I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Cabinet Secretary. Having worked with three former predecessors on the issue of moving towards local government reform, I find it extremely refreshing that we as a party have been able to be consulted and engage with you, and I know I’ve enjoyed the meetings we’ve had. I do expect to see that reflected—our policy proposals, our suggestions—throughout the White Paper when it actually arrives.

We do have concerns, however, as a group in terms of how, in terms of local government reform, you are now grafting electoral reform onto the process, and we do feel that this is more about appeasing the political group Plaid Cymru in order to get their support. We would rather have seen a more consensual approach, where we could have all worked together and had a model that worked well for our authorities to deliver efficient and good-quality public services for our electorate. We know that the Williams commission, implemented by your Government—technically cross-party—made some firm recommendations, and, to date, we are wanting to see some of those recommendations implemented.

The Welsh Government’s top priority in local government reform should be what our residents and our council tax payers are asking for. They deserve and they want efficient, well-run services and they also want fair levels of council tax. I can honestly say, in my own constituency of Aberconwy, I haven’t had a single person coming through my office or contacting me about the need for electoral reform here in Wales. What they have come to see me about is how the Welsh Government is moving forward after three years of what has been a chaotic period for local government under Welsh Labour.

Sian Gwenllian did make some very valid points, actually, about the kind of confusion that might arise from some of the proposals mentioned in the statement today and whether there is a real danger that subdividing local government into different regional layers will create a perception of increased bureaucracy and succeed in taking decision making further away from residents. I welcome your mention, on those benches, of elected mayors. We’ve advocated directly elected mayors previously. However, in this instance, I would seek assurances from the Cabinet Secretary here today that any proposals going forward for local reform will not actually, ultimately, cost our council tax payers more and that the process doesn’t become unwieldy in terms of bureaucracy and cost.

Moving on, voluntary mergers are still on the table, and I would ask, Cabinet Secretary, what discussions you’ve actually had with those authorities that came forward bravely during the last term, put forward really good proposals for joint-authority working and were just rejected out of hand by the previous Minister. It would be interesting to know whether you are taking forward any conversations currently about how, if they want to—it’s a cost-effective model—that can go forward?

Going on to council tax, when we last looked at this, when the previous Minister was in post, there was the potential for band D property rates to vary by an extra £624 per year. That would not be welcomed in my constituency. We must remember that council tax under Labour in Wales has gone up 178 per cent, and people now really question what you will do as Cabinet Secretary in Government to actually help our hard-working council tax payers and our pensioners. Do you consider council tax harmonisation to be an issue in relation to regional working, and if you do, how do you propose to address this?

Cabinet Secretary, you have suggested that there will be no additional reimbursement for any of the structures coming forward in your proposed model, either in scrutiny or the regional actual governance. I would ask you to put that on record here today because, again, I know that my constituents would be very unhappy if they were to see extra costings to the political side of any bureaucracy that may come from this. How will regional working really be scrutinised at regional level, but more importantly, at local level? And how will my constituents be able to feed into a north Wales model in terms of being able to have confidence that there will be really strong, robust scrutiny and financial probity? How will portfolio holders be held to account for the actions of their regional working? And where does the democratic accountability lie in that regard?

Now, community councils—I’ll move on—the Wales Office report out today found that many councils do not follow the basic procedural requirements set out in law. In 2015-16, community councils received over £43 million of income, yet incurred over £40 million of expenditure, managing reserves worth over £32 million and long-term assets worth over £180 million. I’ve raised it several times in this Chamber, and with yourself privately, about the need for a fundamental review of our community council system. Thirty-six per cent of councils do not set an appropriate budget. Over 50 councils fail to comply with a statutory timetable for preparing and improving the account statements. Again, what immediate action will you take to ensure that there are far higher rates of compliance with legal requirements in this regard? How will you ensure proper openness and transparency for this level of government, when many of our smaller community councils have had the funding to maintain a website, to maintain published minutes, to maintain a published agenda, and to maintain financial probity, transparency and democratic accountability?

So, you know where my views, and those of my Welsh Conservative colleagues, stand here. We wish you luck, moving forward, with local government reform. We want to be a part of it but, as I said, for us, it’s not about gerrymandering the electoral system. It is about true local government reform. Thank you.