With just a few days remaining until the UK leaves the European Union, North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has called on Welsh politicians from all parties to “work together for an outwork looking Wales within a Global UK”.
Speaking in this afternoon’s Welsh Conservatives Debate on the ‘Departure from the European Union’, Mr Isherwood urged the Labour Welsh Government, backed by Labour and Plaid Cymru AMs and the Liberal Democrat AM, to finally accept that this is what the people of Wales voted for, and to put an end to their scaremongering.
He said:
“On 23 June 2016 the UK voted to leave the European Union.
“Wales voted to leave – and did so again in the European elections last year. AND in the UK General Election last month, the people of North Wales voted to ‘Get Brexit Done’.
“Yet, this Labour Welsh Government, backed by Plaid Cymru, have repeatedly refused to follow the people’s instructions on this and an increasing number of other matters”.
Mr Isherwood accused the Labour Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru of exploiting every opportunity to scaremonger about:
- the future of the NHS, “despite the 2019 Conservative manifesto being crystal clear that ‘our NHS is not for sale’ ”.
- the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, “when the UK Conservative Manifesto clearly stated that ‘Wales will receive at least the same level of financial support as it currently receives from the EU’ ”.
- the future of the Erasmus+ scheme, which funds opportunities for young people to train and study across Europe, when “the UK Government stated that ‘as we enter negotiations with the EU’ on the future relationship, ‘we want to ensure that UK and European students can continue to benefit from each other's world-leading education systems’ and that ‘it is wrong to say’ that … the UK will quit the Erasmus scheme”.
- unaccompanied refugee children from Europe, when “the UK Government has stated that its policy on child refugees has not changed and that they will continue to do all they can to enable children to claim asylum and be reunited with their families”.
- the forthcoming Trade talks with the EU, when “Wales benefits from the clout of belonging to the UK Single Market and Customs Union in which most of the Welsh Economy is traded - and, as a former UK Ambassador to both Germany and the US stated last week, “missing from so much analysis is awareness that the EU’s £94 Billion Trade surplus with the UK could be put at risk and gives the UK a massive lever”.
- the EU Withdrawal Agreement Act, when “the UK Conservative Government has made clear that this Act ‘does not enable UK Ministers to amend the devolved settlement and in fact will lead to greater powers for the Assembly as policy areas from the EU are passed down to devolved Governments’ ”.
He added:
“The recent Deloitte CFO confidence survey demonstrates the biggest ever jump in business confidence – and Members opposite should stop trying to hammer that confidence.
“Last week, the IMF predicted that the UK economy will grow faster than the Eurozone this year, assuming an orderly Brexit and a steady transition to a new relationship – and PWC’s Global CEO Survey found that European Chief Executives regard the UK as a key market for growth and investment, only rated behind the US, China and Germany internationally.
“The Labour Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru scaremonger about losing EU money, when in reality this is recycled UK money and the UK Chancellor has stated that he will use his first budget after the UK leaves the EU to pump £100 Billion into infrastructure projects across the UK to help “left behind parts” of the UK and “unleash Britain’s potential”.
“As Boris Johnson delivers on his promise to “Get Brexit Done” by the 31st January, let us build together an outwork looking Wales within a Global UK”.
