Tomorrow’s vote is the most important decision to be taken by Britain for a generation. It will set in stone the direction for our country, not just for this generation but for our children’s generation too. It is vitally important that everyone casting their vote takes this long view. This decision is not about the here and now, but it will shape the next 30 to 40 years of Britain’s future. This decision should not be a popularity contest between today’s politicians. It’s not Boris or Dave that matter, it’s our children and grandchildren. That is why everyone must think about that when they vote tomorrow.

This is why I want to address my remarks to my constituents in Torfaen in particular and to the people of Wales as a whole. In Torfaen, I want you to think hard about the prospects for your children and grandchildren. I’d like you to remember that, very often, in the last few years, it has been Brussels that has stood by us and our kids when Westminster turned its back and walked away. Please think about employment projects like Bridges into Work, which has seen £5.4 million of EU funds, providing opportunities and training for young people in Torfaen, or the EU funds helping to deliver accredited employment support locally, such as in the Cwmbran centre for young people.

If the vote is to leave the EU tomorrow, what will happen to this kind of sustained commitment to jobs, skills and regeneration? Do we want to rely on Farage, Gove or Boris Johnson? These are the people who turned their backs on us, gave us the bedroom tax and will slash investment as a matter of ideology. I know that many are worried about the pace of change in our communities, but voting to leave the EU will not address these worries. These arguments from the ‘leave’ campaign on immigration are nothing but snake oil.

If local workers are being undercut then the answer is a decent living wage—properly enforced and properly policed. If there is a shortage of skills, the answer is investment in training. When the housing situation is difficult, the answer is decent, affordable homes for everyone. The Valleys are not full—we’ve been bleeding people—our population has declined for generations. That has to stop if our communities are going to survive. We cannot steer our way through the problems we face by turning our back on the world and wishing it away. Change must come, but we may best shape that change if we retain a seat at the European table.

To the voters of Wales as a whole, I ask: what kind of Wales will you vote for tomorrow? Will it be one that embraces the £150 million on offer from Europe for the Valleys metro, or one that squanders that transformational investment? Will it be a Wales that utilises the £90 million on offer from Europe to complete the work on superfast broadband and take a connected Wales into the twenty-first century, or a Wales that remains firmly in the twentieth?

Will you take the long view for the sake of your children and grandchildren? Do you want them to feel committed to a free, democratic and stable Europe—free to travel, study and work within the biggest free economy on Earth, and benefit from the huge advantages that offers? Or, will you offer them uncertainty and a disconnected future? Will they inherit a Wales cut off from the biggest economy in the world, and will you gamble with their job prospects and prosperity? Tomorrow, remember why the EU was founded and why its future stability is crucial to the future our children and grandchildren will inherit. Remember that the EU is, first and foremost, about peace. UKIP will tell you that it has been NATO that has kept the peace in western Europe since 1945, and they deny the role of the EU. They are wrong. It is true that NATO has been indispensable in the military and political spheres, but the EU has been indispensable too, in the social, economic and cultural spheres. Military alliances matter, but they can’t deliver peace on their own. Europe in 1914 was awash with military alliances. Our children now live in a Europe where war between European democracies has become unthinkable, precisely because our EU has linked hands, not just militarily, but socially and economically too. That stability has given us 70 years of peace. Don’t deny our children and our grandchildren the best chance of another 70 years of the same.

If Britain votes to leave tomorrow, it will be a vote to cut off my constituency from desperately needed investment in jobs, skills and infrastructure, plunging us into economic uncertainty and making us poor. If Britain votes to leave tomorrow, then we destabilise the EU itself, and the world becomes a little more dangerous—maybe not immediately and maybe not for us, but for our children and grandchildren certainly. So, I call on everyone to take the long view. When you stand in that polling booth, even though the ballot is secret, you will not be alone. The futures of your children and your grandchildren will be standing right next to you. Don’t gamble with that future. Keep it safe.