During the Senedd debate on the EU a few weeks ago, Dafydd Elis-Thomas said that, if Wales voted to leave, it would be a consequence of the failure of the political class as a whole, and I reported to this Chamber in that debate the distance the people of Caerphilly felt, both literally and figuratively, from decision makers in the European Union. But today I feel the breadth of this perceived distance is wider with Westminster and sometimes this Parliament of Wales and every Member here also struggling to act as a bridge between the people of our constituencies and the decisions taken in their names. Yet, all of us want to represent our constituents and our communities and almost all of us are of our communities. If we are to do our work then we must be able to speak frankly without too much concern about consequent party politics. I think sometimes we need to find a balance between blaming each other for the outcomes that have happened as a result of policies and relevant debating points and scrutiny, and I think sometimes we don’t get that balance right.

I said several times during the Assembly election campaign and during the referendum campaign that I would engage with my principal challengers, Plaid Cymru, without hesitation if it made a difference to the lives of the people I represent, and I think Steffan Lewis can testify to that. Indeed, I’ve held constructive conversations with members of that party and I intend to continue to do so.

One of the consequences of the EU referendum may give us an opportunity to bridge that political divide further that was laid so bare by the campaign. The UK cross-party Constitution Reform Group, of which I believe our own David Melding is a member, proposes a new Act of union that gives each nation and region full sovereignty over their own affairs—a federated UK reimagined and re-empowered. We should look upon these ideas with interest.

In the meantime, and by the same token as the leader of the opposition has said, the new Prime Minister must work with our elected Government here to ensure that Wales does not lose out by our leaving the European Union. A distinctive Welsh exit plan and our economic strategy must be integral to the negotiations to leave the European Union. This motion today sets some vital red lines in these negotiations and my friend the leader of the house’s amendments bolsters that with a clear demand for fairer funding.

But, I would say, at the referendum vote count in Caerphilly I was struck by the wild celebrations of UKIP members, which I didn’t think was appropriate given the fact that UKIP clearly had no plan as to what would happen next. Nigel Farage said the pledge to guarantee £350 million a week for the NHS was one of the mistakes made by the ‘leave’ campaign, yet he and the rest of the UKIP members were silent about this absurd pledge during the campaign. I suspect that, actually, it was because they hadn’t thought that far ahead and didn’t really expect to win the referendum.

But, people all over Wales care passionately about our NHS and what we now need is clarity over the funding arrangements, as outlined in the motion and as promised by members of the UK Government.

Election campaigns can be life-enhancing, engaging experiences and a chance to make the case to the country, but it appears to me that the referendum campaign was none of those things. Today, we feel the divisive effects on our nation. And I’m reflecting on what Leanne Wood said about proportional representation; I’m of an open mind, the only thing that concerns me is, perhaps in 2011, if we’d had a truly proportional system to elect to this place, we may have seen BNP members elected at that point, as they were to the London Assembly. I’m not suggesting that’s something that we should rule out—proportional representation—but it’s a consequence we should bear in mind.

We should all, therefore, bear in mind the concerns about hate crimes that are being perpetrated across the country in the wake of the vote. In Gwent, there was a 46 per cent increase in hate crime in the run-up to the referendum, and the Police and Crime Commissioner for Gwent, my excellent predecessor as Assembly Member for Caerphilly, Jeff Cuthbert, has rightly said that racial abuse will not be tolerated by the force. I’m pleased my local authority in Caerphilly continues to engage with residents to combat hate crime and I intend to support a motion to that effect from Caerphilly councillors, in the name of councillor Roy Saralis, at full council next week, which will also be supported by Plaid Cymru. Sometimes, I think it would be better if we thought more about these things than the silly things that we try to find to divide ourselves during local election campaigns.

We live in politically volatile times, but regardless of the outcome of the referendum result, we must find a way to work together on issues of common purpose. We must be able to serve our party’s core principles and our people without creating needless division and we must have a clear plan for leaving the EU that benefits Wales. That is clear in this motion and the amendment. But we must also ensure that the time ahead benefits the people of our nation, even if that means a new understanding of nationhood. That perhaps is an issue for a wider debate.