Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact the Welsh Government’s proposed UK Internal Market Act exemption to run its own Deposit Return Scheme would have on (a) existing and (b) future UK trade deals.

We have not made such specific assessments, however we are keen to progress a UK Deposit Return Scheme and are currently evaluating the Welsh Government's proposal for an exclusion from the UK Internal Market Act as set out in the UK Internal Market Act Review published in July 2025.

As part of that process we have been engaging with stakeholders to gather evidence and feedback on the impact of the Welsh Government proposal on the UK internal market.