9. Short Debate: A Sovereign Wales: Building the proud, sovereign and united country that Wales can and should be

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:35 pm on 6 June 2018.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Llyr Gruffydd Llyr Gruffydd Plaid Cymru 5:35, 6 June 2018

Diolch yn fawr. I'm grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this debate, because I believe passionately that the foundations are there for a succesful sovereign nation here in Wales. We've spent the best part of an hour this afternoon discussing how energy rich we are here in Wales. We export electricity. We generate twice as much as we use, yet of course we end up paying more for our own electricity than others do in the UK. Likewise with water; we're a water-rich nation but the water that we export ends up being cheaper for those that use Welsh water than we actually pay for it ourselves. 

We're a nation rich in food as well. Around of 95 per cent of the land surface of Wales is dedicated to food production. We have the climate to maximise that potential, yet we see foodbanks springing up across the country and we see the BMJ warning potentially that the next public health crisis in the UK is going to be child malnutrition—in a food-rich country. Now, what does that tell us about the status quo?

But what, also, does that tell us about the potential we have as a nation? Energy rich, water rich, food rich: the currency of the future. Wars are being fought around this world for those assets, and we have them in abundance, and that means that we can proudly stand up on our own two feet and not have to accept people who tell us that we're too small or too poor.