Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:48 pm on 25 September 2019.
Diolch, Llywydd. I move the amendment, which has been tabled in my name.
I was expecting this to be more of a ding-dong debate, to be honest, as we are usually accustomed to on a Wednesday afternoon when the Brexit Party tables opposition debates. But, actually, I’ve been quite impressed by the thoughtful contributions that have been made by the leader of the Brexit Party in respect of the future of the United Kingdom and the devolution settlement, because I think there is a need for us as a Senedd to discuss the future of devolution in this country, and I for one certainly agree with you that we need a more settled and stable settlement. At the moment we don’t have that, and we have an imbalance within the United Kingdom in terms of the devolution settlement in Wales compared to Scotland, and in Scotland compared to London, and of course the mayoralties, and then Northern Ireland. So, we’ve got a peculiar arrangement that has, it seems to me, developed without proper consideration of what might be appropriate levels of responsibility for each of the nations. And I certainly, for one, think that that needs to be more carefully considered in the future in order that we can arrive at something more sensible for the long term that keeps the United Kingdom together rather than divides us.
I make no apologies for being a passionate unionist—I think Wales is far better off being part of the United Kingdom than being outside of the United Kingdom, and that’s why it’s pretty extraordinary that we have a nationalist party that criticises the fact the UK Government is determined to try to fulfil the will of the people in taking us out of the EU because it claims there are significant economic benefits that Wales derives from that, and yet seeks to divide us through independence from the rest of the United Kingdom, which, of course, is even more strategically important to Wales in terms of our economy. I'll happily take the intervention.