7. Plaid Cymru Debate: Post-Brexit funding

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:10 pm on 25 May 2022.

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Photo of Jane Dodds Jane Dodds Liberal Democrat 5:10, 25 May 2022

People have been repeatedly told since the 2016 referendum—it seems like a very long time ago, doesn't it—that we would not be a penny worse off than when we left the EU. I'm not going to retrace the arguments about how inadequate the UK Government has been around the new arrangements, but I do want to say it feels a bit like groundhog day, because we keep coming back to this really important issue, and it is so vital that we keep doing that, because I do see a glimmer of hope, perhaps, in some of the Conservatives over there. I'm really pleased to hear Paul Davies saying that he wants to challenge the UK Government, and that Peter Fox also feels that there should be transparency. But listen to what you're hearing this afternoon. You're hearing about our Welsh farmers, you're hearing about what they're losing. We heard this afternoon, and we had the debate and the discussion about our Welsh farmers and how important it was to support them, and yet—. They were promised, this phrase, 'not a penny less' when we left the EU. As we've heard, they have lost around £375 million a year to sustain world-leading quality food, excellent animal welfare standards and a £7 billion food and drink supply chain. Please, take those messages back to the UK Government.

And Peter Fox, you perhaps don't understand the effect that Sioned Williams was talking about in terms of our universities here in Wales and the impact that the loss of funding is having on them. Aberystwyth University, in my region, secured more than £40 million of EU funds in order to develop the new and innovative enterprise campus, a state-of-the-art veterinary hub and a range of other skills and projects as well. That research and development money is essential to us here in Wales. We're letting young people down, we're letting our farmers down, we're letting our rural communities down. We must do better, and we must do it now. The political posturing of the Conservatives in Westminster continues to undermine our universities and our farmers. [Interruption.] Of course I'll take an intervention.