THE HERALD FRIDAY JANUARY 20 2017


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11 News What Brexit May mean for Ceredigion ON TUESDAY (Jan 17), Prime


Minister Theresa May made her long awaited speech on Britain leaving the European Union. The Herald looked for clues as


to what May’s Brexit would actually mean for Wales and, specifically, Ceredigion: would we get any idea of the shape of the future for our farmers and our universities, for instance? What reassurances would there be


for EU nationals studying, working and living here? A number of our long-term Ceredigion residents are understandably troubled by the sudden insecurity of their situations. And what about our own citizens


studying, working and living in the EU – or indeed those wishing to do so in future?


GATHERING CLUES IN MAY Despite advocating the need for


friendly and constructive negotiations, Theresa May stressed that ‘no deal for Britain is better than a bad deal for Britain’, indicating a willingness to revert to the UK trading with the EU on the terms of the World Trade Organisation. Her speech continued in that vein, setting out positions that, taken together, do amount to that which has been summarised as ‘hard Brexit’ or even ‘extreme Brexit’.


HUGELY NEGATIVE


IMPACT ON CEREDIGION Ceredigion’s Lib Dem MP Mark


Williams told The Herald: “The Prime Minister’s speech today will do nothing to reassure many of us in rural areas that the government understands the needs of our communities. The announcement that as the realities of Brexit start to bite, we will be pursuing a Hard Brexit, one that pulls us out of the European Single Market, will have a hugely negative impact on Ceredigion. “Our farmers and farming


unions have said again and again that membership of the Single Market, to be able to sell their produce across Europe, is one of the most important factors for their continued success, and to lose this could see many of our small family farms struggle to survive. There is little doubt that the multiplier effect for our communities of this could be significant. The Liberal Democrats will continue to stand up against a disastrous Brexit, and for our membership of the Single Market, to ensure a strong future for our farming sector, our rural communities, and the country as a whole.”


‘TAKE BACK CONTROL’ Unsurprisingly, UKIP’s Mid and


West Wales AM, Neil Hamilton, was at odds with the views of our other respondents: “Theresa May was saying much of what UKIP has been saying for many years. I was very pleased to


Kelvin Mason kelvin.mason@herald.email


hear she now recognises that Britain must leave the Single Market and control immigration from the European Union. She was, however, unclear on whether Britain will continue to belong to the Customs Union. Belonging to it could mean we could still be unable to negotiate our own free trade agreements across the world. “The Welsh people voted to ‘take


back control’ and so staying in it would not be acceptable. She also had no plan for taking back control of our fishing waters, for example. Home Secretary Theresa May always talked tough but failed to deliver. She has to deliver this time and UKIP will hold the government’s feet to the fire on delivering the Brexit the people of Wales voted for.”


ECONOMIC VANDALISM Expressing his concerns for


agriculture tourism in particular, Plaid Cymru’s Mid and West AM and Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Climate Change and Rural Affairs, Simon Thomas, told us: “This week’s harsh speech by Theresa May has failed to take into account the economic needs of Wales and the devolved nature of the UK state. Wales may have voted narrowly to leave the European Union but people living in our nation did not vote for the economic vandalism of the Conservative Government proposals to yank us out of the European Union. The mainly rural economy of West Wales will be hit hardest leaving the EU’s Single Market and Customs Union. Livestock producers particularly reliant on exports to the continent will find it very tough to survive as feasible businesses.”


EXTREMELY UGLY POLITICS David Hanlon, Education Officer


for Ceredigion People’s Assembly, shared his initial personal response to the Prime Minister’s speech with The Herald: “In Brexit, Theresa May has identified the possibility of building a new electoral bloc around a core of xenophobic nationalists and City financiers. Obviously the kind of politics this core will call for will be extremely ugly. But, at the same time, we shouldn’t overstate its strength: this is a combustible mix that will be difficult to hold together even in the short term. “This new bloc will have to be


mobilised around a strategy for getting investment going again, and that strategy is clearly to turn the UK into a tax haven. This means first of all an all-out assault on what the Davos crowd calls ‘non-tariff barriers’, i.e. any remaining vestiges of the post- war social democratic settlement and all worker and environmental


Elin Jones: “The UK Prime Minister has chosen to favour a hard Brexit”


protections.”


EXTREME BREXIT COULD DESTROY RURAL COMMUNITIES


Plaid Cymru MP Liz Saville Roberts


warned that the UK Government’s decision to pursue an extreme Brexit could destroy rural communities. The Dwyfor Meirionnydd MP spoke in a debate in the House of Commons on the effect of Brexit on the rural economy, highlighting the contribution that rural communities make ‘far beyond what is assumed’, and accused the Tories of using smoke and mirrors by suggesting leaving the Single Market won’t affect trading conditions. “By leaving the Single Market


and Customs Union, jobs, wages and fundamentally our communities are being put at risk in search of some right-wing, free market nirvana. Tory Brexiteers will label any challenge to their dogmatism as negative, but people are scared. The rural communities I


Mark Williams: “A hard Brexit will have a hugely negative impact on Ceredigion”


represent are afraid that their whole way of life is about to be torn apart. And what hope is offered to them by the Prime Minister? Bland platitudes and soundbites. Rural communities need more than just lines crafted by some government spin doctor. They need people in Westminster who understand what they do and are ready to fight their corner. “Last year, 60% of Welsh farms


either made a loss or would have done so without EU support. As agriculture is intrinsic to rural communities, a threat to agriculture is a threat to the language, traditions and swathes of our cultural heritage. It is crucial that the UK Government honours the promises of Brexiteers that Wales will not lose a penny in EU subsidies once we leave. “If we slash and burn the support


mechanisms we afford our already struggling farms and toss them on the Brexit bonfire, then we are not only risking our food supply but the future of our rural communities and the industries they support. Decisions


Nail Hamilton: “Theresa May was saying much of what UKIP has been saying for many years.”


need to be evidence-based, rather than the product of idealistic aspirations and clever sounding buzzwords. If Westminster wants to do to rural communities what they did to the miners, let them do so with their eyes open.”


HARD BREXIT


‘CATASTROPHIC FOR WALES’ Elin Jones told us: “The UK Prime


Minister has chosen to favour a hard Brexit outside the European Single Market. This could be catastrophic for the Welsh economy, which is particularly dependent on exporting to the European market. It should also be particularly concerning to Welsh sheep farmers, again dependent on lamb exports onto the European continent. “Somehow hoping that new free


trade deals with countries such as the USA, Brazil and New Zealand will make up for any trade lost is naïve in the extreme. The Ceredigion economy will lose out from a hard Brexit.”


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