I was brought up in Anglesey. The island always had a strong hold on me, and I suppose when I met the Anglesey girl who would later become my wife, that relationship was cemented once and for all, and that's what ensured that I would also return to Anglesey to bring up my own children. And, yes, I did return, because like so many of our young people, I left—I went to university, to work, in Cardiff, and London for a while, but I know that not everyone feels that they have that same opportunity to return, or to not leave in the first instance.

An opportunity to keep our young people, or to bring some of them back, was the main appeal of Wylfa Newydd locally. Of course, it wasn't supported across the board, by any means. Hundreds of long-term jobs, a prosperous period during the construction phase, but also an extremely challenging period—a period that could, without very robust mitigation measures, have a severe impact on our communities. And pushing for that mitigation, promoting local benefit, local job opportunities—that was always my priority when dealing with that development, and I did that working very closely with the county council. And the developer did understand the importance of those things; I have no doubt about that. But now, of course, that development has been put on hold—a major economic blow in terms of the jobs and local revenue promised. There's no escaping that. And I will continue to work and to discuss with Horizon as they consider whether, or how, to resurrect the scheme. But we have to be prepared to consider that we now have a new context, a context where relying on one major investment cannot be seen as a panacea. And certainly, there are major risks in raising people's hopes again without having solid foundations for doing that, and I know the Minister would agree with me on that.

So, we do need to look at our other strengths and opportunities. I've heard some say that years have been lost or even wasted—years that could have been used in developing new alternative plans. Well, the good news—and I've always argued this point—is that not all our eggs were in one basket on Anglesey. They may not have generated the same headlines, there may have been far less scrutiny of them individually, but taken together, there are other very exciting initiatives in the pipeline in Anglesey that have been quietly gathering momentum in recent years, and now, more than ever, they need support to make them a reality.

Well, where to start? Let's start with energy: the energy island programme is still alive and kicking. We are an island that has pioneered for centuries in renewable energy. We know that Anglesey is often described as 'mam Cymru', the mother of Wales, but in order to provide food for her children, there were almost 50 windmills milling wheat across the island over the decades. Whilst declaring an indirect interest here, not only that my mother-in-law used to run a restaurant in one of Anglesey's most famous mills, Melin Llynon, and that my in-laws were involved with the development of wind energy on the island in the 1990s, we as an island now are turning our sights to the sea. The appetite for clean energy is growing and when the next offshore windfarms off the northern coast develop to the west of the current windfarms, well, let's make sure that Holyhead is the port that serves them, as Mostyn has served the more easterly windfarms so effectively.

And under the sea, let's help to get the Minesto installation scheme over the line, turning their research into a commercial venture that will bring good jobs to Holyhead. We need to ensure that Morlais energy scheme goes ahead—a testing area for tidal current technologies that will bring local benefits in terms of jobs and investment, as well as allowing research of international importance. And it's being run as a social enterprise by Menter Môn, which will direct the economic benefit to our communities and young people. Yes, it needs to be developed carefully and cautiously—that's true of every new technology—but the Welsh Government needs to do everything it can to help secure this investment so it can move on to the next phase, and likewise the UK Government.