The election may be over, First Minister, but the bitter legacy of deep poverty and inequality in our communities, which is bequeathed to us by this deeply unequal United Kingdom, that persists. The 31 per cent of our children in Wales who are living in poverty: how can you argue that the union has been a force for untrammelled good for them? Contrast that with New Zealand: this last week, a radical well-being budget was passed by the Government there that will drive down child poverty this year to half the level in Wales. That's a Labour Government, but of an independent country that has the power to choose its own future.

Now, you as a Government have pledged to lead a new national civic conversation on the constitutional future of Wales. Will it be a genuinely open conversation—open to the possibilities of independence and, yes, the challenges too? Open to it at least as a plan B, if Wales says 'yes' to radical federalism, but Westminster continues to say 'no' to Wales. Now, that would be a conversation that I and my party would be happy to join.