4. 3. Plaid Cymru Debate: The Rural Economy

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:39 pm on 5 October 2016.

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Photo of Mr Neil Hamilton Mr Neil Hamilton UKIP 3:39, 5 October 2016

Yes, I certainly would. I agree with the Member on that point. I see the opportunity here to enhance devolution. In particular, because agriculture is a devolved matter, it now gives us an opportunity as an Assembly to have a real influence upon the policy that is going to affect farmers on a day-to-day basis in their working lives. I think that’s a massive advance.

There will be particular problems if we don’t secure a trade deal with the EU. We know that in beef and lamb, almost all our exports go to the EU, and therefore it is vitally important that we use all our negotiating power to secure free access to the single market. But that is not the same thing as membership of the single market. It’s not necessary to be part of a political union with a trading partner in order to carry out that trade. Actually, our biggest trading partner is not any individual member state of the EU, but the United States, and the second biggest partner in exports from Wales to the rest of the world is the United Arab Emirates. Individual member states of the EU are dotted around in the next 10 or 12 member states in the list.

So, we have to see this in a global context as well. The European Union is sclerotic and declining, relative to the rest of the world. Exports from Wales to the EU have fallen by 11 per cent and that’s because the EU economy is not succeeding because of the eurozone and all the other crises that afflict it, but the rest of the world is expanding. So, the world is our oyster. This is our great opportunity. We can enter into free-trade agreements with the rest of the world, which are currently stymied within this structure of the EU, like trade agreements with the United States—the trade agreement with Canada is not yet fully implemented—and countries like India and China. The EU has no trade agreements with them and yet these are the great growth engines of the world.

Unfortunately, I realise that time is very limited and I can’t make all the points that I would wish to, but I do implore Members opposite to see this as an opportunity, not as a challenge—not something to be feared, but something to be welcomed.