This institution is 20 years old this year, which is a source of great pride for me, and I speak certainly on behalf of most Members here in the Chamber that we can look back at that event a little over 20 years ago where we decided to take that first step along the path of devolution and self-government to Wales, never mind how nervous that initial step was. But it was very clearly noted—and the term has been used many times since then—that it was a process that was being started then, not an event. That’s what we saw at the end of the 1990s, and that process has progressed so much now that one could ask whether we are truly the same institution as the institution established in 1999. The answer to that is 'no, we are not'.

This place was established under the Government of Wales Act 1998 as an Assembly with subordinate legislation powers. It was a corporate body with the Government and the legislature working as one. It was a spending body, with few financial powers that didn’t have much in the way of teeth, which led to the Richard commission, which then led to a second Government of Wales Act in 2006 that separated the legislature and the Government, preparing the way for a referendum in 2011, which led to another kind of Assembly—a far more powerful Assembly, legislating for itself, and which would in time develop, as it has done now, into a tax-levying body, too.

But what hasn’t changed during that period is the capacity of this Assembly to respond to those additional demands that are placed upon us and that have developed as this institution has evolved. Now, because of the work of the Commission and the expert panel, superbly led by Laura McAllister, the case has been made now independently and in an impartial way in tackling that situation. I’m pleased to see a consensus developing on that, and there are good reasons why we should make progress in this area; we’ve heard many of them this afternoon.

Our work as an Assembly is to hold Government to account. We do that not for our own sakes, not for the sake of our political parties, but on behalf of the people of Wales, and the people of Wales deserve to have faith in our capacity to hold the Government to account effectively. There are far too many of us wearing multiple hats in this place; I speak as Plaid Cymru chief whip and as spokesperson on finance, the economy and transport, as well as being a member of the Business Committee. It’s not a matter of complaining about the workload but doubts about my ability to do my work as effectively as I should. I’m grateful to Jane Hutt for reminding us that she is wearing two hats today, speaking in one role rather than as a member of the Government. It does place unfair pressures on backbench members of the Government party—and I see the Member for Blaenau Gwent nodding enthusiastically—who are under unreasonable pressures in terms of workload because many are required to be Ministers within Government.

And I think it’s in the most recent area that we’ve moved into that we need to strengthen our capacity most, and that is taxation. We are moving towards a situation where we will raise £5 billion in taxation between local taxation and national taxation. It’s a wonderful thing, but, as Adam Price said, although we have a Welsh Treasury, we don’t have a Treasury committee, and we don’t have the capacity to have that kind of committee.

It is positive that there is consensus developing across political parties, although it’s not unanimity, that we need to take these steps, but it’s entirely right that we recognise the fact that the support is not unanimous among the public and nowhere near to being that. We wouldn’t expect that. We’re talking about increasing the number of politicians, and let’s be realistic about people’s instincts in that regard. But whilst recognising that, it’s important that we are courageous enough to lead that debate as to why we want to make these changes; how democracy will be improved; how strengthening our Senedd will be a way of transforming and strengthening our politics in the face of evidence that is becoming more and more clear that the old system in Westminster is breaking down. Let us build rather than break down. And now is the time to strengthen and to consolidate what we have here.

Of course, whilst much of the attention, understandably, will be focused on numbers, we have to look at this in the broader context of the need to reform the electoral arrangements too. It’s important to bear that in mind, and that would truly strengthen our democracy.

To conclude, the Member for Blaenau Gwent said earlier that he believed that our motion led to divisions rather than encouraging collaboration. I do reject that accusation and, indeed, I look forward to working with Alun Davies on the creation of this new Senedd that we so need, the new Senedd that the people of Wales deserve. Both of us are agreed on that. But it was important, it was crucial I think, to make the point that if this is something that Wales desperately needs in 2026, then the people of Wales deserve to see this change introduced now, or certainly by the 2021 election. Why would we commit ourselves to another unnecessary five years of an Assembly that—