First Minister threatens Brexit veto deal

First Minister of Wales, Carwyn Jones, is meeting Michel Barnier, the European Chief Negotiator for the UK leaving the EU, in Brussels today.

The private talks are ahead of the second round of formal negotiations in Brussels next week. But Mr Barnier has stressed that he will negotiate only with the UK Government.

Wales's full membership to the single market must be a 'red line' in Brexit negotiations says the leader of Plaid Cymru.

Leanne Wood said: "If the final deal brought to the table poses a threat to Wales's economy and communities in any form, Plaid Cymru will withhold support for it."

There's been a terse response from the UK Government to the First Minister's threat to block any Brexit deal unless Wales continues to have access to the European single market.

A senior UK Government figure criticised his decision to make the comments during a trade visit to the United States, calling it a 'massive breach of protocol.'

Other UK Government sources have also expressed bafflement at the timing of his speech during a trip to what is a key market for the UK.

Meanwhile a Wales Office spokesperson has issued the following statement:

The leader of the Welsh Conservatives has criticised the First Minister for using a keynote speech in America to highlight tensions over Brexit.

Carwyn Jones is on a trade mission in the United States and is due to speak at the Chicago Council later today.

He is expected to warn he'll block any Brexit deal which doesn't give Wales full access to the European single market and will also call for 'a more federal' United Kingdom - to reflect what he says is the sovereignty of the four nations making up the UK.