My Lords, I want to talk about three issues from the present version of the Queen’s gracious Speech that impact on Wales.
First, although many of our rural constituencies voted in December to “Get Brexit done”, many farmers remain worried about the consequences of the Prime Minister’s timetable for quitting the EU. The president of the Farmers Union of Wales, in his new year message, has called on the Government to change their focus and to “Get Brexit done safely”, over a realistic timescale ensuring a trade deal with the EU which,
“delivers full and unfettered access for our Welsh produce to EU markets”.
Many Brexiters will wake up on 1 February believing that Brexit has been achieved, but that will be when the hard work begins. The Prime Minister has decided that he will take charge of the trade negotiations to begin on that day—and what a challenge he faces. He faces an EU determined to adhere to its standards and protect its internal markets, and, on the other hand, he faces the prospect of other countries demanding that we accept their lower health, hygiene, welfare and environmental standards as the price of a trade deal with them. It is a circle that will be difficult to square, and it will probably lead to the UK’s exit on or before 30 December with no deal—the disastrous situation which we, who have the interests of Welsh farmers at heart, have fought against for the last three years.
Secondly, I want to highlight the very different immigration needs of Wales. It is a subject I have alluded to before but, with the prospect of the immigration Bill arriving in this House before long, I want to put on record the potential impact one of the measures in the Bill could have on the Welsh economy. Wales has a significant number of EU workers and, as they lose their right to freedom of movement in the UK and contemplate applying for visas, both their futures here and the potential damage to the Welsh economy give rise to concern. A report in June of last year from the Wales Centre for Public Policy found that the proposal that the existing salary threshold of £30,000 for tier 2 visas be maintained would have a significant negative impact on economic growth in Wales, reducing GDP by between 1.1% and 1.6%. Nearly 50,000 of our full-time workers are from the EU, and 65% of those earn below the proposed threshold. The Migration Advisory Committee has been asked to look at whether the salary threshold should be the same or different across the UK, I look forward to the publication of its report—hopefully before the immigration Bill comes to this House.
My third and final issue is taken from the briefing documents that accompanied the Queen’s gracious Speech, in which the Government outline their economic plans for Wales. There is much I could comment on, but I want to focus on one sentence in the document that leapt out at me. It reads:
“The Government will upgrade the A55 as the main road transport artery for North Wales”.
This was mentioned by my noble friend Lord Thomas of Gresford in his excellent speech. It was also mentioned by the noble Lord, Lord Davies of Gower, in his excellent maiden speech; I extend to him a very warm
welcome to this place. The A55 runs from Chester in the east to Holyhead in the west. It is a commuting route. It is a route that gives tourists access to our towns and villages; those of us who have lived in north Wales for many years still marvel at how quickly we can now get from A to B because of it.
However, the A55 is not just our local road. This stretch of road is part of Euro route E22, which begins in Ishim in Russia and runs through Moscow, Amsterdam and Leeds with the final part of the road ending in Holyhead, then going on to Dublin. Because it is such an important link between mainland Europe and Dublin, improvements over the years have been the result of Welsh Government and EU investment. The road does need upgrading: there is a need for hard shoulders where conditions allow; there are very few lay-bys; and there is a distinct lack of lay-bys big enough for lorries.
So why am I concerned? Well, powers over transport are devolved to Wales, and I wonder whether this upgrade of the A55 is suddenly considered the UK Government’s responsibility. Is this an example of the Government bypassing devolution, or was that particular sentence in the briefing misworded? Perhaps the Minister can tell me what discussions the Government have had with the Welsh Government about the proposed upgrade.
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