Minister breaks ranks to make call over new Brexit referendum
WELSH Labour Minister Huw Irranca-Davies has broken ranks with his party’s official policy and called for a further referendum on EU membership if the only options at the end of negotiations are a hard Brexit or no deal.
The Ogmore AM, who is the Minister for Children, Older People and Social Care, is seeking nominations to stand for the Welsh Labour leadership.
In a blog post, he argues that the next First Minister should tell the Prime Minister that if a hard Brexit is the only Brexit on offer, the people must be allowed to decide.
He writes: “Welsh Government has always tried to work in good faith with the UK Government, respecting the referendum, but seeking to protect Welsh jobs and the wider interests of Wales.
“We have argued, and continue to argue, for full and unfettered access to the EU Single Market, for our NHS and public services to attract the highest calibre recruits, for our university sector to attract students and engage in European research, and so on, is in Wales’ best interest.
“But let’s not pretend that this has been anything other than deeply frustrating, trying to work with a UK Government characterised by confusion and chaos, spooked by its own shadow – or, at least, the shadow of Ukip and hard-line back-benchers – and which frankly has not shown Wales the respect it deserves.”
Mr Irranca-Davies argues that the Welsh Government has been “incredibly patient”, adding: “We have given them more than enough rope. This Conservative government are about to hang themselves, but in doing so will sacrifice jobs and prosperity across Wales and the UK, for this and future generations. That is simply not acceptable. They must put the final deal – or no deal – to the people.”
He says the effect on the Welsh economy of leaving the Single Market would be dire: “Jobs in food production and farming, steelworkers and car-makers and the whole supply chain which underpins our economy and puts food on the table and pays the mortgages – jobs, earnings, household income and the taxes to pay for the growing demands on our NHS and social care and wider public services would be put at risk.
“People were brazenly told by Boris Johnson and Liam Fox that £350m would be released back to the NHS from the EU. They must have mis-spoken!
“This claim has been trashed by the UK Statistics Authority as ‘a clear misuse of official statistics’. Moreover, the Office for Budget Responsibility says that the loss of tax receipts caused by the depressed economy after leaving the single market will dwarf any savings, meaning that the UK will be £36bn worse off over the next 50 years.
“We won’t have to wait 50 years to see the damage done, though. The Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney has calculated that the cost of the 2016 vote to the UK economy is already £40bn and rising, meaning every household in the UK is currently £900 worse off. That is before we actually leave. Let that sink in!
“We are already experiencing this self-inflicted pain as a result of the referendum result and the uncertainty created by the bungling incompetence of the UK government’s negotiations.
“And the UK’s economic growth is worsening. We have fallen from being one of the top performers in the G7 nations before the referendum to the bottom performer now. This is before we actually leave. We were told by Leave campaigners that this would not happen. We were promised a land of milk and honey, yet what we are getting is bread and dripping. And it looks set to get worse.
“The UK Government has proven itself totally incompetent in the Brexit negotiations. It has failed the country at a critical moment in our history. It has failed the people who voted for Brexit of course. But May, Johnson, Fox and Davies will go down in history as tragic figures who failed Britain.
“So the reality of Brexit has turned out badly before we have even left. It is set to get much worse.”
Mr Irranca-Davies says the decision to leave the Single Market and Customs Union should not be left to “a small group of Brexit ministers who have proved themselves serially incompetent, and a Prime Minister who is in government but not in power. Nor should it be left to Parliament alone, though they should reject any unacceptable or unworkable deal and force the PMs hand to hold a referendum.
“A future First Minister of Wales must be willing to say to the Prime Minister of the UK that if a hard Brexit is the only Brexit on offer, then the people must be allowed to decide.
“This decision will determine our prosperity and well-being for a generation and more.
“So now that the facts are truly out there, and that the promises have been revealed as the falsehoods that they always truly were, then let us trust the people to decide.
“Give the people the final say. That is true democracy in action.”