Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. First Minister, thank you for your statement, but let me tell you where I think this plan of yours starts to unravel. To me, it's in the very first sentence of the foreword. The question you ask in that first sentence is this: how can our union be made strong and durable? Surely, the key question a First Minister of Wales should be asking is how can the interests of Wales and the interests of the people of Wales be best served in future, how can we build a nation that can best fulfil the aspirations of the people of Wales, that can plan for a fairer, more just, more open, more prosperous future. To insist, whatever the arguments you put forward around the edges, that our future must be best served as part of this United Kingdom, come what may—this UK of entrenched inequalities, of COVID corruption, of Eton elitism—and that preservation of this UK has to be at the heart of all constitutional solutions, quite apart from failing to grasp the current state of the debate on Wales's future, ignores the ample evidence that UK Governments, of whatever colour, will never put Wales's interests first, or indeed will barely take them into account when making some key decisions.

You describe your rejection of what you call this UK Government's aggressive unilateralism. But whilst this particular UK Government, yes, may well be more explicitly jingoistic, more eager than many Governments before to herald some sort of rebirth of empire, the truth is that even as devolution, the process itself, blossomed, UK Government always had that ultimate power to take back unilateral control. We've seen that now in the way this Conservative Government at Westminster is systematically trying to undermine Wales's national Parliament and Government. And to the Conservatives here, saying they'd rather be talking about health and education than focusing on constitutional affairs, apart from reminding you that you chose to spend an hour last week talking about a Brexit referendum of five years ago, I'll remind you that it's because we want to be able to take better decisions on health and education and jobs that we need to be having the best platforms on which we build this new nation.

First Minister, your report gives us the context—your guiding principles, if you like. You say that you've always believed in solidarity between the people of the constituent nations of the UK. I also believe in the power of that solidarity, in many, many ways. But that solidarity can come in many forms. An independent Wales could also—and I dare say would want to, I'm sure—be part of a wider association of countries within these islands, and beyond for that matter, choosing to co-operate and support each other, in a host of voluntary ways. People like me are often called separatists, but I'm not driven by wanting to separate anything, I'm not driven by wanting to break things up, I'm interested in wanting to build things: to build a new Wales and, in so doing, to build new relationships between the countries of these islands and beyond. 

We need to have a proper blinkers-off debate. It's true on both sides of the independent discussion. No-one should pretend that taking ultimate control of our own destiny will be a walk in the park from day one. Most serious changes come with serious challenges. But if you, as First Minister, are serious about strengthening Wales's hand, you have to embrace all options too—blinkers off—even if, as we know, your instinct is to try to preserve the union. 

What we have in this report is a rewriting of previous Labour proposals, and you have every right to do that. There are elements of what you propose that we in Plaid Cymru have been encouraging for many years as a means to strengthen devolution in the short term. But surely, at this point in our national journey, and with such a real and present threat from this UK Government to the integrity of our nation's democracy, we can't let this be a substitute for the kind of debates that I know we, as a nation, are mature enough to have. So, let's not tinker, and as we collectively offer to contribute towards redesigning what we now know as the UK, in all our interests, let me ask you this: why not place a discussion on the potential of an independent, agile, fair, aspirational Wales as a priority, not merely settle for the preservation of the UK come what may?