Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:53 pm on 28 June 2016.
No, I don’t.
Our security, as I say, has always depended on NATO. Outside the EU, we regain the freedom to forge trade deals while continuing to trade with our partners in Europe. The UK is responsible for approximately 5.5 million jobs across Europe. The EU will not want a trade war; they’ll want free trade. Markus Kerber, head of the BDI—Germany’s Confederation of British Industry—has urged Germany and the EU to draw up a post-Brexit free trade regime that enables them to uphold and maintain the levels of trade they have with the UK. The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, has said that the European Union has
‘no need to be particularly nasty in any way’ in the negotiations with Britain about its exit from the EU. President Obama has said the special relationship between the United States and Britain will endure in the aftermath of the UK’s exit from the European Union. Britain is, after all, America’s largest inward investor. The French President, François Hollande, has vowed to maintain relations with Britain, notably concerning migrants crossing between the two countries and military and economic co-operation. Canada’s Finance Minister said:
‘We respect the choice of the British people and will remain a strong partner of the UK and the EU. Our shared histories make us natural trading partners, and I look forward to maintaining those close economic ties.’
And I could go on, but time is too short. Britain is one of the world’s largest economies—a global country that already conducts more trade outside the EU than any other member state except Malta. Our only real threat comes from the voice of destruction that seeks to dismember the United Kingdom, divide its peoples, diminish all its parts and damn a so-called independent Scotland to eurozone membership and a budget black hole. That is disgraceful. After all, it is the duty of us all to safeguard both the sovereignty and integrity of our United Kingdom.