May I thank the Chair, David Rees, for his wonderful opening, which gives a great summary of this report, which is also a wonderful report?

I am speaking on behalf of Plaid Cymru today as Steffan Lewis isn’t here, and he, of course, was a member of the committee as the report was being drawn up. As I wasn’t a committee member—I was just a weak substitute for Steffan, having attended just one meeting—I want to use my contribution to discuss the recommendations specifically, and the Welsh Government’s role from here on in in delivering these recommendations, and also how the Government can realise the will of this Assembly in terms of our views on what Wales’s relationship should be with the European Union in future.

Recommendations 1 and 4, without giving the exact wording, of course, call for full membership of the single market and the customs union, because that’s the only way we can deliver what these recommendations call for. I’m pleased to see that the Government, in its response to these recommendations, has made a strong case for remaining in the customs union. The UK Government is tearing itself to shreds on the question of the membership of the customs union, and, although the Labour Party in London have offered a solution, namely the creation of a new customs union, what the Labour Party seeks to deliver as part of the new customs union, namely that the UK Government should have its say on any new trade deals and that Britain should also be exempt from state-aid and public procurement rules, is unprecedented. There’s no precedent for that because, as we’ve already heard, Turkey is in a customs union with the European Union, but they are not represented in any trade negotiations and neither are they exempt from EU competition rules. So, we’re yet to see any reasonable proposals either from the Government or the opposition in Westminster.

Recommendation 10 notes that:

'If no agreement on Horizon 2020 and any successor programmes is reached between the UK Government and the EU, we recommend that the Welsh Government explores ways in which it could provide continued support for Welsh institutions to collaborate with European

counterparts after Brexit.'

This is one of the main points that the Welsh Government should focus on in order to ensure that businesses and universities in Wales have access to some of the main research and development projects on a global level. It’s uncertain as yet what the UK‘s relationship would be with Horizon Europe, which is the successor programme to Horizon 2020, which will be far greater in scale and will be worth €96 billion compared to the €77 billion being spent on Horizon 2020. It’s possible that we will have full access to all streams of the programme, but we have to pay a high price for that.