I’d like to try and address two of the main arguments of those who want us to walk away from the European Union. Now, whenever the benefits of membership are stressed, those people who want to abandon our European partners say, time and again, ‘This is not EU money, it’s our money we’re getting back’, and we’ve heard it again this afternoon. Of course, the UK makes a contribution to the EU; so we should. Those of us who believe in the EU, we believe in solidarity. We believe that the weakest part of Europe should be helped by the strongest parts, and Wales benefits from that. Of course, every club has a membership fee, and, in return for that, we get benefits, not least tariff-free access to the single market. If we withdraw from Europe, we’ll still have costs. We’d still have to pay for access to this market, albeit without any ability to influence its rules.

But the amount of money that we hand over to Brussels, to use the pejorative terms we’ve become inured to after 30 years of anti-European tabloid propaganda, and it’s chipped away—the amount of money is relatively small. The Treasury says we make a net contribution of £8.4 billion a year, which is less than 1 per cent of all Government spending. So, let’s put this in proportion. That’s the size of our contribution. That’s the size of the amount of money we hand over to Brussels: 1 per cent of all Government spending in the UK, enough to fund the NHS across the UK for 19 days a year.

Now, we’ve had, I think, a thoroughly dishonest and unpleasant referendum campaign, capped by the disgraceful and disgusting dog-whistle images of Nigel Farage standing in front of posters of refugees, appealing to the most base elements of people’s desperation, which has been brought on by austerity politics. I think that UKIP should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves for the low level of politics they’ve brought into this campaign.