Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:37 pm on 6 July 2022.
Well, thank you very much, Llywydd. I want to start by making one thing clear: unlike the virtual life of James Evans, leaving the single market has been a complete disaster for Wales and for all the countries of the United Kingdom. All of the promises made by the Brexiteers have been nothing more than a fraud, and the effect of this on our communities has been hugely detrimental.
Let us consider the reality of leaving the single market: a mountain of bureaucracy for our businesses to export goods, the rising cost of imports, problems with VAT payments, the pound being devalued, our farmers facing checks at the border with Europe as they sell their products, while food entering these countries can arrive unhindered.
And now that we've left the common agricultural policy, the Tories in Westminster have cut £137 million this year and £106 million next year from the Welsh agricultural budget. So, that's the great Brexit dividend for our farmers. Yet Brexit was supposed to mean new and exciting opportunities for our agriculture and fishing sectors. Unfortunately, the opposite is true. It was all rhetoric based on dishonesty.