Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:07 pm on 16 January 2019.
You were elected by a party in an election two and a half years ago that was campaigning openly against devolution 20 years after the referendum to establish the National Assembly for Wales. I have a daughter who was 16 years old at the time of that referendum. She is now 18, she is an adult, she wants a say on her future. I also want her to have a say on her future. I believe in the currency of democracy. I believe in making democracy relevant today. I believe in asking people what they want today, rather than just listening to what they said two and a half years ago, in case they themselves, including you, Mark Reckless—. You might have changed your mind. I happen to know what you think, but I don't know what people out there think, and I want people to have an opportunity to reflect today, on the basis of evidence that we have in front of us today, whether they think this is the right course of action for us to follow as a country, and I have no doubt at all that following a 'no deal' strategy is one that will not be in Wales's interest, and I cannot in any way endorse or allow this National Assembly to endorse allowing a 'no deal' Brexit to take place. That is why I'm pleased that, in an hour, or less than an hour, from now, this Assembly will vote to say that we will under no circumstances accept 'no deal'. Now, this is about democracy and it's about today's democracy and taking people seriously, not shouting about 'getting over it' from a sedentary position. You should have more experience than that from your parliamentary days.
My time is cutting short. On so many levels, we know what the impact will be of a 'no deal' Brexit. I remember going across the road, on that secretive day when we had to put our mobile phone in a box so we couldn't take photos of the UK Government's own projections of the effects of Brexit. It was horrifying reading, even those ways of leaving the European Union that were controlled. A 'no deal' scenario, we know, would be hugely damaging. Ford, this week—do we genuinely think that Brexit will give Ford more confidence to protect 1,000 jobs at Bridgend? Do we genuinely think that Brexit had no influence whatsoever over what has happened to Wylfa and the announcement that we're expecting tomorrow on the suspension of that? Do we honestly think that businesses of ours, like the mussel farmers of the Menai straits aren't bothered if 97 per cent of their produce that needs to be delivered alive to the European Union within 24 hours might be threatened because of tariffs, even if that's only temporary? Do we worry about the effects on our agriculture industry? Neil Hamilton talks about tariffs—non-agricultural. What about the agricultural ones? What about agriculture in my constituency? What about the effects of losing young people? What about the effects of losing young people from the agriculture industry in my constituency because they're losing the export market? It's not the speech I wanted to deliver, but that's how strongly I feel about this, and that's why we need to explain—[Interruption.]
The Llywydd may allow an intervention, David, if you want to make one.