Diolch, Llywydd. I welcome the opportunity to respond to this debate.

As a Labour Government, we believe that the state has a vital role in making sure wealth in the economy is distributed fairly. A more equal distribution of wealth goes hand in hand with prosperity and fair work. We do not believe in casting outside interests as a convenient enemy, however. We live in an interconnected world where many of the most pressing challenges we face can only be addressed through exchange and co-operation between people and nations.

It is deeply damaging to the interests of working people for public figures to cultivate a sense of grievance and division for the purpose of short-term political advantage. We should instead be offering real and practical solutions to the disadvantages people face, because ultimately those solutions will benefit us all, both here in Wales and around the planet we all share.

We absolutely share the concern expressed in the original motion that Welsh communities have been disadvantaged economically, including through the extraction of wealth from natural resources, and that such disadvantages require Government action to address them. We do not, however, believe it is right or responsible to seek to suggest that the fate of Welsh communities is determined by historic patterns of sectarian conflict, or that such claims reflect the complex history of Wales in any meaningful way. Nor do such claims offer any practical solutions to the issues raised.

The specific examples of wealth extraction raised in the Plaid Cymru motion are real issues on which the Welsh Government is taking action, as recent publications and statements on energy, forestry and net-zero have all been put before the Senedd. The challenge we face in delivering the change we wish to see does not come from hostile foreign actors, but from deficiencies in the current devolution settlement, the impact of the wide-ranging changes in the policy environment created by the exit from the European Union, and chaos in both of these and many other areas being inflicted on this country by the inept and disgraced Conservative Government in Westminster.

A sense of victimhood or a close-fisted economic policy and hostility directed towards others will not secure local ownership and control of natural resources, nor fair work and prosperity for our communities. Nor will it attract and retain the local or the global talent that we need here in Wales.

My colleague the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution has put forward radical, practical proposals for constitutional reform to the United Kingdom, so that more of the decisions affecting Wales, such as how to distribute the revenues raised by the Crown Estate in Wales, are made here in Wales. These could, of course, be taken forward now. Just to explain to our colleagues on the Conservative benches, our relationship with the Crown Estate here in Wales is very good, and they do indeed manage a large number of resources here in Wales. What they are not able to do is give us back the revenues generated by that resource, nor take direction from the Welsh Government about the exploitation of that resource. So, Janet was right to read out the large number of things the Crown Estate does well; what she fails to understand is that all of the profit from that goes straight back to Westminster and none of it comes here. That is clearly what we want devolved to Wales, so I think that's just an essential misunderstanding in the research the Member says that she has done.

Failing that, the election of a new Government in Westminster would of course provide a further opportunity to reform the United Kingdom in a way that makes us stronger in the face of our domestic policy challenges, and stronger in the face of the global challenges that confront us all, not least that of climate change and biodiversity loss. I've lost count, Llywydd, of the number of times I've had to explain to Janet Finch-Saunders that you can't agree that there's a climate emergency and then trash every single policy necessary to make any difference to that. I won't repeat them here, but Members will know that there are many times on the record where I've had to school the Member opposite that she cannot just get on every bandwagon and then oppose every policy designed to make that happen.

There is an irony also in the opposition motion that the arguments put forward mirror those made by some of the campaign to withdraw the UK from the European Union: the sense of grievance against others and a promise of plenty once those foreign powers have been put back into their rightful place. Of course, the reality is far more complex, and our communities and economy remain closely connected to those of our European neighbours. The economic disruption that has resulted from the UK Government's chaotic handling of our relationship with the EU has disadvantaged exactly those communities that were promised a better future as a result, such as Wales's farmers and fishers. And this has been used as a means of critically undermining institutions that we rely on to respond to the global challenges of our time, from Erasmus and the convention on human rights, to emissions trading and transnational nature conservation through the EU's LIFE scheme. I would take this opportunity, Llywydd, to urge the UK Government to get the consultation on the emissions trading scheme out and live as soon as possible. None of this is inevitable, but it is perhaps possible to predict that a prospectus based on false premises would neither attempt nor succeed to secure the benefits being promised by those putting it forward.

Llywydd, while the struggle for equality is real, Wales's future is not determined by the injustice of the past nor by the machinations of outside interests. A better future in which the benefits of Wales's rich natural resources are shared fairly is within our grasp if we are prepared collectively to seize it; a future in which Wales's natural resources are safeguarded for our future generations and in line with our global responsibilities, fostering strong communities and economic resilience in a turbulent world. We are taking action as a Government, working with communities and businesses in Wales, as well as with other Governments and international partners, to bring about this future, and we will fiercely resist claims that setting communities against each other is anything other than a spurious strategy for short-term political advantage, against the interests of the people we are all here to serve and against the interests of the natural environment on which we all rely across the globe. Diolch.