On the weekend I attended and spoke at the Festival for Europe event in Pontypridd, in the constituency of my parliamentary colleague Owen Smith MP – who took a brave and principled stand on Brexit this week but lost his shadow front bench Northern Ireland role as a result.

His actions show that when it comes to the issue of Europe, there are those within all political parties - including my own - who are willing to go beyond party politics, and who see this as far too important an issue for the whole of Wales, the UK and indeed the whole world, to stand by.

It’s about the sort of world we want to live in, the sort of country we want to live in, and the sort of future we want for ourselves, our children, our grandchildren - and the generations to follow.

Those of us representing Welsh constituencies know the many challenges we face - of poverty, deprivation in some of our areas despite progress, and of environmental challenges.

We have made huge strides in securing workers’ rights, environmental rights, equality rights, and for these reasons (among many others) Europe really matters.

What’s clear from the government’s own ‘secret’ analysis is that every single Brexit scenario will lead to more austerity, more borrowing, and more damage to our economy, jobs and businesses; and the price for that is also going to be deregulation, and the scrapping of human rights, environmental rights and labour rights, many of the things we have stood up for over many years and worked so hard to achieve.

That is not the future I want and I genuinely don’t think it’s the future many leave voters wanted, which is why we need strong, passionate, principled voices to keep speaking up and telling it like it is.

l Last week the government lost a landmark court case, when the High Court ruled that their changes to the disability benefit system ‘blatantly discriminate against people with mental health problems’, and are in breach of people’s human rights.

On Monday I challenged the government over this shambles on PIP and ESA , as I am hearing too many shocking stories from residents in Penarth and Cardiff, including those with mental health issues, degenerative medical conditions, and veterans.

The response was the usual waffle and bluff from the Minister.

This is simply not good enough.