutual respect for the responsibilities of all governments of the Union.”
The Counsel General also stressed that the Welsh Government, like many other observers and the EU negotiators themselves, did not believe it possible to achieve the right agreement in only a few months of negotiations.
He said: “We will continue to argue that the UK Government should not close the door on an extension beyond the arbitrary deadline of December 2020. The priority must be achieving the best deal, not the quickest one”.
First Minister Mark Drakeford has already made it clear that he expects the Welsh Government to be fully involved in discussions with the EU that relate to areas of policy that are devolved.
The concerns come as former prime minister Gordon Brown called for radical change to hold the UK together.
In a keynote speech being given today, he will say that the UK needs to change fundamentally to stop Scotland opting for independence.
The ex-PM will attack what he will describe as “PR gestures” such as suggestions of moving the House of Lords to York, as he insists only “substantive” moves will keep the union together.
He will state that the UK will have to change fundamentally so Scotland “does not abandon union” and regions can feel respected in it.
Speaking at a Westminster event organised by the group Hope Not Hate, Mr Brown will say: “The Conservatives are accepting the need for change, but clearly cannot contemplate the scale of change needed.
“We must reboot and renew Britain or we risk losing it.”
Mr Brown will call for a UK-wide constitutional convention and region-by-region citizens assemblies to gauge public opinion so as to “respond adequately to local needs”.
The ex-PM will “propose a Forum of the Nations and Regions to prevent post-Brexit centralisation of power in London”.
He will say this would act as “forerunner of a new second chamber to replace the House of Lords”.
With ministers saying that the Government is considering moving the House of Lords out of London, Mr Brown will say more needs to be done. He will say: “An outdated institution 200 miles or so north of its current location is still an outdated institution.
“I will argue for a Council of the North and Council of the Midlands that bring together local authorities, Mayors and MPs and in the form of a Northern Exchequer board take powers from the Treasury over the allocation of regional resources – so that on vital issues, outlying regions and communities will no longer be governed simply by dictates from London second guessing what they want.
“The demand for more power to the north is far greater than can be met by gimmicks or gestures given that the UK is a unitary state, but a multinational country; that it is asymmetric with 83% of the votes at elections in England and that political, financial and administrative power has been over-concentrated in one city in the south.”