Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:59 pm on 30 November 2022.
I've always stood up—and you, of course, as a Conservative, will be familiar with the work of Edmund Burke, the father of modern Conservatism. And what he said very clearly in his speech to the electors of Bristol is that an elected Member owes his allegiance to the people represented by him, not just by his labour but also by articulating what he believes. And that is what I've done, and I will continue to do it. And I will argue for a democratic mandate to overturn the referendum in 2016. I wouldn't do it through the back door or by legislating to do it without consulting the people.
So, what we've seen over the last few years is a lack of transparency, no understanding of the purpose or objectives of the new programmes, no co-ordination, the exclusion of the Welsh Government, which is an affront to Welsh democracy, and we've seen a system in its place that is chaotic and a shambles—and that is quoting a Conservative MP. So, let us be absolutely clear for what we need. Where does it leave us? We have a broken system and it's one that needs to be repaired. And the EU model is actually instructive in doing so. I believe that we do require—and a Welsh Government I think has argued for this before—a council of Ministers reaching agreement by consensus rather than receiving diktats being imposed by press release. We need the transparency to be able to argue and articulate our views, and, for the Conservative point of view, we need to understand what are the purposes and objectives of funding streams before they're introduced and not simply reported upon after they've been introduced. And we need to go back to the co-ordination that Huw Irranca-Davies led as Chair of the EU funding committee at the time, to ensure that you bring people together, you don't exclude people and you ensure that Wales is served by all the people it represents. At the moment, what we have is a broken system and we're in danger of having a broken union.