Wales is #StrongerIN Europe: why I will vote to remain in the EU

From agriculture to the environment, and on the critical issue of the economy: Wales is #StrongerIN the European Union.

In a crowded campaign that is mainly filled with the leadership hopefuls of the Conservative Party, the issues mattering most to Wales, and particularly young people here, have been sidelined. However, the facts speak loudly for themselves: Wales, and people in Wales, are better off in almost every way in the European Union.

Let us first of all look at the central claim of the Vote Leave campaign. They claim that we spend £350 million every week as our membership fee of the EU. Not only is this factually incorrect, not taking into account the £8 billion yearly rebate that Margaret Thatcher achieved for Britain, it ignores the aspect of this figure of Wales’ contribution.

Wales is a net beneficiary of EU funds: gaining £79 per person more than what it gives to the EU each year. In total, that amounts to £245 million more every year, to spend on projects including flood defences and infrastructure. Want an example of where this has been spent in Wales? The sea defences in Aberaeron, Ceredigion are funded by EU funds- funds which the UK Government wouldn’t provide, and which the Welsh Government is unable to provide thanks to its chronic underfunding.

And for the sake of this, let’s stick now to the environment: regulations which those on the Vote Leave side say are damaging, have seen Wales’ beaches and natural environment cleaned to acceptable standards. The regulations on noise and air pollution mean we have a better environment in which to live. The EU has benefitted every one of us. When Vote Leave say these regulations are damaging, they mean they are damaging to the big businesses that want to exploit our environment.

But what about local business? Local businesses in Wales benefit from being part of the single market- giving them the opportunity to sell and trade their products across the European continent. The Leave campaign has said they don’t even know if we would retain tariff- free access to the single market if we leave, and the precedent shows that if we want an agreement with the single market then we may end up like Norway, which pays more per head of the population to the EU for single market access than we currently do in Britain.

But let’s not just assume the Norwegian model is poor value for money- which it is. It’s also bad politics. The Norwegian economy has to adhere to all the rules and regulations the EU sets; yet the Government of Norway has no say over those rules. Unlike Britain which has a veto over the vast majority of decisions, Norway has no such concession. Do we really want to end up in that situation? It’s vital that Britain retains this crucial influence on the economy of Europe.

The backbone of the Welsh economy is, of course, agriculture. Over the period 2014–2020, Welsh farms will gain in excess of £2 billion in funding thanks to the Common Agriculture Policy payments which help keep Welsh and British farms afloat

Immigration is also a major issue in this referendum campaign. Vote Leave have made it clear that they favour lower immigration and have made it clear they dislike the EU freedom of movement policy. Again, it’s clear that the Welsh Government doesn’t have the funds to replace these, and the UK Government is very reluctant to transfer the funds and powers to replace them to Wales.

Firstly, Wales’ population is 95% UK- born. Immigration is not causing a strain on housing or the NHS here; it’s a non- issue. What’s at fault is a UK Conservative Government and a Welsh Labour Government, both of which are riddled with failures. Blaming immigration here cannot wash; it’s a simple, right- wing distraction to the real issue.

But I’m also going to defend immigration to Britain. According to the OECD, EU migrants have contributed £8.8 billion more to the UK treasury in taxes than they have taken in benefits. Immigrants are our nurses, our teachers, our health workers. Our public services couldn’t survive without immigration. Immigration is a public good and the benefits of this need to be emphasised.

But even if you still want to leave the EU because of immigration, it’s very unlikely we will even get rid of the freedom of movement policy. If we remain in the single market, just like all EU states, as well as Norway and Switzerland (EEC states), we will have to accept freedom of movement. The only way to get rid of freedom of movement is to withdraw completely from Europe’s single market, a move which would have catastrophic effects on the economy, particularly in Wales as the country loses its trading access to Europe.