Wales must reset its relationship with Europe to repair the damage done to the economy caused by Brexit, Plaid Cymru has stated.

Plaid Cymru’s spokesperson for Justice and European Affairs Adam Price MS said that a Plaid Cymru Government would introduce a new act to enable Welsh law to be aligned as closely and quickly as possible with essential European standards when it is in Wales’ best interests.

Mr Price said a new European Alignment Act could help reset the relationship between Wales and Europe to protect the economy at a time of growing global instability.

January 31 will mark five years since the UK formally left the European Union.

According to the Economic Cost of Brexit project, the average person in the UK is now £2,000 worse off as a result of Brexit, amplifying the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.

The type of Brexit taken by the last government has cost the Welsh economy up to £4bn.

Plaid Cymru’s spokesperson for Justice and European Affairs Adam Price MS said: “Five years on, there can be no doubting the extent of the damage that Brexit done to Wales and the wider UK.

“The form of hard Brexit pursued by the last UK Government has cost the Welsh economy up to £4bn. Brexit has reduced the value of Welsh exports by up to £1.1bn. Post-Brexit trade deals have hurt Welsh farmers, fishers and other producers across many key sectors. £1bn has been lost to Wales in the form of European structural and rural development funding.

“Plaid Cymru believe that returning to the single market and customs union as soon as possible would be the best way to begin to undo this economic damage.

“Under Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his Chancellor Rachel Reeves, Labour are disappointingly resolute in refusing to acknowledge this starkest of economic realities.

“We need an urgent reset in our relationship with the EU, including securing opportunities for young people in Wales to travel, work and study in Europe, and vice versa.

“It is for this reason that I, and Plaid Cymru, are proposing the new European Alignment Act. Such an Act would restore powers we should never have given up and would enable Welsh law to be aligned as closely and quickly as possible with essential European standards when it is in Wales’ best interests.”

“Wales needs to stick as close as we can to our European friends and allies and remain alive to changes in European politics and policy to protect our communities in an ever more insecure and uncertain world.”