It is with deep regret that this debate today on Wales and the EU occurs in the shadow of the decision of a majority of our fellow citizens to withdraw from the European Union, but that was their democratic right, and they have exercised it. But a vow was made to the people of this country, as the leader of the opposition has said. It was a specific vow, and it was repeated. It included a commitment to increase spending on the national health service, it included a commitment that the British state would cover every penny of lost EU funding to farmers and in aid to deprived communities. Plaid Cymru waits with anticipation for the emergence, for the first time in history, of a British Prime Minister in Downing Street, in September, announcing a record, unprecendented increase in investment in Wales. That new Prime Minister will have to do so without any savings from European membership because, as we learned over the weekend, the Brexit plan may include membership of the European Economic Area, which comes with a substantial membership fee. A vow was made to the people of this country, many of whom live in the poorest communities of this continent. Plaid Cymru will not allow those people to be lied to. They stand to lose too much.

Llywydd, in the weeks leading up to the appointment of a new Prime Minister, it is crucial that the Welsh Government works to further, as best it can, the Welsh national interest. And I would like to make a specific suggestion to the First Minister, which I hope he’ll consider over the coming days as part of his Government’s response. Will he compile and publish for debate in this Assembly a national mitigation plan for Wales, based on three broad strands? Firstly, the steps that can be taken internally, within Wales, to support those communities that are facing the greatest uncertainty, like west Wales and the Valleys, which will be seeking alternative sources of aid, and rural communities, which will require greater levels of financial support. Will he also consider bringing forward, as part of this strand, an economic fairness Bill, so that we have a regional development policy to support all corners of our nation, using the limited capital powers we have to best effect?

Secondly as part of this national mitigation plan, we suggest a second strand to look at changes needed at the British Isles level that further the Welsh national interest. For example, will the First Minister look at advocating the creation of an investment bank of the isles, along the European Investment Bank model, to provide finance for schemes that would otherwise be funded by the EIB, and also perhaps as a mechanism for the delivery of a new structural funds programme to replace those that will be lost as a result of our withdrawal from the European Union? Would he also consider publishing proposals for the immediate constitutional changes needed to strengthen Wales’s position so that we are not now incorporated into a monstrous England-and-Wales entity that works against our national interests?

And, finally, as part of the third strand of this national mitigation plan, will the First Minister consider addressing Wales’s place in the international community, including, of course, the new relationship we’ll have to build with other European countries? Specifically, will he seek full and unfettered access for Welsh Government to the British state’s diplomatic network, so that a distinct Welsh voice for securing trade and building relations can be established across Europe and the wider world? The First Minister should also consider renewing efforts to attract other countries to open diplomatic missions here in Cardiff as part of this process.

Llywydd, whatever way people voted last week, many on all sides will be looking to the future anxiously. A sad irony of the referendum campaign was a fundamental, and, in my opinion, intentional misunderstanding of the principle of ever closer union. That part of EU treaties, of course, refers to the ever closer union of the peoples, not the Governments, of Europe. My hope, perhaps against all odds, is that the people of this nation can continue to stand with the peoples of this continent, and that the dream of Wales in Europe will never die.