Press release: PM promises deal to strengthen the Union

Prime Minister Theresa May will visit Wales and Northern Ireland this week, to set out how the deal agreed with the EU delivers for every corner of the United Kingdom.

In Wales today (Tuesday 27th November), she will tour the Royal Welsh Winter Fair, speak to farmers and producers and view their prize-winning livestock and produce. Profitable Welsh exports including Welsh lamb and Caerphilly cheese will be protected under the Withdrawal Agreement.

She will then meet with Welsh political leaders, and reiterate how hard she has fought throughout negotiations to ensure that taking back control of our own laws is at the heart of our Brexit deal.

Responsibility for more than 150 areas of policy will pass to the devolved parliaments, meaning they will be taking more of the decisions that impact people’s lives in areas from agriculture and fisheries, to air quality and organ donation.

In Northern Ireland, the Prime Minister will attend a community event at Queen’s University Belfast, for roundtable discussions with groups from across society including students, academics and community and religious leaders.

This will be followed by meetings with all five political parties in Belfast, where she will urge politicians to listen to major employers and trade associations in Northern Ireland and get behind the deal.

Over the past week, Manufacturing NI and the Ulster Farmers’ Union have expressed their support for the deal and publicly warned about the potential consequences of no deal for Northern Ireland.

The Prime Minister will also set out how the maintenance of the Common Travel Area and the agreement reached on the backstop honours the Belfast Agreement and ensures there can be no return to the borders of the past.

Throughout these discussions, she will emphasise that strengthening the union has been her priority from the very start of negotiations, and make the case for her deal.

The Prime Minister said:

Having been told by the EU that we would need to split the UK in two, we are leaving as one United Kingdom. My deal delivers for every corner of the UK and I will work hard to strengthen the bonds that unite us as we look ahead to our future outside of the EU.

Throughout negotiations, I have fought to ensure that powers returning from the EU will be restored to the National Assembly for Wales, the Scottish Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly.

This deal delivers for farmers in Wales, who deserve better than the Common Agricultural Policy. After we leave the CAP, we will be free to design a new policy that works for agricultural producers in all four nations and we are taking that work forward.

This deal avoids a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland. This has been at the forefront of my mind throughout the negotiations. It has been especially clear to me when I have visited communities along the border in Northern Ireland and seen first-hand how important it is that the unique circumstances local employers face are recognised in any agreement.

They need to be able to trade freely across the border with Ireland and have unfettered access to the rest of the United Kingdom’s market. This deal makes that possible and that’s why, across Northern Ireland, employers large and small have been getting behind it.