10. Debate: Brexit

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:35 pm on 22 October 2019.

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Photo of Mandy Jones Mandy Jones UKIP 5:35, 22 October 2019

No. Most workers' rights we enjoy today actually came through the UK Parliament, often following campaigns by your trade unions. Many such rights in the UK are far superior to the minimum provisions given by the EU. For example, paid holiday leave: EU legislation is four weeks, the UK is 5.6 weeks. Maternity leave: the EU is 14 weeks and the UK is 52 weeks. In the UK, it is 90 per cent pay for six weeks and then £140 for 33 weeks on equal pay. This was law in 1970, well before the UK even joined the EU. On wages, the EU has no minimum wage, unlike the UK, and we have one of the highest minimum wages in the world. On discrimination, the UK had laws on sex discrimination in 1975 and race discrimination in 1965—long before the EU. Health and safety: we in the UK have some of the best health and safety at work rules and have done since 1974. 

Llywydd, rather than debating the unknown outcome of a vote in Westminster, this Chamber should be debating things that it does have influence and power over: the NHS in Wales, Betsi still in special measures; the future of Welsh farming once we leave the EU to give farmers in Wales certainty; or the fact that Cardiff Airport—[Interruption.] Llywydd?