I have to say that, in debates like this, I find myself on very abstract ground, and sometimes I wonder where north Wales starts and ends. But this time I just followed the discussion, and I’m wondering which world an which Wales I live in, because that was unreal compared to the world that we live in, particularly in discussing a tax that doesn’t exist yet and hasn’t even been proposed formally, and where the Government in Westminster can say ‘no’ to that at any time.

But what is happening in north Wales of course is that tourism is very important to the coastal and rural areas, and it would make a world of difference there if VAT was cut to 5 per cent, as Plaid Cymru has campaigned for. The Conservatives, who have been so fluent on the subject of tourism over the last few weeks, have kept VAT at 17.5 per cent, and then increased it to 20 per cent on tourism businesses, after promising in an election that they wouldn’t do that to north Wales, and the rest of Wales. That’s the truth about that party.

But there is one thing that can be seen as a link that links north Wales, wherever you think it starts—some people feel that the language starts to change above Aberystwyth, and other people feel that you have to go past Dolgellau; I’m not really sure where exactly north Wales starts. But I do know that there is something common in that area, namely that it’s rural, with farming, agriculture and natural resources, particularly wind and rain. I just want to talk about the opportunities that we should try and take advantage of to establish a stronger economy using our natural resources in those areas to ensure a prosperous future for rural Wales.

Sian Gwenllian has touched on this, but I hope she will forgive me just saying a little bit more about the fact that we now have some very specialist reports about the different scenarios that could stem from Brexit, without a deal, or with a deal of a certain kind, or with a continuity of the customs union and the single market. Of all those scenarios, there’s no doubt that north Wales is going to suffer very badly unless we have some kind of agreement that keeps access or something very similar to the single market and the customs union. It’s very important to put it on record that the Farmers’ Union of Wales have said that we need to stay in the single market and the customs union, and the NFU haven’t mentioned this specifically, but have mentioned specifically about staying in the customs union, at least for now, to ensure that trade happens. One of the scenarios that are mentioned in the report by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board says very clearly that those areas that are less favoured, namely most agricultural areas in north Wales, are not only going to lose money, but are going to be in a negative position if that agreement does happen.

It is important, therefore, and we’re not going to apologise to anyone for putting in a Plaid Cymru motion some of the things that we’ve succeeded to secure from the Welsh Government. Among them is £6 million for new farmers and new entrants into the agricultural industry, and support, I hope, through discussion with the Welsh Government, that we’ll be able to see a prosperous scheme to ensure that we do send out the right message to people. As we leave the European Union, there are opportunities for new blood in the industry, there are opportunities for new people to enter the industry and, more than anything else, there are opportunities for new ideas to enter the agricultural industry. We need that revolution, of course, in order to deal with the challenges of the future.

Of course, we have had success in trying to mitigate some of the problems that have stemmed from changing business rates and the effect on hydro schemes. We’ve managed to get tax relief for community companies. There are justifications for tax relief for all kinds of hydro companies. We’ve pushed the Government as far as they can go in this budget deal and there are long-term implications from business rates. It’s obvious that the Government doesn’t want to see business rates killing prosperous businesses in the renewable energy sector—I’m sure they don’t want to see that—but those will be the implications that’ll stem from those business rate changes, and any report now needs to ensure that there is prosperity. I see, for example, that the Westminster Government is looking at stamp duty relief for residential properties that have renewable energy. Well, we could easily do the same thing here in Wales. In fact, Plaid Cymru did propose that in looking at the tax going through the committee, but the Government wasn’t willing to accept that at the time.

So, just to close on a note of hope, I think: there are great opportunities to grow the north Wales economy if we have our own resources and our own future, and that means more power for Wales as a whole.