I would like to thank everyone who was involved in the drafting of this Bill. I’d like to thank the Government and Government officials for many constructive conversations. Plaid Cymru and the Government have agreed on a number of areas in this context, and it was a matter of discussing how to deal with them on the face of the Bill. There was one area where we didn’t reach agreement, and that was the cause of the debate that we had earlier. But Plaid Cymru will now support this Bill at its final stage.

Like Julie James, I stand here on the shoulders of someone else who’s done a great deal of work on this Bill, namely Steffan Lewis, and I know that he will be extremely pleased to see this Bill passed by the Assembly this evening. Steffan has made the case for this Bill since last summer. Plaid Cymru’s stance is slightly different to the Government’s stance. We believe that this Bill is an appropriate response to leaving the European Union, and we don’t believe that we necessarily have to wait for Westminster to agree. We have seen a clear effort from the Westminster Government to grab powers through section 11 of the European withdrawal Bill since the very early days, and we have warned on a number of occasions, both myself and Steffan Lewis, had warned that that is what would happen, and we still haven’t seen clearly whether this will be resolved.

The Bill is important, I agree entirely on that, and, as we pass this legislation, I hope that this will now empower the Welsh Government to negotiate with the Westminster Government and to ensure that not an inch of devolved ground is ceded to the UK Government. It is crucially important for form and order as we leave the European Union that there should be pan-UK frameworks. Plaid Cymru doesn’t oppose that. Although we have a different vision for the future of the United Kingdom, we don’t oppose that in any sense, but we haven’t yet seen any sign of collaboration from the Westminster Government on these issues. And it is clear that section 11 in the Westminster Act wouldn’t be necessary unless those powers return automatically and smoothly to this place, without that section being like some dam holding them back in Westminster. It’s essential that we do away with that dam and ensure that those powers flow to this Assembly so that we can use those powers on behalf of the people of Wales, or even to secure further devolution in Wales, depending on what is appropriate.