Diolch yn fawr, Lywydd. Let me begin by just making a number of general points that haven’t been raised in the debate so far. I think it’s important to put on record that revaluation raises no extra money at all; it is not a tax-raising measure. It simply redistributes the burden so that it is more fairly shared between businesses across Wales. And while we recognise that there are businesses who face higher bills, there are far more businesses in Wales who find their bills going down and are able to do all those things with that additional money that other contributors to this debate have pointed to in using that opportunity to invest further in their businesses.

The valuation agency is entirely independent of the Welsh Government, but where we are able to, and particularly in relation to appeals, I intend to act to make that system more effective, less burdensome and to the advantage of businesses.

Let me say as well that we pay taxes for a reason. We pay taxes because we all get the collective benefits of doing so, and businesses get that benefit as well. All non-domestic rates collected in Wales go to sustaining those services on which businesses depend. The pavements on which their customers walk, the roads on which their customers drive to their businesses, the people who work in their businesses who are educated at the expense of the state, the national health service that provides for those employees when they are ill—all those services are available to businesses, and that’s why business rates are paid.