The Second Severn Crossing

Part of 5. Topical Questions – in the Senedd at 4:11 pm on 18 April 2018.

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Photo of Ken Skates Ken Skates Labour 4:11, 18 April 2018

We are no longer—. My colleague and my friend, Dafydd Elis-Thomas, is absolutely right, we are no longer conquered; we are a proud nation, we are a confident nation, and we should have confidence in our identity as well. In having confidence, we're able to reach out globally, we're able to be tolerant, we're able to be open to people, and we are able to recognise, as a confident nation, the contribution that people such as His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales make to our well-being and our prosperity.

The Member's right, there are a huge number of bridges that have not yet been named, and it was interesting that, in the mid 1990s, there was a massive public campaign, a huge public campaign, with tens of thousands of people pushing for what's called the new Flintshire bridge to be named the Lady Diana bridge. That never happened, but that does serve to demonstrate that, whilst there may have been 30,000 people who signed the particular petition that's been referenced today, more than 3 million people have not signed that petition. Indeed, many tens of thousands of people were pushing for a bridge in the north of the country to be named after a member of the royal family in the 1990s.