Time and again, we've been told that Wales is too small to be independent and that we couldn't survive economically. That's been the mantra for so long that we've come to believe it without even questioning it. But, times are changing, and people are now waking up to the idea that Wales could survive economically as an independent nation state in our own right. In fact, an independent Wales could be amongst the wealthiest nations, economically, socially, environmentally and culturally.

Across the world, we see that the happiest nations are the smallest nations. Look at the Norden countries—Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland, for instance. Now, gross domestic product is a poor measuring stick, but it's what's been used to measure economies across the world for decades and, with a GDP of around £80 billion, our GDP is already bigger than that of Bulgaria, Estonia, Croatia, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovenia and many others. So, this is our low base. Imagine what we could do with economic and fiscal levers to really turn our economy around.

Naysayers tell us that we don't have enough resources for a successful economy, so let's think about that for a moment. Firstly, we have more natural resources than, say, Switzerland, one of the world's wealthiest countries. Now, think of some of the wealthiest regions in the world—the Silicon valley, Monaco, London even. What natural resources are they exploiting in those regions to become so wealthy? It's certainly not coal, it's not wind, it's not timber, it's not any commodity. The single most valuable resource that any nation or region can have to develop its economy is people. People create wealth. People drive the economy. Now, if you think that the people of Wales are too stupid to run their own economy, then say so. But I don't think that the people of Wales are stupid. I have complete faith and confidence in my family, in my friends, in my neighbours, in my compatriots. The people who live in Wales are as able as anybody else to run a successful economy.

Unlike other constituent parts of the UK who, 40 years ago, shifted to being dependent on the service sector, we still make things in Wales. Our economy is built on manufacturing and that provides a far more stable basis for a strong economy than outsourcing production to cheap labour overseas. But there is a reason why our economy has been stagnating for the last 50 years, and that's essentially because the south-east of England, and specifically London, acts like a big black hole, sucking in investment and leaving little for everybody else.

This is where Paul Davies and I will agree: a lack of investment in infrastructure. I've quoted Adam Smith before, but it's worth referencing him again. A successful economy, he says, is dependent on building and maintaining infrastructure. Infrastructure spend is a multiplier. It creates wealth, bringing in new money, but historically what we've seen is spend on infrastructure in Wales being a tiny fraction of the spend in England, and the south-east of England especially. We've just heard today the confirmation of the £18 billion Crossrail in London alone, without the equal spend here in Wales.

And this isn't only a problem between Wales and London: the Labour Welsh Government have been busy replicating that London-centric model here in Wales. You try to take your goods to market from rural north, mid or west Wales, with no freight on the train lines, with poor road infrastructure, and now Brexit decimating shipping. Yes, the UK has allocated some infrastructure spend here in Wales, but the vast majority is to do with energy projects, which will only serve to extract wealth out of Wales and not benefit our communities to the degree they should.

Finally, it's worth noting that it's London that sets the economic and fiscal policies that govern us here in Wales. Our economy is built on manufacturing, yet London gives sweetheart deals to companies—[Interruption.] Yes, Darren.