Diolch, Llywydd. I formally move the amendment in the name of Rhun ap Iorwerth. From the outset, I’d like to reaffirm Plaid Cymru’s view, and a view, I think, that is shared across most of the Chamber, that those who come to this country and make this nation their home are welcome, that we value the skills they bring, the contribution they make to our economy, and the enrichment they add to our society. We also reaffirm our call for a speedy resolution to the status of EU nationals currently residing in the UK, and hope that an agreement is made soon in the Brexit negotiations that is humane and fair.

It is regrettable that in recent years the language surrounding the issue of immigration has been divisive and demeaning. Indeed, it’s always struck me as rather peculiar how some can regard a foreign national moving to the UK as an immigrant, but a British national moving overseas is romantically labelled an ‘expat’. The truth is, of course, that we are all, somewhere along the line, migrants. That has been the common characteristic of our species since the dawn of time. In any case, I want to briefly touch upon the economic and policy implications of migrations. In terms of EU nationals in Wales, there are fewer than 80,000, around 80 per cent of whom are in employment, and a greater proportion of the remaining 20 per cent are probably students. Of that 80,000 or so EU nationals, a significant number are Irish nationals, who, it is proposed by even the most enthusiastic advocates of closed borders, would continue to have free-movement rights with the UK post Brexit. Indeed, I understand that it is the current position of the UK Independence Party that the 1949 Ireland Act and its provisions regarding the rights of Irish citizens to freely travel to and from the UK should remain in place post Brexit, which begs the question, I suppose, of why you are discriminating against the nationals of other nation states, when you’re not discriminating against the nationals of the Republic of Ireland. That’s a matter for you to answer. Some 13,000 academic staff in Welsh universities came from EU countries, and nearly 50 per cent of veterinary surgeons registering in the UK qualified elsewhere in the EU. In the health and social care sector, as of September 2015, around 1,400 EU nationals were employed in NHS Wales. Indeed, you are more likely to be treated by a migrant in the NHS than to be behind a migrant in an NHS queue.

A report published by the London School of Economics this month on migration and the UK economy concluded that neither immigration as a whole, nor EU immigration in particular, has had significant negative effects on employment, wages and age inequality in the UK. The LSE paper also states that, at UK level, any falls in EU immigration are likely to lead to lower living standards for those who were born in the UK.

Indeed, we’re already seeing the real impact of the declining numbers of overseas applicants to our universities. It is worth noting, too, that, in countries with a points-based migration system, per capita migration levels are higher. As for the so-called ‘one-in, one-out’ policy, that would lead us to a damaging situation where a much-needed doctor could be stuck at Dover until a UK resident decides to leave the country, and that would be a preposterous position to be in. It is also—[Interruption.] It is also worth noting that Germany, with higher migration per capita than the UK, has stable GDP figures, public spending rose by 4.2 per cent last year, gross monthly earnings are on the rise, unemployment is at 3.9 per cent and there’s higher than average productivity in that country than in this state, which would suggest that conditions for workers in the UK are a result of the intentional structure of the economy on the part of successive Governments at Westminster. Indeed, I recall, in 1998, Gordon Brown celebrating the fact that even with the introduction of such measures as the minimum wage, the UK labour market was among the least regulated around the world, and that was a cause for celebration.

Now, of course, we are living with the consequences of a light-touch approach to our labour laws in the UK. Declining wages, exploitative working conditions, light-touch regulation and a diminishing industrial base have been the cornerstone of British economic policy since the 1980s at least, and working people, particularly in the former industrial communities of Wales, are paying the price, literally. So, we need an economic paradigm shift in this country that is place based, industry driven and centred on the worker and their rights, no matter where they were born.