6. Plaid Cymru Debate: A confirmatory European Union referendum

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:05 pm on 5 June 2019.

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Photo of Llyr Gruffydd Llyr Gruffydd Plaid Cymru 5:05, 5 June 2019

Listen, and I'll refer you to the Scottish referendum on independence. There was a 700-page White Paper sat behind that ballot paper that told people exactly what they could expect if they voted for independence in Scotland. All we had with Brexit was a slogan on the side of a bus, and, of course, those responsible for that slogan are now being summoned to appear before a court just to justify that figure.

Now, I want to refer—. Oh, I have got a bit of time, so I'm not panicking yet. I just want to refer to some of the statements that were made, and Darren—you know, Darren pointed to some dubious statements that were made. Well, I can point to others as well. Remember Daniel Hannan MEP? He's still an MEP I think, is he? He's one of the few that's still a Tory MEP.

'Absolutely nobody is talking about threatening our place in the Single Market', he said before the referendum. Now, absolutely everybody is doing that—you know, it was an absolute lie. Liam Fox, of course, on the infamous free trade agreement—'the easiest in human history'. And if we want to reflect on some of the dog whistle politics that we got during that referendum campaign, health tourism—do you remember the way that people told us that people travelling to the UK are coming solely to benefit from our generous health system? A total fabrication, because British citizens in the EU receive five times the value of the treatment that we give to EU citizens here. And, of course, we know that our NHS and care services would practically be dysfunctional if we lost a lot of those overseas workers who come to this country to work for us.

And Delyth referred to the mantra of 'take back control', and I totally agree—yes, it chimed with millions of people. Quite rightly, they felt disenfranchised and anxious about their futures, but it wasn't, as far as I'm concerned, the lack of control over the EU that was the issue there, it was the lack of control over a Westminster programme of austerity set by George Osborne and the Conservative Government in London. So, all sorts of versions of Brexit and all sorts of dubious promises made.

And I will just briefly refer particularly to the agricultural sector. You ask Welsh farmers now about the prospect of losing their basic payment—. As deficient maybe as CAP was and is, you ask them about losing that stability and security whilst the rest of Europe and, of course, Scotland and Northern Ireland, as I was referring to yesterday, are retaining that, and I'm sure they would have something to tell you.

Only today the National Audit Office has said that DEFRA risks having its agriculture budget cut by the Treasury if it can't guarantee a high take-up of its new environmental land management scheme. Now, that doesn't happen in relation to CAP. If you don't spend all your money, it's still there and you can spend it later on. So, when new facts emerge, when the new reality becomes clear, I think people are entitled to change their minds and I think that putting this back to the people is fully justified.