Well, that’s what I am coming to, because, in terms of value for money, I’m asking: why on earth don’t we just find out? Tidal lagoons are new thinking. Like CERN, this is a world first. This is a new industry, a global industry, with global implications, and it’s ours for the taking here in the UK. It’s not a question of ‘could’, David Melding; it’s a question of ‘should’. The Hendry report is convincing on the part that tidal energy could play in meeting our needs, but that is just part of a much bigger story. It is convincing on the immediate local economic benefits that a no-regrets pathfinder lagoon would bring to my region: it’s transformative for Swansea as a city, he says. But it’s true for other parts of the UK as well. It’s convincing on the economic effect of other lagoons in the south east and north of Wales, and the fit with the UK industrial strategy. But the real value for money comes from being the first—the UK being the undisputed global centre for lagoon expertise and manufacturing. How often does an opportunity like this come along? For 30p on our bills, we can make all this talk of a knowledge economy mean something, by growing manufacturing for the world here in the UK.

It’s not just about the development phase. We could be leading the world in research and development, not just in a more efficient design but in materials, giving our steelworks new life and direction, in energy storage, in transmission methods, in flood protection. If we want a USP for our new trade deals, well here it is. Looking forward, thinking forward, spending forward—not on a lagoon, but on a new industrial future for Britain.

When CERN was set up, it didn’t foresee that its work would save lives through proton beam therapy, and that it would revolutionise data transfer. Its partners just knew that they were the first, and being first means driving change. Four hundred years ago—a little bit more recently than St David, I’m afraid—Hans Lippershey invented the Dutch perspective glass, a device for seeing things far away as if they were nearby. He took some existing technology, a glass lens, and did something moderately interesting with it. He didn’t treat it as a first; he didn’t see the potential of what he had. Galileo, on the other hand, wasn’t content to see things far away as if they were nearby. He took his version of the Dutch perspective glass and showed the Venetian Senate that his telescope gave them something unique: access to the stars. It made him a rich man and made all of us richer, as the Hubble telescope, just like CERN, has helped us understand our universe. We shouldn’t look at tidal lagoons as things far away as if they were nearby. We also need to look up and see the global opportunity for Wales and for Britain.