Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:43 pm on 28 June 2016.
There is always a welcome for the Member on these benches with his views. But he’s right—he’s right. Because Members will know that getting money out of the Treasury, fairness, the Barnett formula, air passenger duty—the answer was always ‘no’, because apparently the people of Wales and their views are not important. Well, that has to change. Others have said it in this Chamber and I’ll repeat it once again: it is our money and it needs to come to Wales for this legislature to decide how that money is distributed. Nothing else will do.
So, we face a different world, a different kind of politics, and a very uncertain world. We don’t know what the relationship will be with the EU. We don’t know what the UK, if it exists, will look like over the next few years. What is hugely important, I believe, for all of us in this Chamber, is to provide answers. They may not be answers we all agree on but, if we fail to provide a vision of a way forward, whatever differences there are between the different visions, then the gap will be filled by those whose views are far more extreme. We sometimes think that the 1930s and those conditions could never return, but I’m not convinced. So, it’s important for democratic politicians to make sure that they regain the confidence of the public, regain the trust of the public, and make sure that we have prosperity, justice and fairness for our nation.