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EU referendum: Leap in the dark to leave, says Crabb | |
(about 4 hours later) | |
Supporters of a UK exit from the EU are offering "confusion and vagueness", the Welsh secretary has said, claiming it would be a "leap in the dark". | |
Stephen Crabb said it made "much more sense" for Britain to stay in the EU and fight for reform. | |
Of the 11 Welsh Tory MPs, five have said Britain should remain, four want to leave and two are undeclared, one of them Wales Office minister Alun Cairns. | |
Mr Crabb was "hopeful and optimistic" he would vote to remain in the EU. | |
The Welsh secretary said remaining in the EU was right for Welsh businesses and the "overwhelming majority" of firms agreed. | |
"There's a lot they don't like about the European system in the same way that there's lots they don't like about Welsh government and UK government," he said. | |
"But they know that on a balance of costs and benefits, risks and opportunities, Britain and Wales are actually better off staying part of a reforming European Union." | |
As for those campaigning for a British exit, Mr Crabb said: "They aren't able to say how we get back into the European Union to be part of a single trading area, without also accepting some of the rules and costs that come with that." | |
The Welsh secretary said hoped Mr Cairns - his junior minister at the Wales Office - would join him in supporting the UK remaining in the EU. | |
"Alun is a very pragmatic, sensible guy - he understand the needs, particularly amongst businesses in Wales," Mr Crabb said. | |
"It will be up to him to make his mind up. But I'm hopeful and optimistic that like me he'll recognise although there are so many things that are wrong with the European system that we can argue about and fight against, actually on balance it makes much more sense for Britain to stay in." | |
Earlier on Monday, Vale of Clwyd MP Dr James Davies became the fourth Welsh Conservative MP to declare he wanted the UK to leave the EU, saying it was "time to move on". | |
"The truth is that the EU is a largely political project and Britain has always been a reluctant partner of it," he wrote on his Facebook page. | "The truth is that the EU is a largely political project and Britain has always been a reluctant partner of it," he wrote on his Facebook page. |
Montgomeryshire MP Glyn Davies revealed on Twitter he would seek the views of local party members before deciding which way to vote. | |
Labour, Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats have said their parties will campaign to keep the UK in the EU. | Labour, Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats have said their parties will campaign to keep the UK in the EU. |