Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:24 pm on 28 June 2017.
Diolch, Llywydd. Can I thank everybody who took part in the debate? We’ve seen a great degree of consensus breaking out over most of it. Can I thank the Cabinet Secretary for her response, and can I just thank everybody who either during the debate, or via messages prior to it, welcomed me, and can I just say thank you very much for that?
Starting off with Paul Davies—it’s nice to go first, Paul, isn’t it, because everybody else has to say the same thing as you but in a slightly different way? I think Paul highlighted the need for devolved nations to have a strong voice, Governments across the UK to work together, and he highlighted the high quality of Welsh food products. I think that was echoed by very many other speakers. Can I just say, on my own experience of the high quality of Welsh food products—lamb, beef, cheese and butter in particular—I’ve got the stomach to prove it? [Laughter.]
Simon Thomas—I thought he was going to stop after 30 seconds when he said he would give full support—. Unfortunately, he felt the need to go on for the next four and a half minutes. But I think he’s right, we do need to keep single-market access. The importance of that—I’m surprised that some people don’t actually see how important it is that you’re already trading with people—. Finding new customers is great, but giving up the customers you’ve got seems a very brave decision—the words ‘foolhardy’ or ‘stupid’ might be used by others.
Simon mentioned something that I keep going on about—one of the advantages of coming out of the European Union is the procurement rules of the European Union will no longer apply. We can support our own local food industries. Far too often, many of us, in different places, doing jobs prior to this, have been told, ‘You can’t insist it’s Welsh lamb. You can’t insist it’s Welsh beef. You can’t insist it’s Welsh cheese and butter, because you have to obey the European Union rule and you have to go out to procurement.’