Wales’s first minister has said she is unsure the European Union would want the UK to re-join as the country “didn’t behave very well” in recent years.
Eluned Morgan told Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth that allowing the country back into the bloc was “not going to be as straightforward as [he] and [she] would like to think”.
Friday marks five years since the UK officially left the European Union, after the country voted to leave in 2016.
Speaking at First Minister’s Questions on Tuesday, Baroness Morgan said: “I’m not going to pretend to you that I wouldn’t like to see a much closer relationship with the European Union.”
But she told the Senedd that “the issue” for the UK was “will they have us?”
“Are they going to open those opportunities for us? Because, frankly, as a nation, over all those years of a Tory government, we didn’t behave very well,” she added.
The first minister’s comments come as Plaid Cymru outlined plans for a new European Alignment Act, calling for Welsh legislation to be “aligned as closely and quickly as possible” with EU standards.
Adam Price, the Welsh nationalist spokesperson for justice and European affairs, said the act would “reset” Wales’s relationship with the EU.
Meanwhile, leader of the Welsh Conservatives, Darren Millar said “only [they] stand ready to grasp the opportunities that [the country’s] post-Brexit freedoms present”.
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