New PM cannot afford to be blasé about No-Deal Brexit impact on Holyhead, says Rhun ap Iorwerth AM.

23/07/2019By: Rhys Hughes

With a new UK Prime Minister being announced on Tuesday morning, Plaid Cymru Assembly Member for Ynys Môn Rhun ap Iorwerth has wasted no time outlining the potentially devastating impact a No-Deal Brexit could have on Holyhead Port, as the new PM-elect threatens to take the UK out of Europe on October 31st with or without a deal.

Mr Johnson’s refusal to rule out a no-deal Brexit has caused alarm in Westminster, with a string of senior UK Government cabinet ministers saying they cannot serve under his leadership.

Johnson was announced as the choice of the Conservative party to be the next Prime Minister on Tuesday morning after running a campaign against Jeremy Hunt that promised to take the UK out of the EU by the end of October “do or die”.

Rhun ap Iorwerth, Plaid Cymru’s Shadow Minister for Economy and Finance, and Assembly Member for Ynys Môn – home of the second busiest roll-on, roll-off ferry port in the UK – has urged UK Government not to be so haphazard about the damage a No-Deal Brexit would do for Holyhead Port and the island’s wider economy.

“It baffles me how some people can be relaxed about the possibility of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union without a deal. This is the second busiest roll-on, roll-off ferry port in the United Kingdom after Dover. Any barriers to the free flow of trade through Holyhead – it is bad for the Port, it is bad for jobs here, and it is bad for the economy in general.

“We already know that if you turn Holyhead from the easiest passage between the UK and Ireland into somewhere that is a bit more challenging then trade will find other routes. We already know from the Irish Government that they are already looking at developing, and have succeeded in developing new routes directly through to continental Europe.

“Even at this eleventh hour, my appeal is to UK Government, to Prime-Minister-elect Boris Johnson, to those decisions-makers, is to realise and recognise the seriousness of what it is they’re talking about. We cannot afford to be blasé about the potentially devastating impact a No-Deal Brexit would have on Holyhead Port and the great people of this town.”