Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. A fo ben, bid bont: he who would be a leader, let him be a bridge. That's the old saying in the Mabinogion. Well, of course, in the wake of the intervention by Alun Cairns, maybe we should overturn that to: a fo bont, bid ben—he who would be a bridge, let him lead. Why did he do this? And why did 40,000 people sign a petition opposing it? I think John Griffiths was right: in a name there is power. Symbols are important; they are significant because they do carry a message about who we are. That’s why people are concerned about these things, and I don’t think there is anything intolerant about feeling passionately about what this represents in terms of our values, as John Griffiths said.

I’m a republican as well and I don’t think it’s about being a republican or being a monarchist; I think it’s about whether you’re a democrat, to tell you the truth. Where was the voice of the people of Wales in this decision? A decision that has been imposed on us, of course, like something from days gone by, before devolution and before democracy. That’s why people are responding and saying, ‘Well, this is unacceptable.’

Several nations in the world have been going through a process of renaming things in order to free themselves from colonialism. In Canada, they’ve recently renamed Langevin bridge in Alberta—the great oppressor of native peoples—and it's become Reconciliation bridge. In Australia, of course, we know about Ayers rock, which became Uluru. Only in Wales, of course, has the process gone the other way. John referred to the Principality Stadium, and we have this bridge now. Of course, we’re still losing local Welsh place names, as we’ve been doing for centuries—a process similar to what happened in Ireland. Well, you will remember the Brian Friel drama, Translations, about the power of place names. They’re a central part of understanding who we are and our history.

Place names are the place where language and power meet. The second Severn crossing was only a bridge, but what is it now? It’s a symbol; it’s a symbol of our lack of authority. It’s a symbol of our lack of voice in our own country, a symbol of a lack of democracy: half the bridge in England, but 100 per cent of the power. [Interruption.] There’s no time. Wales has paid the majority of the tolls, and yet we had no opportunity to voice our opinion. It reminds me of that Calcutta monument—Victoria's monument—which was paid for by the Indians themselves. They and us, before long, will be the only people in the world who have paid for symbols of our own oppression, but with one big difference: they are independent. I hope that that will soon be true of Wales as well.