9. Plaid Cymru debate: Continued membership of the Customs Union

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:25 pm on 28 February 2018.

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Photo of David Rees David Rees Labour 5:25, 28 February 2018

That's what you want to call it. It's up to you, but I disagree with you.

Can I go on? Because it's important. We also must remember that UK businesses and firms are far more integrated into European supply chains than Norway's, so again there's more of a problem there. Now, it was mentioned by the Member for North Wales for the Conservatives that there's been a lot of scaremongering about the border between Northern Ireland and southern Ireland. Well, actually, the traffic between Norway and Sweden has 40 roads—40 roads—causing those difficulties. There are 270 across that border, let alone other flows between other European nations and the UK. Therefore, there are far more challenging effects as a consequence of the reality of managing those border arrangements, because what we don't want—and I'm sure no-one in this Chamber wants this—is damage to the peace agreement in Northern Ireland. Therefore, we don't want those border arrangements to be in place.

Llywydd, I appreciate that time is going on, but I want to comment on this point finally. I actually took the decision to go and see those Brexit papers last week in the Wales Office. I know some other Members have been there, as I saw their names in the book that I had to sign. I put my phone away, it was locked up, because that was what had to happen for me to see them. But I remind the Members on the benches to my left that that document, which is actually a set of PowerPoint slides, really, reminded everyone—and it was commissioned by the UK Government, and they didn't like the answers they got—it highlighted the impact upon the Welsh economy of leaving the EU as a reduction of between 2 per cent and 10 per cent of GDP. The fact is that it's 2 per cent if we were members of the EEA, which is unlikely to be happening, because then—well, it's been highlighted again. So, it would be a big difference.

They also showed that the sectors that would be hardest hit are many sectors that are important to Wales. So, the UK Government has evidence that argues that remaining in the or a customs union is far more beneficial to the UK economy than simply following the ideological doctrines that drive the hardline Brexiteers and the fears that Theresa May has of them. It's time they came wide awake. It's time those Brexiteers in the Cabinet came to the conclusion that the people and economy of the UK are far more important than their ideological beliefs.