Although we agree “that any final deal must be developed with the best interests of the Welsh economy and society at heart”, this Welsh Government motion has been overtaken by events.
I therefore move Amendment 1 to replace this with a motion:
1. Recognising the result of the referendum about the UK’s membership of the European Union.
2. Welcoming the UK Government’s 12 negotiating objectives for our withdrawal from the European Union and the publication of its White Paper.
3. Noting the publication of the Welsh Government’s White Paper.
4. Noting the UK Government’s intention to seek to trigger Article 50 by the end of March.
5. Recognising the Joint Ministerial Committee meeting held in Cardiff - and welcoming the Prime Minister’s continued commitment to engage with the devolved administrations and secure the right deal for Wales and the United Kingdom.
The message from the public before and during the referendum campaign was clear: Brexit must mean control of the number of EU citizens who come to the UK from Europe.
We will continue to attract the brightest and the best, allowing a sovereign UK to determine and meet the workforce needs of our economy and society, be they engineers, scientists health professionals, carers or farm workers, but the voice of the people was clear; there must be control.
Although the Labour/Plaid Cymru White Paper calls for “full and unfettered” access to the EU Single Market - and although EU rules make this impossible after border control is restored to the UK - this is not inconsistent with the UK Government’s desire for a free trade deal without membership.
The Prime Minister has been very clear that she wants a bespoke deal that works for the whole of the UK, embracing the most tariff and barrier-free trade possible with our European neighbours.
In apparent recognition of the need for a bespoke deal, the First Minister told the External Affairs Committee yesterday, he was not suggesting that the Norwegian migration model was 100% fit for the UK, but rather that there were other options.
As the UK Government has said “we have an open mind on how we do it”.
EU nationals can claim the right to permanent residence, without any conditions, if they have lived here legally for five years continuously.
Whilst the UK remains in the EU, EU nationals here continue to have the same rights as they have now.
The Prime Minister has been clear that she wants to protect the status of EU nationals here – and the only circumstances that would not be possible are if UK citizens’ rights in other EU member states are not protected in return.
As the Labour/Plaid Cymru White Paper states, cross border collaboration in research and development, such as Horizon 2020, and international exchange programmes, such as ERASMUS+ should continue after the UK has left the EU.
We therefore welcome reference in the UK Government White Paper to its close engagement with the Science and Research base, including a High Level Stakeholder Working Group on EU Exit, Universities, Research and Innovation, to ensure that the UK builds on its strong global position in research and innovation excellence.
The UK Government White Paper also states that no decisions currently taken by the devolved administrations will be taken away from them, and indeed that more decisions will be devolved”.
The Labour/Plaid Cymru White Paper calls for a “UK framework to provide legal underpinning for effective regulation of issues such as environment, agriculture and fisheries which are heavily governed by EU law”.
Welsh Conservatives support the exploration and creation of UK-wide frameworks in respect of these issues and others, including structural funds and higher education.
These frameworks need to take into account all nations in the United Kingdom and safeguarding the necessary funding and resources to ensure they can deliver for Wales.
The Welsh Conservatives are clear: as echoed by the Prime Minister, there will be no ‘land grab’ on competencies which are under the current power of devolved administrations. This must respect the current devolved settlement as funding, schemes and initiatives are returned from the European Union.
Welsh Conservatives have written to the Prime Minister making the case for Agriculture to be given priority in the EU Exit negotiations – and, speaking in Wales last week, the UK DEFRA Secretary expressed her determination to secure export markets for high quality Welsh produce after we have left the EU.
As the Prime Minister said in her Lancaster House speak last month:
“I want us to be a truly Global Britain – the best friend and neighbour to our European partners, but a country that reaches beyond the borders of Europe too. A country that goes out into the world to build relationships with old friends and new allies alike.
I want Britain to be what we have the potential, talent and ambition to be. A great, global trading nation that is respected around the world and strong, confident and united at home.
It’s not simply because our history and culture is profoundly internationalist, important though that is. Many in Britain have always felt that the United Kingdom’s place in the European Union came at the expense of our global ties, and of a bolder embrace of free trade with the wider world.
As a priority, we will pursue a bold and ambitious Free Trade Agreement with the European Union.
This agreement should allow for the freest possible trade in goods and services between Britain and the EU’s member states. It should give British companies the maximum freedom to trade with and operate within European markets – and let European businesses do the same in Britain.
But I want to be clear. What I am proposing cannot mean membership of the Single Market.
European leaders have said many times that membership means accepting the “four freedoms” of goods, capital, services and people. And being out of the EU but a member of the Single Market would mean complying with the EU’s rules and regulations that implement those freedoms, without having a vote on what those rules and regulations are. It would mean accepting a role for the European Court of Justice that would see it still having direct legal authority in our country.
It would to all intents and purposes mean not leaving the EU at all.
And that is why both sides in the referendum campaign made it clear that a vote to leave the EU would be a vote to leave the Single Market.
So we do not seek membership of the Single Market. Instead we seek the greatest possible access to it through a new, comprehensive, bold and ambitious Free Trade Agreement.
That Agreement may take in elements of current Single Market arrangements in certain areas – on the export of cars and lorries for example, or the freedom to provide financial services across national borders – as it makes no sense to start again from scratch when Britain and the remaining Member States have adhered to the same rules for so many years.
But I respect the position taken by European leaders who have been clear about their position, just as I am clear about mine. So an important part of the new strategic partnership we seek with the EU will be the pursuit of the greatest possible access to the Single Market, on a fully reciprocal basis, through a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement”.
In reality, after all, the UK is the EU’s biggest customer - and a mutually beneficial free trade agreement with the EU, a single market, means by definition, access to that Single Market.
Despite Welsh Government representations at the Appeal into the High Court decision that Parliament must vote on the process to take the UK out of the EU, the Supreme Court made clear that the consent of the devolved administrations is not necessary before Article 50 is triggered.
The High Court has also since blocked a legal challenge arguing that Parliament must also approve the UK’s exit from the European Economic Area.
The people’s vote to leave the EU in last June’s Referendum – including Bridgend and Rhondda Cynon Taf - must be respected.
In the months that followed, however, we have suffered Labour and Plaid Cymru prophecies of doom and gloom, rather than words of confidence and optimism needed.
It must be frustrating for a First Minister who has often sounded like the Private Fraser of Welsh Politics - and for Plaid Gremlin over there, who exist only to weaken and divide our island through the destruction of the UK – that the Bank of England has raised its forecast for the UK economy this year, with faster growth, lower unemployment and a more modest rise in inflation.
The people of Britain, including Wales, have made the decision to leave the EU and the UK Government is determined to get on with the job of delivering it.
However, as every responsible Government knows, you don’t show your cards before negotiations begin.