9. Debate on NNDM6985 — EU Withdrawal Negotiations

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:23 pm on 5 March 2019.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Mick Antoniw Mick Antoniw Labour 5:23, 5 March 2019

I got involved in the EU debate right at the beginning because, for me, the bigger issues were never the economic issues, the trade issues and so on, but it was because of the contribution that the EU had made to European peace and how inconceivable it would've been, when the Soviet Union broke up and those former Warsaw pact countries began to develop democratic systems, inconceivable that that could've happened without major, major warfare and catastrophe had it not been for the fact that there was a body to which they could align themselves that had established various principles of the rule of law and governance.

Of course, nothing was perfect. I've been a critic of the EU in the past because of its diminishing of the social chapter vis-à-vis the corporate interest, but, as Vaclav Havel once said—one of the leaders of the dissident movements from eastern Europe—if you actually want to change an organisation, you have to be part of it and you have to work with other people to do that. What has been really perturbing about not only the development within the UK as a consequence of the referendum, and around other parts of Europe, has been the growth of a far-right nationalism, and an introverted and quite aggressive and unpleasant nationalism that we see being part-funded and supported by people like Putin through social media, through finance, and we see the links between those organisations such as the Golden Dawn, through Le Pen, and through other far-right and fascist organisations. And it is therefore of no surprise whatsoever that we see UKIP now, with people like Tommy Robinson, effectively becoming now a proto-fascist ideological party, because that is what UKIP has now become, and there is no question about that and the alliances they have as part of that introverted far-right agenda. That is what scares me. That is what is really dangerous. 

What is clear now—. [Interruption.] I won't take any message from Neil Hamilton—someone who has been an apologist for apartheid South Africa, an apologist for the fascist regime with Pinochet. It is on record and it is no surprise you find a comfortable home within what is now a proto-fascist party within the United Kingdom.

The big challenges that affect us now over the course of the coming week are going to be the issue of the 'no deal', and in particular article 50 extension, because one thing is clear, and that is that the UK Government cannot even complete the necessary legislative agenda within the time frame that is absolutely left. And any responsible constitutional Government would want to seek that extension to enable that to actually happen. But, for us, there's an even bigger issue, and that is the 'no deal' scenario because of the economic havoc that will be wrought upon Wales and upon much of the UK if there are not arrangements in respect of trade. What do we say to the 20,000 car workers who want to export 95 per cent of their components to the European Union when there are blocks and there are obstacles, and when suddenly their jobs come under threat because of the inability of Government to negotiate a proper trade deal? What do we say to the EU citizens that Theresa May's deal does not protect—those who have given their lives, paid their taxes, and have worked in this country? And what do we also say in respect of all those promises that were made about the protection of workers' rights, which are fundamental to any particular deal? Those promises were made. Many of those people, many of those workers, voted for—[Interruption.] Intervention? Yes.