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Carwyn Jones AM, First Minister of Wales, in a speech to Labour’s Annual Conference 2014 in Manchester, said:

We need to build a new United Kingdom. Conference, greetings from a land with a Labour Government. Soon to be joined by another one in May

Can I say a special good morning to those of you who are here from Scotland.

There are few people in this hall as delighted as I am about the result last week.

I campaigned alongside many of you here today to keep our four nations together, and now - together - we must make good our promise, and rebuild the United Kingdom.

That cannot be done through a bilateral conversation between Westminster and Scotland. After all, David Cameron tried that and was so badly out-witted by Alex Salmond that he almost lost the Union.

As Gordon Brown has said, the old days of Westminster sovereignty are over. And I want to pay tribute today to Gordon’s vital contribution in the final days of the Scotland campaign.

The conversation we need now must take in all the four nations, Wales, Scotland, England and Northern Ireland together. It must address the needs and responsibilities of all and we must do this in the spirit of solidarity and generosity that we also promised.

We may not convince some nationalists to take this journey with us.

When I said in a speech in Edinburgh that the end goal for nationalists in Scotland was not social justice, but independence, one SNP supporter said that it was a price worth paying.

But, not everyone who voted “yes” in Scotland is a nationalist. We know that only about half of those who vote Plaid Cymru want independence for Wales.

We know too that not everyone who votes UKIP in England is voting for Nigel Farage’s view of Britain. Because after all, who really knows what UKIP’s view of our future looks like.

These causes and parties are finding support because too many people are simply fed up of what they see as the status quo. Too many people think things - and politics in particular - cannot get any worse.

Those people, to recall Archie Macpherson’s great speech in the campaign, who said “you know, I think I will try a yes.”

People willing to ‘try’ independence. Some because they thought “what’s the worst that could happen?” And others because they felt, in their lives, the worst was already happening.

That view will only harden if we, as a Labour Party, fail to honour our promise to refound the UK in a way that ensures the strong identities of our nations are recognised within a common bond of solidarity.

I don’t want to see anymore panicky responses from David Cameron to placate the ranting right in his own party, and the narrow nationalism of Nigel Farage.

The Union has suffered a serious injury and a sticking plaster won’t do.

And if you need proof the polls show that it was those over 65 who saved the union in Scotland.

We need to convince the younger generation that their future lies with us.

We need to see the Wales Bill delivered, the recommendations of Part Two of the Silk Commission on further power taken forward, and a constitutional convention to address the future structure of the UK.

I know that Ed Miliband gets this. That’s why he has promised to address the historic under-funding of Wales.

That’s why, when he came to Wales earlier this year, he promised a new Wales Bill that give us a reserved powers model of devolution that will end the tug-of-war between Whitehall and Wales.

Because let’s face it, Whitehall has had a dead hand around the throat of enterprise, innovation, and radicalism for long enough.

And that’s as true in Sunderland as it is in Swansea, or Stirling. We don’t need independence to fix that, we need a devolution settlement that works.

As the campaign in Scotland wore on we saw more and more of the SNP’s mask slip.

First came the White Paper - vague in places, hopelessly optimistic in others. But most crucially, offering the people of Scotland policies that could be delivered in the devolution settlement that exists today.

The Welsh Labour Government has shown that with the right policies we can already make a difference inside the current framework.

Pre-devolution, two year waiting lists in the NHS were not uncommon. Now the standard wait is ten weeks.

Half of our students got 5 good GCSEs; last year it was more than three quarters.

Over 10,000 young people have work thanks to our Jobs Growth Wales programme; I’m delighted that Ed and Rachel Reeves are using that as a basis for a new scheme in England.

Our students have been spared the £18,000 fees levied by the Tory Government.

Our children and teachers have been spared the chaos and u-turns of Michael Gove’s attempted and abandoned exam reforms.

Our patients, doctors & nurses have been spared the mayhem of a botched reorganisation and wholesale privatisation.

In Wales we believe in reform of our public services; not their systematic destruction.

In Wales we value our public services; we don’t vandalise them.

But, there’s more we can do. There’s more we want to do - and too often the confusion of our constitution gets in our way.

Our new Union can only be shaped by a convention of all four nations. Wales stands ready.

A new United Kingdom that moves more power to the people - and we must do that, because that has always been our job as Labour politicians.

When I called for a constitutional convention two years ago - in Dublin of all places - it was because I wanted us to work together to articulate a robust, modern settlement for the UK.

The kind of future we started to glimpse in the last two weeks of the Scottish referendum.

I am delighted that the Labour Party has now taken up my call for a convention and I look forward to our Welsh involvement in that work, from day one.

And the future we promised to Scotland must be delivered - an equal share of resources, a seat at the table, a powerful Parliament - that must be offered to Wales and Northern Ireland too.

Not just home rule for Scotland, but home rule all round.

We can deliver a fair, better Britain together with a modern structure of government.

Only Labour, with its representation in Wales and Scotland can do this.

We should never forget that Labour wins power in order to pass it on to our people.

The establishment almost lost the Union, the people of these nations must now rebuild it.

Conference, thank you.

Ends