8. Plaid Cymru Debate: Brexit and Future Trade

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:29 pm on 4 December 2019.

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Photo of Mark Isherwood Mark Isherwood Conservative 5:29, 4 December 2019

That is more scaremongering.

Last week Labour's Barry Gardiner, in fact, was unable to point to any evidence that the NHS would be on the table in trade talks. Jeremy Corbyn has claimed that under a free trade deal with America, the cost of medicines in the UK would increase by £500 million a week. That's £27 billion a year. However, the entire annual UK drugs bill is only £18 billion.

Last week, Jeremy Corbyn accused Conservatives of a plot against the NHS and said:

'Imagine opening a five-figure bill for your cancer treatment. Imagine paying to give birth. Paying to have a check-up at the GP.'

These desperate fear tactics demean political debate, and I hope all sides of the Chamber will condemn those preying on sick and vulnerable people with these false claims. It's desperate stuff from a Labour Party—and Plaid Cymru—with nothing positive to say about the future of Britain. 

Seven per cent of the UK's NHS services are currently in private hands. The biggest growth in private involvement in the NHS was not under the Conservatives, but the Labour Governments of Blair and Brown. It's the latest in a long line of propaganda claims at general elections—in 1979, 1983, 1987, 1992, 2010, 2015 and 2017—in which the Labour Party claimed the Conservatives would privatise or destroy the NHS if the party won the election. Well, the Conservatives have won seven of the last 10 general elections, and have protected the NHS far better than the Labour-run Welsh Government has managed the NHS in Wales. We cannot trust the only political party in the UK to have ever imposed cuts on the NHS budget. NHS Wales is still recovering from the legacy of Labour's decision, with key patient waiting targets not being met once in the past decade and patients forced to pay the price. Our NHS is not safe in Labour's hands. 

Point 3a in Plaid Cymru's motion calls for the devolved Parliaments to have a veto over trade matters, which are clearly non-devolved. The UK made a collective decision to leave the EU, and the UK will negotiate future trade agreements with the rest of the world. And, yes, we do believe the Welsh Government has a part to play in that, but it is yet another benefit of our United Kingdom that we can engage with other countries as a union of four nations, giving us far greater influence globally as a critical mass of almost 70 million people.

It's sad that Labour and the nationalists are fighting this election on the basis of fearmongering. Boris Johnson has been very clear about his priorities: getting Brexit done by 31 January to respect the result of the referendum; recruit more police; invest in our NHS; and put more money into schools. It's a positive vision to exploit the opportunities outside the European Union, to unlock investment in our economy and to unleash Wales's potential. You should be ashamed of yourselves.