Diolch, Lywydd. I move the motion in the name of Simon Thomas and I’m happy to support the amendment, amendment 1, in the name of Jane Hutt.

Our motion today comes as Theresa May becomes the new Prime Minister of the UK. She has said that she intends to implement the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union. That withdrawal will occur after a sustained period of negotiations, with issues such as single-market access, immigration and the status of EU and UK citizens all up for discussion. The outgoing Prime Minister said that Wales could play a role in these negotiations. It’s vital, therefore, that we, as Wales—all of Wales—make the case for retaining as many as possible of the benefits that we currently gain from being a member of the European Union.

Plaid Cymru will do whatever we can to influence the Welsh negotiating position, to unashamedly fight for Wales’s corner, and to stand up at all times for Wales’s national interests.

In part, the referendum result was a product of the inequalities that have built up over many decades. The UK has the deepest regional inequality of any current EU member state. Brussels has become a scapegoat for anger and frustration, where whole sections of society feel as though they’ve lost control of their lives. Voting seems to get you nowhere in a first-past-the-post system, and, when people are elected to this institution, for example, it doesn’t have the powers that we need to fix all of the problems that our people face.

I have a lot of sympathy with the perception that many in our communities feel powerless and ignored. Outgoing Prime Minister David Cameron said today that he hoped that people would see that he left behind, in his words,

‘a stronger country…and more chances to get on in life.’

But that’s false, isn’t it? Firstly, the United Kingdom is not a country, it is a state, and the integrity of that state has been weakened by this referendum result. Now, the UK could lose a significant part of its territory and it could cease to exist. In terms of having more chances to get on in life, there are areas in this country, in Wales, where better job opportunities are available, but there are also areas where there’s a sense of prolonged decline and neglect despite, in many cases, those areas having qualified numerous times for EU economic development aid.