As we hurtle towards midnight tomorrow, I can only summarise my feelings as those of resigned sadness. First, like others, I've been resigned to this outcome since the withdrawal agreement was adopted in January of this year. The rights and wrongs of the debates of the last decade are for history to consider, but the realities are for us all to face in a few hours' time, and in the weeks, months and years ahead.

Secondly, I feel sadness, because whatever comes next—and so much of that is actually unknown at this point—I feel that we have let down the next generation. I fear that their lives will be impoverished by the implementation of this agreement, an agreement that, on the face of it, appears more concerned with sovereignty than economics, more to do with whether we have to abide by the EU rules in court than an agreement that delivers economic stability and growth in an uncertain future. 

Llywydd, I was struck by a recent statement by British in Europe, a body speaking for the 1.2 million UK citizens living and working in Europe. They said:

'A deal has been done but it does not and cannot replace the enormous and life-changing benefits of EU membership and citizenship that we have enjoyed since 1973.'

They concluded:

'Any future relationship deal is better than no deal but today is not a day to celebrate all that has been lost.'

I agree with that view, but I also accept that this agreement now has to be approved. It is no longer a debate about what the alternative might look like. The only alternative at this point is no deal, and I am not going there, but neither will I be a cheerleader for it. Because I'm very clear that this agreement and its consequential Bill are for Boris Johnson and the Tories to own. They will have to live with what they have done. But despite that, I actually do hope that, for all our sakes, the things that have been promised to the UK come to fruition—and that somehow, my fears are proved wrong, because I didn't stand for elected office to see the lives of my constituents made worse, so I hope the faith of many of my constituents placed in this change is at least partly fulfilled, and I hope beyond hope that they have not been lied to and mugged, but frankly, given the cavalier approach the UK Government has taken to scrutiny of their agreement and the Bill to implement it, and their total disregard for due process and the rights of the devolved nations, I fear it will be shown that people have indeed been lied to. 

In the grand sweep of history, our leaving the EU may just be another milestone in our complex relationship with Europe, a point at which many in the UK try to walk at a different pace, and possibly in a different direction, to the members of the European Union. It could also be the point that triggers many in the United Kingdom to want to set a different path to their neighbours within that union. How ironic it would be if this 'sovereignty over economy'-obsessed deal that's been placed before us leads to the loss of that very sovereignty. But that's for another day. For me, this UK-EU agreement shows, in fact, how complex such ideas would in reality be. The fact that this came—. At midnight tomorrow, a new bureaucracy is imposed on those who trade with the European Union as a result of this agreement, and that involves a significant number of employers in my constituency, and a new bureaucracy that involves the new partnership council, 19 committees, seven working groups, 15 declarations and so on. So, while I welcome the fact that there will be no tariffs, contrary to what we were told, there will in fact be more red tape. And we can already see some of the consequences of this agreement: the petitions from the performing arts industry; the loss of Erasmus+, unless of course you live in Northern Ireland. At the root of all this change, I still feel that there is a clear and continuing struggle—political struggle—in this nation, a struggle in which elites and their outriders have persuaded enough people that their problems are caused by others, and all so that those same elites can profit.

So, finally, because I came into politics through the route of organised labour, a message to trade unions of this country: you now need to be ready, you now need to organise even stronger, and you now need to defend your working conditions and your jobs more than ever before, because the Tory elite will seek to blame yet more others when all this goes wrong. They will divide and rule inside the UK and seek to resurrect the enemy within. Following this agreement, the UK itself is changing in more ways than any of us may yet realise.