Madam,

We in Wales and the wider UK have cause to reflect in 2018 on what could be the last year of our membership of the European Union. During the past 45 years, our economies have grown stronger and relationships between member states have grown deeper.

We now face the reality of what the total rupture in relations a ‘Hard Brexit’ would mean – for our rural heartlands, our post industrial communities, our food security and our public services, notably the NHS.

The greater the stability we can retain in our relations with European friends and neighbours in the time to come and the lower the hurdles erected in trade and labour flows, the more it will be in our shared interest.

The cross-party movement to reassess the impact of Brexit, of leaving the Single Market and the Customs Union, on living standards and the prospects of ordinary people in every community, must grow apace and find its voice in 2018.

Yours etc,

William Powell, Mid and West Wales AM, member of the Welsh Government EU Advisory Group.

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