‘Wales and Europe in an uncertain world’
Stephen Crabb gives speech on Wales’s place in a reformed European Union
Stephen Crabb
Britain and Wales’ interests are best served in a reformed and reforming European Union, Secretary of State for Wales Stephen Crabb told an audience of business leaders in Cardiff today (Thursday 28th January).
As the Prime Minister continues to negotiate the UK’s future relationship within the Union, Mr Crabb today said that EU “renegotiation matters in very, very significant ways – and it matters for Wales”.
Mr Crabb said:
Neither of the two extreme positions is where the centre of gravity of Welsh public opinion or Welsh business opinion is at. The case for Wales remaining within the EU cannot be left to those who say stay in at any cost; The argument for Wales to remain with the EU “has to be won with clearer and more thought-through arguments.
That argument, he said, “will be won by the reformers, who approach this question in a hard headed and clear sighted way”.
He added:
The case for change that is at the heart of our renegotiation is as much about looking to the future as about looking at the past or present failings of the EU.
And confident in the support we have from business, we have gone into this renegotiation determined to get a better deal.
The centre-ground is a place of both pragmatism and principle. And that is why businesses across the length and breadth of Britain get what we are trying to achieve.
He went on to highlight the benefits that can be secured for the UK through a successful renegotiation and reformed EU, adding:
Britain’s and Wales’ future is as an outward-looking nation with major links to the powerhouses of the global economy.
it’s not in the British interest for Europe to wither as a global economic force.
There is no safe, easy, risk-free option. But with a successful renegotiation deal I believe there will be a clear and correct choice – and that will be to remain.
To read the speech in full, click here