I think however we look at it, the experience we're going through at the moment is a turning point in our history. There will be lives that will never be the same again, families who are grieving, people facing long-term health challenges, and the change has touched upon everything—the way that services are delivered, the way that Government works, even. Of course, the economic impact is immense, and much of that impact is entirely negative—companies going bust, individuals losing their jobs and families losing income. But somehow, out of all of this, we do have to search for those elements that could become positives from this deep rut that we have found ourselves in. We know what some of them are. We've heard reference to some of them, the working at home revolution, doctors holding remote surgeries, the realisation that you don't have to jump into the car quite so often, and the enthusiasm that's created for being greener. But there is an opportunity here to look at our whole economic future, and I'm not just talking about rebuilding and recreating what we had; I am talking about coming back stronger and better, and what Plaid Cymru has today is a plan to establish and start that work.

The two first clauses mention practical steps to assist some of those who have been hardest hit, including young people—Helen Mary Jones has already mentioned those. The third, and we'll hear Delyth Jewell discussing this, is a reference to our belief that the establishment of a citizens' assembly would enable the people of Wales to contribute meaningfully to this work that we're facing. 

I want to focus on the last clause and the establishment of an all-Wales renewal fund worth billions of pounds. Helen has mentioned many elements of what we'd like to do with it, but just bear in mind that this would just be the beginning of the long-term investment that we need. And those among you who have been listening will know that Plaid Cymru have been asking for many years for investment in the future of our country, and the austerity policies of the UK Government went entirely contrary to what was needed. We needed investment; we still need investment more than anything, following this pandemic. We need to invest in our infrastructure, in healthy and green homes, in public transport, digital connectivity, innovative energy projects, in higher education and research, and social infrastructure, too. We're talking about a programme to transform our nation that will create returns—financial returns to pay off these debts and also social returns that we and our children, and their children, could benefit from.

This is the time to do this. We can borrow at very low rates, we could look at alternative ways of funding projects—bonds and so on. But we would need new fiscal powers and new flexibilities in order to allow this to happen: to raise the current borrowing cap, for example, from the current £1 billion to, I would say, around £5 billion, allowing the front-loading of that so that we can commence the work in earnest. I think the Minister for Finance would agree that we need other flexibilities in terms of the ability to draw down reserves and, of course, the Barnett formula needs to be scrapped and funding should happen on the basis of need. 

I will conclude my comments by saying this: we must also, as we heard from Helen, have a mature debate as to how we pay for these investments and for the kinds of public services that we want to see. From reviewing priorities—and Mike Hedges has mentioned some of his own priorities—I'm very confident that we could, within current budgets, repay borrowing, as we've heard, because the cost of borrowing is so very low at the moment. We've recalled during this period just how valuable services such as health and care are, but whilst we want the best possible care services, for too long we've wanted to pay less and less for those services, and we can't square that circle forever.

I attended a virtual conference at the beginning of this pandemic—it feels like a lifetime ago now, but it was a conference organised by the Institute of Welsh Affairs: 'Rethinking Wales'. And that's exactly what we need to do. We need to rethink how we do things and what we're trying to deliver, and, yes, how we pay for those things. I get the feeling that very many of us, and many of us in this Senedd, hopefully, do want to press the reboot button, as Plaid Cymru's paper says, or 'reset', as a new non-party group that has been launched this week has said.