Llywydd, I’m very alert to the corrosive effect that uncertainty produces for those who work in local authorities and those who put themselves forward for election. I will publish a written statement tomorrow. I wanted to wait until I’d heard what people had said today before finalising that statement, but I’m happy to confirm, in direct answer to Andrew Davies’s question, that that written statement will say that elections will go ahead for local councils in Wales in May of next year and that those elected can expect to serve a full five-year term.

Llywydd, there are details in the motion before the Assembly this afternoon that the Government might have phrased differently. There are, for example, better explanations for the genuinely concerning low participation rates in local authorities than describing voters as apathetic. One of the things that I look forward to most in my new responsibilities will be to use the powers, which we hope will be devolved to the National Assembly through the Wales Bill, to put before you a genuinely radical set of proposals for the reform of the way in which elections are conducted in Wales—moving from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century and re-energising democratic engagement as we do so. But, in the broader spirit of wishing to create consensus, to participate in dialogue, and to pursue a way forward that is both positive and constructive, the Government side will support this motion this afternoon.