1. Debate: Brexit and Prorogation of the UK Parliament

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:59 pm on 5 September 2019.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 3:59, 5 September 2019

Integrity: we've heard a lot about integrity here this afternoon, about the fact that we have a Prime Minister who simply cannot be trusted, whose word cannot be relied upon. But, as Dai Rees said, it's not just integrity at the individual level; it's integrity at the institutional level as well. The hours that have been spent in this institution, in committee, on the floor of the Assembly, passing legislation on the grounds that we had a Government who would then be there to put that legislation into practice, and who are now prepared to tear that up and to leave all that behind. 

The place of the United Kingdom in the world: Andrew R.T. Davies said in his contribution, 'Say what you like about Boris Johnson, he's certainly brought things to a head'. And I've been thinking about the allusions we've had across the Chamber to classical matters this afternoon, and that remark reminded me of the great Greek myth of Icarus. Do you remember Icarus, that man who flew too close to the sun, over confident, knowing that he knew better than anybody else? He flew too close to the sun and he plunged to his death in the sea below. Well, say what you like, he certainly brought things to a head. And Britain's place in the world is damaged because of people who have lost confidence in us as a nation, about our ability to speak in a language and in a tone and with a sense of proportion that they have come to believe the United Kingdom stood for once in the world and which has been thrown away by the Prime Minister, both when he was Foreign Secretary and in the few short weeks that he's been Prime Minister too.

Llywydd, there's no doubt about it: the wheels are off the bus. The driver turned out to have no licence, no mandate, no morality, no majority. What we have done this afternoon, as Dawn Bowden said at the very end of the debate, is to highlight those matters that are at the heart of the current political debate: the need to defend parliamentary democracy and the right of people to have representatives on their behalf speaking up in the debates that will have such a profound impact on their lives. Our determination that the harm that is avoidable—it's not harm that you can't avoid—. The harm that is avoidable that a 'no deal' Brexit will do should be avoided. We should speak up here this afternoon. We should leave no-one in any doubt about the views of this National Assembly, and we will be speaking when we do that on behalf of the people of Wales.