The great fault-line in Welsh politics today is between those who see Cardiff as our pre-eminent capital city and those who see London as that. I know where I stand. Wales has a great history. We were one of the first countries in Europe to have a civil law system under Hywel Dda as far back as the tenth century. Owain Glyndŵr, the great visionary of the fourteenth and fifteenth century, saw Wales as a country with its place in the world, with a Parliament that he set up well before Parliaments were the norm. During the American revolution, there were more signatories to the declaration of independence from Wales than from any other country. The Rebecca riots down west: on this very day in 1839, the tollgate was destroyed at Efailwen. We had the Merthyr rising and the Chartists in Newport—all Welsh people thirsting for sovereignty.

I'm a sovereignist and I want to live in a sovereign Wales, where we are sovereign as individuals, as communities and as a nation. Sovereignty means bringing governance closer to the people, making Government an engine for the desires and aspirations of the people. Good Government, a good democracy, is a way to channel the ideas and energy of us all. It's not some aloof body that merely dictates to people. Everyone here owns a house, but does anyone here let their next door neighbour manage their budget, keep their salaries, put the money in a bank account that you can't access, not allow you to speak to your neighbours, and to speak to your neighbours on your behalf? Of course this doesn't happen on an individual level, so why do we allow it to happen on a national level?

Wales can stand on its own two feet, but, more than that, we have a duty and responsibility to govern our own country. There are 100 sovereign nations in the world smaller than Wales. Five out of 10 of the wealthiest per capita countries in the world have a population less than Wales. All of the wealthiest per capita countries in the world top 10 have populations under 6 million, and seven countries in the European Union have a smaller population than us in Wales. In Wales, because our economy is bad, our young, talented and economically active people have to leave. They are replaced by older, economically inactive people because Wales is a cheaper, more beautiful place to retire.

The best thing that we can do about this is to become wealthy. A sovereign Welsh Parliament here in Cardiff will enable Wales to become wealthy. Sovereignty is a process that has already begun. We must push on and assume more powers, challenging Westminster. A sovereign Wales could have fair taxation, with a land value tax. We could legislate on radical, fair distribution of land. We could generate income on people coming into Wales with a tourist tax. A truly sovereign Parliament could empower people to create businesses and make sure that business is easy and quick to do in Wales. A minimum income could be seriously considered. We could take care of need and not punish people for being poor.

We are such an entrepreneurial people. The first £1 million deal on the planet was done in Cardiff, just a stone's throw from this Assembly, in the old Coal Exchange. In the past, when our children needed education, we were the first to set up schools—Griffith Jones and his famous circulating schools, which by 1761 had made Wales the most literate country in the world. Workers also established institutes across our nation, with theatres and libraries, and ways of helping each other. And who can forget the success in modern times of Tower colliery—people coming together, working together, taking a chance, and being successful. Tower colliery was doomed to closure until workers took it over as a co-operative, and it made profit for years. No-one is going to change Wales for us; we have to get together and do it ourselves.