I'd also like to thank David Rees for his excellent chairmanship of the committee, and the officials who do such a sterling job in assisting our work. I consider it a privilege that I'm able to play a part of a committee that's doing this important work relating to Brexit in this crucial, bizarre time in our politics, and with people from across different parties who want to take the issues we face seriously, and want to work constructively, to scrutinise decisions, and put forward suggestions for the future. And in that regard, I'd like to associate myself with much of what David Melding has said.

Chair, these are worrying times, and something I've talked about before is the opportunity cost that's been thrown up by all of this planning for 'no deal', and all of the resource that we could have otherwise spent on building up our nation and improving services. The Wales Audit Office, I know, are alive to this—they gave evidence to us along those lines. Do you agree that when we finally get to the other side, whether it's 'deal' or 'no deal' or 'remaining'—whatever it is that faces us—that that's going to be a big job of work for us to look at?

You've also talked about the absolutely vital role that our committee is going to be doing in speaking to EU nationals living in Wales, and the impact that the uncertainty has on them. A few weeks ago, I met a constituent of mine who is an EU national and she presented me with a book of Brexit testimonials, called In Limbo. The name says it all, doesn't it? So many people's lives have been just caught in suspension at the moment because of this uncertainty. And you referred, Chair, to the fact that one person we were speaking to recently had spoken about how their child had been told to, 'Go home.' Well, some constituents who are EU nationals have said very similar things to me as well. It's not right and I'd like to associate myself with the remarks that you've made to all the EU nationals living in Wales—please know that you are welcome, that your contribution to our economy and our society is valued and it enriches us profoundly.

I'm delighted that, as a committee, we will be considering the future of the union as part of our future work programme. There is a pressing need to scrutinise inter-governmental structures, and to keep the UK Government's feet to the fire, in terms of the draft principles that were published recently, given that, so far, they've given no indication that they intend to change their brazen ways. I look forward to scrutinising the common policy frameworks and working to ensure Westminster does not get away with signing international agreements that have the potential to degrade devolved services without Wales having a voice.

At times like this, with revolution almost in the air, it is the duty of this place, and the Government, to prepare for the future. Yes, this means preparing for all sorts of different Brexit eventualities, but it also means preparing this country for different constitutional eventualities. The First Minister himself told the committee that there are moving parts to this union, of which the Welsh Government is not in control, and that it may be possible that Wales will need to consider its constitutional future very soon, were Scotland to become independent, for example. There is therefore a duty on the Welsh Government to prepare the groundwork for this eventuality—something that, I accept, is outside the scope of our committee.

So, I repeat my call—speaking as an individual member of the committee, rather than for the committee as a whole—for the Welsh Government to give urgent consideration to convening a constitutional convention to consider the different constitutional options available to Wales. There’s no point calling for a UK-wide convention of this sort. The former First Minister spent years trying his best to achieve this and got nowhere. Scotland are on their own constitutional path and England has no intention of playing fair. As far as we can see, this is something we have to do for ourselves.

This convention, which could be similar in scope to the Kilbrandon commission, convened by Wilson’s Labour Government, should consider the different possibilities available to Wales and how these would function in practice: from home rule to devo-max; from federalism to confederalism; and, yes, independence too. If this work is not done, we may find ourselves sinking as part of a dysfunctional and unbalanced England and Wales ship of state, ruing the fact that we did not build a lifeboat when we had the chance. We have a duty to our citizens and future generations to give very serious consideration to this matter. The time to prepare for the future is now.