I didn't use the term 'special relationship'. This is what the next stage—. He knows from the evidence we've taken on the committee that we're just starting stage 2 and the full negotiations outside the EU can't begin until we've actually left—formally left—the EU. But there's going to be a transition period, as you know, which will further smooth that process.

With groundhog day regularity, Carwyn Jones has scaremongered about the borders between Northern Ireland and the Republic and the UK and the island of Ireland; we heard more about that from the leader of Plaid Cymru today. We must support access to the EU single market but to remain in the single market and customs union would mean that we had effectively not left the EU at all. In reality, the Prime Minister confirmed last December that the common travel area with Ireland, which had been in operation since the 1920s, would be maintained and that both the UK and EU had pledged that there will be no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland. She's also warned Brussels today against its demands that she signs up to legal commitments preventing a hard border in Ireland, even if that means customs checks between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

The chief executive of HMRC—Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs—has consistently advised Ministers that there will be no need for physical infrastructure at the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic under any circumstances, and last November's report 'Avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland for Customs control and the free movement of persons', written by leading customs expert Lars Karlsson for the European Parliament Committee on Constitutional Affairs, identified measures introduced to create low-friction borders across the world and proposed a technical solution for the border on the island of Ireland and for the future of movement of persons and goods between the EU and the UK.

After Jeremy Corbyn backed UK membership of a customs union, pro-Brexit Labour MPs described this as a betrayal of voters, and Frank Field MP accused the leadership of treating voters as 'thick', yet pro-remain party figures said that Mr Corbyn hadn't gone far enough. By supporting a customs union, Mr Corbyn appears to be ripping up UK Labour's manifesto and threatening to prevent the UK from signing economy-boosting, job-creating free trade deals around the world. However, in not committing Labour to membership of the EU customs union, Mr Corbyn's statement is actually ambiguous enough to mean anything, where the EU itself has consistently stated that you're either in the customs union and bound by its rules or outside it.

The First Minister frequently scaremongers that UK exit from the single market and customs union would generate a regulatory race to the bottom, and we heard more scaremongering from the leader of Plaid Cymru to the same effect today. However, the UK Brexit Secretary clearly stated last week that the UK will not seek to lower legal and regulatory standards in order to compete with the European market, and proposed instead a system of mutual recognition. Last month, former UK international trade Minister Lord Price told the Commons that Britain has already agreed free trade deals in principle with dozens of non-EU countries ready to take effect the day after Brexit. Economic reality mocks the Brexit gloom in this place. UK production output increased by 2.1 per cent in 2017, with manufacturing providing the largest upward contribution. CBI reports show that Britain's record on job creation is set to continue in 2018 and that volumes, profits and hiring are on the up in Britain's services sector. And builders merchants' sales have completed another year of growth—4.8 per cent.

So, instead of trading on scare stories, we must take back control of the narrative and offer the public hope. The UK and Wales voted for legal and constitutional independence from the European Union. It is our duty to deliver it.