Plaid voices disgust, calling for a New Deal and People’s Vote

Plaid Cymru’s Adam Price and Liz Saville Roberts outline the reasons why they will not support the Withdrawal Agreement

THE UK government has finally managed to cobble together what can only be described at this late date as a desperate attempt to please none of the people, any of the time. The Westminster government is collapsing before our eyes and EU Member States are already communicating their discontent.

There are five reasons why Plaid Cymru cannot and will not support the Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration as it stands. Five reasons why Wales needs a New Deal. A New Deal, put to the people, with the option to remain.

Firstly, Plaid Cymru has consistently called for the least damaging Brexit possible, where Wales is in the single market and customs union – this proposal takes us on a trajectory that would make that impossible.

Secondly, without the detail of our future relationship agreed in legal text, this is a Blind Brexit with the devil of said detail to be discovered over the next two years. The political declaration is not worth the paper it is written on – as soon as we leave, the Brexiteers can finally kick the Prime Minister out of office and ensure their mission of an extreme Brexit is complete.

We are now set to negotiate our future economic, security and political relationship with our closest allies from a position of weakness – outside of Europe and with an emboldened group of hardcore Brexiteers pulling the strings.

Whilst the European Union has acted like a genuine multinational organisation where the interests of all members are prioritised, especially those concerns of the Republic of Ireland, the British State has wilfully sidelined Wales. Far from a partnership of equals, Wales is treated like a vassal country and this agreement has not been negotiated with Welsh interests at its heart. This is the third reason why we cannot support the proposal.

The solution to the Irish border question grants the north of Ireland special status in its relationship with the single market and customs union. While we are, of course, in favour of the principle of membership of the single market and customs union, the fourth reason why we cannot agree to the agreement is because it does not grant Wales that same privilege.

Lastly, the people of Wales did not choose to sabotage the economic relationship with our closest trading partners. That is why we believe that any agreement should be taken to a People’s Vote with an option to stay in the EU, and provisions for the referendum should be voted on alongside the Withdrawal Agreement.

Each of the European Union’s red lines has been kept intact, while the Prime Minister has reneged on hers. “No deal is better than a bad deal” Mrs May parroted for what seems like a political lifetime. That has proven to not now be the case. Plaid Cymru says Wales needs a New Deal.