We have to deal with the Government’s White Paper on the basis of one important principle—that everything now in the area of the Welsh language is subject to the principle of securing a million Welsh speakers by 2050. The challenge posed by the new strategy is transformational for all of us. If we are serious that we want to see the ambition of the strategy made reality, then we have to recognise that the linguistic landscape has to change entirely. In a period of austerity, we will need to ensure that every penny spent by any body on the growth of the Welsh language has a direct impact on the ground.

The focus for the most part has been on rights—rights through standards—and it is clear that there is room to reform the process of creating and imposing standards. We saw evidence from all areas that it was a burdensome process for everyone, and the aim here is to ensure that the standards work and that effort and resources are focused on driving up standards of provision, rather than negotiating and administration.

May I say that I personally support the concept of a general right? We have a number of regimes that do provide rights, as well as a process of balancing rights when they come into conflict. And with some imagination, I think that could work with a general right to use the Welsh language. But I’m willing to accept the point made in the White Paper that there are some complexities and limitations arising from that. I am convinced that we should extend standards to include supermarkets and banks and so on, and I welcome the commitment of the Minister to do that under the proposed system. I would like to hear from him, therefore, what his proposals are in that area.

The truth of the matter is that we can’t reach that aim of a million Welsh speakers with the current balance between rights and promotion. Maintaining and enhancing the current standards system is not enough. The power of rights to generate change depends on the willingness to insist on using those rights. The White Papers is clear that there are far more Welsh speakers than there are people taking advantage of the right to use the Welsh language. So, only through promotion can we create that confidence for more and more Welsh speakers to insist on those rights. We need to promote in wider society. The strategy and the White Paper go into some detail on that. But we need promotion within the organisations that are subject to standards too—a culture change, not just regulation. Changing ways of working to create a bilingual ethos can develop access in various ways and it can generate creativity, and we need to create a space for an inclusive conversation on the benefits of the Welsh language within those organisations.

I welcome, therefore, the proposals to redefine standards and to create a new focus on language planning duty—a duty that will mean more than a tick-box exercise and a system that will mean compliance with a duty to carry out inquiries, to plan and to provide. This is the opportunity now to truly transform the landscape.

Just a few words on structure, namely the new commission. This isn’t the most important element of the White Paper in my view, but we shouldn’t be conservative in our views to reforming structures, if that is required to meet new demands. The scale of the challenge in the strategy does create new demands. The proposal is that the enforcement and compliance powers of the commissioner should remain. It has been recognised for a decade or more that it is through a board, rather than through an individual, that that is most appropriately achieved for many reasons. So, it is appropriate that we evolve the regulatory body.

Fifty-five years ago, in February 1962, in a radio interview, Jim Griffiths, Member of Parliament for Llanelli, stated that the future of the Welsh language was the greatest challenge facing Wales. It was an unusual statement for a Labour MP to make at that time. In the same month, Saunders Lewis gave his ‘Tynged yr Iaith’ lecture, which transformed our awareness as a nation of the threat to Welsh culture. He predicted that the Welsh language would have died by the beginning of this century. Well, as Welsh speakers, we are still here, but it’s only through working together and taking action—