On the first issue of division, I struggle to recall an issue that has so divided opinion in our nation as this continuing debate about our relationship, future relationship, with the European Union. Indeed, I struggle to recall when the language of division has been so weaponised as to actually make me fearful for the state of our civil society. When to have an opposing view in a democracy is portrayed as betrayal or treachery, and, most recently, as surrender, then we are in very worrying times. This language and the imagery it projects, and tragic acts like the murder of Jo Cox, have deeply scarred this country, and, at a time of national crisis, my expectation—and our past experience often tells us—is that it is the purpose, responsibility and obligation of leaders to reduce tensions, to seek to reduce division, and to seek to foster more harmonious relations. But not at the moment, it seems. At this moment there are forces at work, some very sinister forces, that are seeking to both foster and to drive up division, culminating now in our Prime Minister suspending a sovereign Parliament to prevent MPs that we elected to determine issues that they were put there to do. This has had, and I fear will continue to have, a range of consequences.   

One clear political consequence is that the constitution of the United Kingdom is now in a state of unknown flux, and the forces of conservatism that over centuries have used an evolving constitution to maintain stability are now themselves hacking away at its very foundations. And in that I share David Melding’s concerns that this will have consequences that go far beyond what we've seen in the current debate about our relationship with the EU. To a degree, some of that is articulated in the amendments to the motion that Plaid Cymru have tabled today, and also in the speedy return of the debate about Scottish independence. It is now not beyond the realms of possibility that we will see the break-up of the United Kingdom on the watch of the Conservative and Unionist Party—a party that has become more populist by the day, and is, as others have said, now little more than a party of English nationalism.

The second issue I want to comment on is the character and the nature of leadership. It's clear that sitting at the heart of this week’s debate is a fundamental distrust of the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. That distrust is not confined to one party; it is shared across parties, including his own, as we have seen expressed by those who now find themselves purged out of the Tory benches in Westminster. It is indeed remarkable that people lack trust in the new UK Prime Minister to this extent, and I can’t ever remember this before. There have been disagreements, but never the lack, the total lack, of trust that we see today. And, as we’ve heard only this morning, the ever-growing list of people who seem no longer to trust the Prime Minister includes his own brother. Clearly, those closest to him know him best.

Yet I also know that, while following the debates this week and in watching the actions of those who the Prime Minister has gathered around him, it is clear and apparent why there is such a lack of trust. The man is a consummate liar. He is a racist, a sexist, a homophobe—much like his friend from the USA—and he is unfit to hold the highest office in this country. He says one thing, he does another, and he cannot be trusted to do what he says he will do. He cannot be trusted with the future of our country.

So, I support the motion today. Don’t let us and our right-minded colleagues in Westminster, across all parties, be the good men and women that did nothing as a Prime Minister tried to ride roughshod over our democracy. Not sitting for five weeks at the most crucial time in our history will seriously weaken our democracy, so I hope that everything possible will be done in Westminster to rescind the suspension of Parliament and to use all other time available, including, if necessary, cancelling the autumn recess to allow maximum time to resolve this situation and ensure that we do not have a damaging 'no deal' Brexit.

But, on this particular issue of suspension of Parliament, this should not be a moment to divide leavers and remainers. It's a moment to find common cause to defend our democracy, because if we don’t—and on this point I do agree with Adam Price’s comments right at the beginning of this debate about incremental moves towards dictatorship—we allow the current leadership of the Conservative Party once again to put party before country, and then, as Clem Attlee once said, we are halfway to that dictatorship.