6. Welsh Conservatives Debate: Departure from the European Union

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:29 pm on 23 June 2021.

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Photo of Mick Antoniw Mick Antoniw Labour 5:29, 23 June 2021

Diolch, Llywydd. In the five years since the referendum, we've debated the outcome on numerous occasions. Each time, we have made it clear that we respect the outcome of that referendum. In fact, we respect it more than the Members opposite, because we also respect the outcome together with the promises that were made to protect Wales and the Welsh economy. The Members opposite show a contemptuous disregard for those promises and I cannot recall a single occasion when they have stood up for Wales, even when it became blatantly clear that those promises were being violated.

We have spent five years working as constructively as possible, providing evidence-based analyses and policy, time and time again, in an attempt to do whatever we could to make sure that the outcome that the UK Government negotiated mitigated the economic, cultural and social damage to Wales as far as was possible, and, throughout, we have been consistently clear that the deal negotiated by the UK Government failed to protect the Welsh economy and Welsh workers from the economic upheaval that we time and time again predicted.