I want to take you back to May 1999, and the first-ever
elections to the then Welsh Assembly.
Almost 600 years after the first
Welsh Parliament was established in June 1404, the people of Wales once again
had its own national democratic institution.
Wales was entering a new dawn –
an opportunity to meaningfully hand power to people, to communities, away from
the corridors of power.
It was an opportunity to cast off
the dust and to set about creating our own destiny here in Wales.
Our job here in Wales is made all
the more difficult by Conservatives in Westminster and their assault on
devolution and our national parliament.
But that quiet earthquake in 1999
has passed many people in Wales by. 22 years on and that radical,
reforming streak that ushered in a new era has, in too many ways, been replaced
by a steady incrementalism, slow to move when the world is hurtling on.
Now, granted, even after 1999
Wales operated with two hands tied behind its back and we don’t yet have all
the tools we need to shape a fairer, greener, more liberal Wales. And our
job here in Wales is made all the more difficult by Conservatives in
Westminster and their assault on devolution and our national parliament.
It is our job, as liberals, and
my job as the leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, to make the case for a new
relationship between people and parliament and between the nations of the
United Kingdom.
We need to rediscover our
radical, progressive voice and offer new and inspiring ideas – and we have work
to do.
In Wales:
Child poverty is rising.
In work, poverty is rising.
Household income lags behind that
of our neighbours.
We’ve seen slower progress in
reducing emissions than the rest of the UK.
It is our job to make the case
for a new relationship between people and parliament and between the nations of
the United Kingdom.
1 in 14 species is heading for
extinction.
We need new ideas and a new way
of doing politics that will propel Wales into the future. We need liberal
solutions which offer hope, optimism, and opportunity to all to shape their own
destiny.
Fundamentally, we need to capture
the imagination of ordinary people about what politics can achieve.
I believe it is our job to bring
back that radical streak to Welsh politics; the radical tradition of liberals
down the ages. The Chartists, Cymru Fydd, Dic Penderyn, The Rebecca
Rioters. Non-conformist, unrelenting, unwilling to accept things as they were.
Welsh politics and democracy need
to change gear - to bring forward the ideas that shape a new promise for the
next generation. A promise that each and every one of us - and our planet
- can thrive. A Wales that creates opportunity, supports talent and aspiration
and creates a fairer, greener economy.
Wales and our party owe Kirsty
Williams a huge amount.
I may be a single Welsh Liberal
Democrat in the Senedd but mark my words, we’re going to be heard.
But there has been one consistent
reforming voice in the Senedd since 1999, and that was Kirsty
Williams.
Kirsty stood down at the election
in May after 22 years on the frontline of Welsh politics representing Brecon
and Radnorshire. Wales and our party owe Kirsty a huge amount.
From the campaign to first
establish the National Assembly for Wales, to being the first-ever female
leader of a Welsh political party in 2008, establishing the Welsh Pupil
Premium, driving the integration of health, care, and housing, leading
legislation on safe nurse staffing levels on hospital wards, to leading the
greatest education reforms in Wales since the second world war, Kirsty has
inspired and enthused – and changed the life chances of - a generation.
I cannot thank Kirsty enough for
what she has done for our party, for our country, and the support she has shown
me and so many others. Diolch a phob dymuniad da ar gyfer y dyfodol,
Kirsty.
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