I will make some comments that are relevant to the whole of Wales, and then look at my constituency of Anglesey. We’ve all heard people discussing the importance of taking back control. What we’re not clear about is what exactly we’re talking about: what kind of control we’re talking about, and what will the cost of that be. The risk that we face in Wales now is that we could lose control as a result of the UK Government’s intent through the great repeal Bill, and we’ve heard some of my fellow Members discuss that already. For example, I’m very concerned about the agricultural industry in my constituency if the UK Government do what they’ve threatened to do in terms of European framework powers, taking them to themselves—temporarily at least—with no pledges in the longer term, rather than doing what is just, and constitutional, in my view, and is crucial for our rural economy and our rural communities, namely to ensure that the Welsh Parliament continues to have full responsibility on issues in this area, an area that is clearly fully devolved.

But I will mention one other area where control will be lost as a result of the issuing of the article 50 letter: not losing control for constitutional reasons or legislative reasons, but because of the practical implications of the kind of Brexit that the UK Government seems intent on seeking. Anglesey is the main port for trade between the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Over three quarters of the trade on lorries between Europe and the Republic of Ireland passed through Welsh ports, and 79 per cent of that went through Holyhead port. Over 2 million people passed through the port: hundreds of thousands of cars and thousands of buses. I hope I’m painting a picture of just why the port of Holyhead is so important to Wales and so important to the island of Anglesey, where hundreds are directly employed in the port, and far more in businesses related to the success of the port. My concern is that the UK Government is voluntarily losing control of the prosperity of that port by deciding to give up its membership of the single market and the customs union. If, for obvious reasons—to save the peace process—we need to secure a soft border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, that wouldn’t be the case between Wales and Ireland, and Holyhead/Dublin would be a hard border, quite possibly. There would be a major temptation to develop direct links from the Republic of Ireland to France—routes that currently exist at the moment, of course. Now, I am gravely concerned as to the impact of turning Holyhead from the swiftest and easiest route, and the most efficient route between Europe and Ireland, into one of the most difficult.

In the White Paper drawn up jointly between Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Government, we attempted to state what kind of control we would wish the UK Government to retain in terms of the relationship between Britain and Europe in the future. Playing a part in the single market is close to the top of that list, if not on top of the list. I don’t want to leave the European Union—I never would. But as that is the direction of travel, we do have to seek mitigation measures, and the single market is crucial to that, and we must continue to put pressure on for that.

To conclude, I will turn to the continuation Bill, which is the subject of our amendment. The First Minister said that he thought that a continuation Bill should be a last resort in terms of securing the constitutional future of Wales, and ensuring that the Parliament of Wales express in legislation our expectations that leaving the European Union wouldn’t undermine our ability to take action on behalf of the people of Wales. He added that we would have to wait for the great repeal Bill first. I will say this: surely now is the opportunity and the time for us to take action, because we can’t wait to see if the UK Government is going to act in a way that reflects the needs of the people of Wales, because the signs currently aren’t there that the UK Government will do that.