Diolch, Lywydd. I’m pleased to move the motion laid in the name of Rhun ap Iorwerth. The issue of the mineworkers’ pension scheme surplus forms part of an unholy trinity of miners’ injustices, along with past state brutality and the intentional de-industrialisation of their communities. But I hope that all Members on all sides can agree that the motion before us today is not controversial and simply seeks to address an injustice that occurs every day of every week.

The MPS closed to new members in the mid-1990s, with the number of scheme members declining from 700,000 in 1960 to around 200,000 last year. It is a scheme that includes an investment reserve valued at over £1 billion and a bonus augmentation fund, and, in addition, the sum of all expected future benefits is expected to be worth some £19 billion. Under an agreement reached in 1994, the UK Government guarantees the solvency of the scheme, with the exception of the bonus augmentations, and the annual indexation of guaranteed pensions, in line with price inflation.