Thank you, Presiding Officer, and I formally move the amendment in the name of Paul Davies, and I thank UKIP for bringing the debate today. I will try not to detain the Chamber too long today, as they are already reporting it’s the hottest day possible outside. After spending yesterday talking again about Brexit, on the First Minister’s statement, where there wasn’t much that, as an institution, we can deal with on that, I do have to say, whilst it’s perfectly legitimate to debate immigration, and it’s a point that many people do raise when we’re on the doorsteps and talking around Wales, as an institution, there’s not a lot we can actually do about it, to be honest with you, because obviously it’s a reserved matter.

But, from the Welsh Conservative point of view, and my view in particular, I do believe that it is something we should welcome, the ability for people to move around, to be able to come and go as they please, and, in particular, immigration, in my view, has enriched us as a country—as Wales, but as an United Kingdom as well. Without a shadow of a doubt, economically, we are far wealthier as a country by the ability for people to bring their skills, bring their talents, into our country, whether that be in the medical profession, whether that be in manufacturing, or, an area I understand greatly, the agricultural sector, where much economic activity basically depends on the ability for people to come into our country on short-term work permits, visas, call them what you will, or, actually, under the rights secured over time, and actually help economic activity in communities the length and breadth of Wales. Frankly, that economic activity would just cease to exist unless that ability to move around was safeguarded and some sort of facility enabled.

If you look at the higher education sector in particular, it is vital that the gains that we have made over the last 20 to 30 years in the field of research, to be at the forefront of many areas of research, are protected as we go into the Brexit negotiations in particular. That ability to learn and that ability to come into the country and practice in our seats of learning is a vital component of a dynamic twenty-first century economy, which, again, I do believe that we need to be acutely aware of.

But it is a fact that, for many people, immigration is a concern that they seem to have. I think very often it’s a perceived concern rather than a real concern—very often coming across in some extreme programmes that are put on telly that seem to create an image, an impression, of a situation that is far removed from any community that I understand here in Wales or I actually see here in Wales. I do think, as politicians, it is for us, along with others, to promote the benefits that we see, both to the economy and to ourselves as a society, about the ability to be able to move around and ultimately ingrain ourselves and incorporate ourselves in each other’s culture and way of life.

So, that’s why we have put the amendment down today that actually calls for the Assembly to reflect on the welcoming nature Wales has, on the open economy that we have had and I hope we’ll very much continue to have as we go forward, once the Brexit negotiations are concluded, but reflecting on what was an important plank of the Brexit discussions around taking back control and bringing to this country the ability for the democratic institutions of this country to actually set the parameters of what we want as a country.

It might be that you suddenly get a Government that would say, ‘We will take everyone and have an open borders policy’, but that would be for people to vote for that Government. On the other hand, you flip the coin, you could get a Government that would take a very different view and say, ‘No, we pull the drawbridge up and no-one comes in’, but that’s democracy at the end of the day. That, surely, is what we put politicians in places to do, to achieve the will of what people are thinking in that country, and that’s why we have elections.

So, that’s why I very often stand proudly, trying to promote the virtues, as I see it, of a very diverse society, a culturally mixed society, and an economy, as I said, that does thrive on that ability for people to go from Britain to other parts of the world, and from other parts of the world to come into Britain, and, in particular, Wales. When we look at many of our key public services in particular, they would just cease to function unless we were able to obviously attract and secure the professionalism and dynamics that they can bring in to assist the growth of the NHS and the growth of many of our other public services. So, with those points, that is why I hope that the house this afternoon will find favour with the Conservative amendment that is before us on the order paper and vote for that amendment, because it does call on the Assembly to reflect on what we have as a country, being a welcoming, dynamic and diverse country, whilst recognising the genuine concerns that people have over the recent decade or so, where some people perceive that there has been a dramatic change in the culture and the society that they live in, and, therefore, does call on the Government to bring forward the policies to address those concerns.