I will confine my contribution to what we recognise as equalities. And my first observation is that, unlike the Welsh White Paper and the Scottish Government’s Paper, the UK White Paper doesn’t directly discuss the implications for equalities of Brexit. And, to me, that is a conspicuous but concerning omission. Perhaps the First Minister could have pointed it out had the UK Government provided a draft in advance of this publication. Nevertheless, would you raise it at the next meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee, if not before, First Minister?

The Welsh Government says it will develop dialogue with the Equality and Human Rights Commission, to consider the detail and the implications for equality of exit from the EU. And I welcome that commitment again. But I do appeal to you to urge the Prime Minister and the Brexit Secretary to follow Wales’s lead and to have those same discussions with the EHRC because the implications for equality of Brexit are important. There are direct consequences and considerations, as well as wider cultural thoughts surrounding that. There is direct funding, for example, for the 2014-20 period through the European Commission’s strategic engagement for gender equality programmes. The EU has allocated more than €6 billion to achieve gender equality targets and objectives. What we need to know is whether those funding streams will dry up, and if they do, what are the consequences of that?

This morning, I met with Chwarae Teg and one of the issues that we discussed was the future of their Agile Nation 2 project that helps improve the position of women in the workforce across nine priority sectors in Wales. That scheme is funded, in part, by the Welsh Government and also by the European social fund, and that is just one example. As the Welsh Government’s White Paper notes, consideration has to be given to the potential impact of the loss of EU funding for equalities and the well-being of people with protected characteristics. At Westminster, Harriet Harman, with the support of a cross-party coalition of MPs, has tabled an amendment calling for the Government to protect women’s rights during and after Brexit. The UK White Paper states that the great repeal Bill will maintain the protections and standards that benefit workers and that, moreover, the UK Government has committed to not only safeguarding the rights of workers set out in European legislation, but enhancing them. I’m really pleased to hear it, but I’m not absolutely convinced by it. We heard an awful lot of promises along the way and this seems just to be another one of those.

One of the issues that I really am concerned about, as chair of the all-party group on the trafficking of human beings, is what precisely Brexit means for the UK’s co-operation with EU bodies like Eurojust and Europol. The White Paper says,

‘We will continue to work with the EU to preserve European security, to fight terrorism, and to uphold justice across Europe.’

But it doesn’t even mention Eurojust and the EU’s judicial co-operation unit. I’m aware of time and I did promise that I would be brief, so therefore, I will finish on this: it is the sad case that some of the debate that we’ve had—not here today, but that which has led us to where we are—did breathe new life into old prejudice and fears and ugliness. It is, I feel, more important than ever that we are unambiguous in the message that we send to minorities and other vulnerable groups, that the UK Government should, first, act now in that regard, and must guarantee the status of EU citizens already living here in the EU and not use them—and it has happened today—as bargaining chips for the future.