Llywydd, later this afternoon, I'll tender my resignation to Her Majesty the Queen, after nine years as First Minister of Wales. It was a privilege to follow my friend and mentor Rhodri Morgan. It's been a huge privilege to serve Wales in this job and to be at the helm at a time of great challenge, a crucial time in our nation's history. As I prepare to hand over the reins, the feelings are, I suppose, bittersweet, an experience shared, I'm sure, by everyone leaving a role that has been central to their lives. There's sadness, of course, in standing down, combined with pride in the work that has been achieved.

The post that I took on in 2009 has changed considerably since I took it on, and so has the world around us. People were more likely to write a letter than a tweet, selfies were more a thing for Paris Hilton than politicians, and arguably that should still be the case. [Laughter.] Perhaps more importantly, the National Assembly and the Welsh Government are very different organisations too, with more powers, more levers and higher expectations of delivery. If someone had said to me in 1999 that I would leave the job of First Minister—well, that would have surprised me, but leave the job of First Minister in a tax-varying, law-making Parliament, I would have been very surprised and delighted.

We have those tools. We have achieved a great deal, even in these toughest of times. Devolution is established, not just in law, not just in fact, but now in the hearts of the people of Wales, all doubts removed.

But, if I've achieved anything in this time, it's been with the help of many, many others. I've learnt that you achieve very little in life on your own. Our Parliament may be more powerful, but it's still young and it is, at least to my mind, too small. And that means there is huge pressure on everyone in this Chamber to make Government better. The crucial democratic duty of proper scrutiny, which is a task you've all taken to with the utmost seriousness—sometimes taken too seriously for my liking—. But nevertheless that is what I'm here to do. But I pay tribute to everyone in the Chamber for what you do to challenge us to do better.