Wales needs a people's Parliament, sovereign and legislating in the Welsh national interest. It's an old concept called democracy. In this debate we have direct democracy in action. I wanted the public out there to decide what should be discussed today, so on social media we asked constituents to tell us what they wanted to talk about. There were a load of interesting comments from constituents, and I'd like to thank all those who took part. George Atkinson spoke of the need for devolved media and policing; Chris Piper wants the Welsh Assembly to have more authority with law and order; Matt Davies and Sue Fortune want to see better transport links in Wales; and Joanne Davies is calling for a ban on non-biodegradable products. All were great suggestions. But the most popular comment came from the Welsh Independence Memes for Angry Welsh Teens—and we have a few of those in here sometimes. They wanted to discuss a sovereign Wales.

So, the title of today's debate is 'A Sovereign Wales: Building the proud, sovereign and united country that Wales can and should be'. I would add today, 'the nation Wales will be'. I'm advised by the research department that there is no record of a formal debate on Welsh sovereignty in this Assembly before. Well, it's about time, isn't it? I'm proud to be the first AM to hold a short debate on Welsh sovereignty, and I'm even more proud that it was the public who put this on the agenda today. Grass-roots activism is fundamental to Welsh democracy, and it's why I'm here.