Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. With 38 days now to go until the UK leaves the European Union, we are no closer to a solution to the most pressing issue of our time. Last week, the UK Government failed to carry even a bland motion in the House of Commons because of the fanatical insistence of the hardline Brexiteers that no deal is an acceptable outcome. That revealed again how deeply dangerous and misguided the Prime Minister’s policy is of relying on the one group in the House of Commons who are prepared to see this country go over the Brexit cliff edge. Their support, even if it could be secured, will never provide the reliable majority needed to take a deal and all its accompanying legislation through the parliamentary process. The Prime Minister's ill-fated approach further dissipates potential support at home and squanders the meagre residue of goodwill towards the UK in the rest of the EU. It is surely clear that the Prime Minister must now switch to find a majority, which I believe is there to be found, for the sort of Brexit set out in the proposals we and Plaid Cymru published over two years ago, and which was reflected in the letter sent by the leader of the opposition to the Prime Minister last week.

Llywydd, not one of the objections of the hardliners to the sort of economic relationship that we propose stands up to proper examination. First of all, the Conservative Party European Research Group say that they cannot contemplate membership of a customs union with the European Union, but a customs union is not an existential threat, it is a pragmatic necessity to preserve our capability to trade effectively on a global stage. Secondly, we're told that an arrangement of the sort we advocate would frustrate the UK’s ability to strike new trade deals around the globe. Well, Llywydd, I set on one side the Government’s own economic analysis that even on the most optimistic assumptions, such deals would have only a marginal effect on our economy, and I don’t even point to the abject failure to secure continued access to the 40 trade deals with 70 other European countries, which we enjoy today through our membership of the European Union, let alone the new deals with Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Chile, which the EU has been negotiating while we are preoccupied by Brexit. Our approach, Llywydd, does not end the ambition for the UK to enter new trade deals. As has already been set out by organisations such as the British Irish Chamber of Commerce, there is an opportunity, if sufficient flexibility can be shown, to enable the UK to negotiate new trade deals alongside the EU. The alternative is the unfolding catastrophe of a 'no deal' exit, and I chose that word deliberately, Llywydd. The chaos has already begun, with investors pulling out and cancelling plans. This will get worse every day the uncertainty is allowed to continue. If we drop off the Brexit cliff edge, we risk not just the short-term shock it will bring, but the long-term undermining of our economic futures.