THERE is no sustainable solution to the problems and challenges we face without independence – be that Welsh or Scottish. It’s only by owning our own problems that we will solve them, by owning our own opportunities that we will seize them. By owning our own dream – not Boris Johnson’s, not Jacob Rees-Mogg’s or Jeremy Corbyn’s – we will turn the future we hope for into a reality.

Of course, we have to be honest with our people. We have to be honest about the destructive potential of a brittle, bitter Brexit.

The British political establishment have proven themselves singularly unable to deliver anything for our nations – Brexit or otherwise.

The land of milk and honey promised by Brexiteers now looks more like it contains Spam and potato peel pie.

Our economies eviscerated, identities airbrushed and voices ignored.

Since the vote to leave the European Union, the Westminster Government has charged forward under its colonialist cape, promising a paradise of the past filled with folly, free-trade deals and freedom from the supposed “shackles” of the EU. By now, it is abundantly clear that this “vision”is nothing more than a deranged post-Imperial delusion.

We’re on the Titanic’s deck. The iceberg’s looming. The Government’s strategy is to tell the iceberg to move. Those in first class have taken to the lifeboats. David Cameron’s on a beach somewhere and has left us locked in the third-class cabins.

We have got to break that deadlock.

We have to compose a new future for our nations.

It will not be written for us in the marbled halls of Whitehall and Westminster. It will be written in the streets and shops, the pubs and rugby clubs, the homes and hearts of our nation.

In my nation it is only Plaid Cymru, the Party of Wales, that believes we can be prosperous. That we can be confident. That we can be self-governing and successful.

Some may shrug off our hope as blind optimism. To those I say that independence for both our nations is not a far-off, unachievable aspiration. It is a firm, near-term, realisable goal.

The prize is too great to surrender to the naysayers – the prize of new, independent, free nations.

Some argue there is a contradiction in arguing for Europe and independence. But our nations and Europe have always been tightly woven together – like a Celtic knot.

When England’s kings sought to crush my nation’s independence 600 years ago, it was envoys from Scotland, France and Castile that honoured us with their presence when Glyndwr became our prince.

Welsh historian Gwyn Alf Williams once famously said if the European Community didn’t exist then we Welsh would have to invent it. And if we stay or if we one day return, we will work to reform and reinvent it – for we are citizens of Europe every bit as much as we are citizens of Wales.

The risks we must traverse ahead are a-plenty. But great opportunities also stand before us: this is a generation whose energy and enthusiasm can be channelled into a passion for our country.

Between our membership and supporters, there is a spirit for change.

The word independence must bring to mind an image of a brighter tomorrow. The hope of a better future for our countries and for our people.

This is the vision of a new nation – a new Wales – that I spoke so passionately about to the members of my party over the past three months. It is the vision that must – and I believe will – take us on an election winning journey, so that we can shape our future for the better.

Yesterday I delivered my first leader’s speech to Plaid conference. My message to the Welsh people was simple: Yes Wales can.

Tomorrow I will speak to you – my Scottish sisters and brothers. Obviously, I don’t need to tell you, but Scotland can too.