Plaid Cymru has called for Wales to rejoin the single market, warning Brexit has cost the Welsh economy up to £4bn, as the Senedd marked five years since the UK left the European Union.

Adam Price led a debate to mark the fifth anniversary of the UK exiting the EU in 2020 after the referendum in which Wales voted 52.53 per cent “leave” and 47.47 per cent “remain” in 2016.

The former Plaid Cymru leader said: “I think it would be magical thinking, wouldn't it to say that Brexit has been a triumph, the kind of step change that was promised to us at the time of the referendum.

“Nor has it been the complete cataclysm in totality that some had feared.

“The real picture is mixed.

“The problem lies in the make-up of that mixture.”

Urging the Welsh Government to back membership of the single market and customs union, he asked: “What is Wales's European strategy? Well, the problem is this: nobody knows – we don't know, the UK doesn't know, Europe doesn't know.”

Conservative leader Darren Millar told the Senedd that Brexit resulted in a “huge repatriation” of powers to the UK and Cardiff Bay and that “the prophets of doom were completely wrong.”

Mr Millar told the Senedd: “There's an inconvenient truth that Plaid and Labour would like us to ignore, and it is this: the people of Wales spoke very clearly on this issue.

“They voted to leave the EU.”

Labour’s Alun Davies said he fully agreed with the Plaid Cymru motion and was disappointed with the UK Government's position.

“Brexit has diminished Wales. It has damaged Wales,” he said.

Responding to the debate on 29 January, Economy Secretary Rebecca Evans said Wales remains committed to maintaining a strong relationship with the EU despite a “hard, chaotic, Tory Brexit”.