Diolch yn fawr, Lywydd. Well, there’s a motion before the National Assembly this afternoon that sets out three tests for a decision to take Wales out of the European Union, and, as has been undoubtedly demonstrated over the last hour, the motion fails on each one of those tests that they would have us accept. Wales would neither be stronger, safer and certainly not more prosperous if we were to leave the European Union, as this motion suggests.

Now, those of us who remember and were part of the campaign to establish this National Assembly will recall that, while we had no constitutional convention of the sort established in Scotland, we did have a very effective cross-party and cross-sectoral group that argued the case in the slogan that was used at the time—that a National Assembly would give Wales a stronger voice in Europe. And, thanks to the work of many Members here and many, many others across Wales, that proposition has been very directly delivered. Our language and our culture are stronger through our membership of the European Union. Our research base in science and in our universities is stronger because we are in the European Union. Our social protection for workers and consumers is stronger because of the safeguards guaranteed through the European Union.

Llywydd, Wales is safer too. The quality of our water is safer because of common action across the European Union. Food quality and security is safer because they are protected by European Union membership. Our membership of the European Union-wide networks on illegal drug use makes our citizens safer here in Wales. Our ability to deal with transnational crime and the modern scourge of terrorism, through the machinery of a European Union, makes us safer every single day. That’s the view of the most senior figures in the field—the head of MI5, the head of MI6, the head of the Government Communications Headquarters, five former NATO chiefs, the British head of Europol, and our allies in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States.

Now, Llywydd, I’m not much given to quoting Conservative politicians, but we’ve not heard much from them this afternoon. So, let me make up, in a very small way, for that deficit by repeating and adapting what Ruth Davidson, the Conservative leader at the Scottish Parliament, said yesterday: when it comes to a choice between listening to all those people and listening to those who proposed this motion, I’m going to vote for the experts every single day of the week and twice on Sundays, too. And they do that, and they say that for those reasons that Lynne Neagle expressed so eloquently here this afternoon—because membership of the European Union makes the future safer for our children and our grandchildren too.