THE Welsh Government remains opposed to Brexit despite a "constructive" meeting with Westminster officials.

Speaking after a meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee yesterday, Monday, finance and local government secretary Mark Drakeford said: “It was a constructive meeting which gave us a real opportunity to discuss the UK Government’s position in their negotiations with the EU27.

"We will meet again before Christmas.

"We agreed the principles that will underline any frameworks but that doesn’t mean that we have stepped back at all from our opposition to the withdrawal bill."

In a statement first secretary of state Damian Green said: "Following a set of constructive discussions with the Scottish and Welsh Governments, we have today agreed a set of principles that will underpin the process of repatriating EU powers.

"On the day when the UK leaves the EU, all parts of the UK need to be ready.

"It is the government’s intention that the EU Withdrawal Bill will ensure a strong UK internal market, while safeguarding and adding to the decision-making powers of the devolved administrations.

"These principles will hopefully now pave the way to agreeing a set of frameworks that will deliver vital certainty and continuity for people and businesses across the United Kingdom."

Note to editors

Below is the Communique agreed at the Joint Ministerial Committee:

JOINT MINISTERIAL COMMITTEE (EU NEGOTIATIONS) COMMUNIQUE

16 October 2017

The fifth Joint Ministerial Committee (EU Negotiations) met today in 70 Whitehall. The meeting was chaired by the Rt Hon Damian Green MP, First Secretary of State and Minister for the Cabinet Office.

The attending Ministers were:

From the UK Government: the First Secretary of State and Minister for the Cabinet Office, Rt Hon Damian Green MP; the Secretary of State for Exiting the EU, Rt Hon David Davis MP; the Secretary of State for Wales, Rt Hon Alun Cairns MP; the Secretary of State for Scotland, Rt Hon David Mundell MP; and, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth.

From the Welsh Government: Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government, Mark Drakeford AM.

From the Scottish Government: the Minister for UK Negotiations on Scotland’s Place in Europe, Michael Russell MSP.

In the absence of Ministers from the Northern Ireland Executive, a senior civil servant from the Northern Ireland Civil Service was in attendance.