Shadow Secretary for Europe, Mark Isherwood AM, has accused Labour Welsh Government of being “trapped in the Cardiff Bay bubble” following a question in the Assembly this week regarding last week’s publication of the UK Government’s policy paper, ‘Safeguarding the Position of EU Citizens in the UK and UK Nationals in the EU’.
During this week’s Topical Questions in the Assembly Chamber, Mr Isherwood outlined the UK Government’s offer to protect the rights of EU citizens and asked the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy, Mark Drakeford AM, what discussions the Welsh Government has had with the UK Government over the repatriation of law-making powers.
Mr Isherwood was disappointed by the Cabinet Secretary’s “party political, point scoring” response, in which he stated “The Prime Minister’s obsession with the European Court of Justice is becoming a real barrier to making sensible decisions in these negotiations”, and said the Welsh Government needs to accept the outcome of last year’s referendum.
Speaking in the Chamber, Mr Isherwood said:
“The UK Government states that securing a deal on the rights of EU citizens in the UK and UK citizens in the EU has always been a priority, but of course, prior to the beginning of formal negotiations, both the Commission and the UK Government had said that offers and counteroffers and discussion on deals couldn’t begin until those negotiations formally started. So, the UK has made an offer, giving 3 million EU citizens the certainty they seek about the future of their lives, which would give access to UK benefits on the same basis as UK nationals, but they also say that a reciprocal agreement would provide the same certainty to more than a million UK citizens living in the EU. It is the UK Government which states that this proposal means that formal negotiations on the UK’s exit from the EU can get off to what they hope will be a productive start.
“It is part of a process, and they’ve made that absolutely clear. In its response, the EU chief negotiator recommended that the European Court of Justice should continue to be the body that upholds EU citizens’ rights in the UK. I understand that other options have been preliminarily discussed - whether a new body might be established, given the outcome of the referendum last year, which applied in part to the repatriation of law-making powers.
“So, given that the next round of the negotiations between the UK and EU is set to take place on 17 July, what representations has the Welsh Government made to the UK Government on this specific matter?”
Speaking outside the Chamber, Mr Isherwood added: “This is a serious matter seeking deliverable solutions in a new relationship with our European friends and I therefore regret the party political point scoring which revealed that Welsh Labour is still trapped in the Cardiff Bay bubble, denying the outcome of a referendum in which the people of Wales voted for the restoration of UK controls over borders, law and money”.