I will do my best to avoid repeating any points that have already been commented on. Can I, first of all, thank the Cabinet Secretary for his report and the sober introduction to it, which recognises the severe impact of UK cuts on our budget? In paragraph 1.5, you say that despite ongoing and severe cuts to the Welsh budget as a result of the UK Government's damaging austerity agenda, the Welsh Government has continued to protect public services from the worst effects of austerity.

You did, in your outline, also refer to some of the circumstances that were particularly affecting the Welsh economy as part of the UK economy: wages are falling and are lower now than in 2010, wage growth is the lowest in Europe bar Greece, economic growth and productivity is the worst for a century, UK investment is lower than every other major economy apart from Greece and Portugal, and the Brexit shambles is causing uncertainty for business and people. And we've recently discussed the absolute shambles over the DUP affair.

Can I contrast your report with that of Her Majesty's Treasury, which, in the economic context, does actually confirm most of those points about the ongoing, long-term economic downcast reporting that's taken place? But then, contrast it with the less-than-sober introduction to the report, which says,

'The United Kingdom has a bright future. The fundamental strengths of the UK economy will support growth in the long term' and

'the Budget will ensure that every generation can look forward to a better standard of living than the one before'.

It makes you wonder whether that report was written in two parts—the first part by the Chancellor and the second part by people who actually knew something about what was happening in the economy.

One of the points I really wanted to talk about, though, was the impact on the public sector and the public sector pay cap. It particularly affects my constituency of Pontypridd because we have in the region of 15,000 public sector workers in my constituency, the overwhelming majority of whom have not had a wage increase of any consequence whatsoever for the last decade or so. The net effect is that, by 2022, as a result of the UK Government's austerity programme, nurses and firefighters will be £3,400 per annum worse off in real terms, librarians £2,100, paramedics and dieticians £3,800, the police £450 a year worse off, and prison officers £980 a year worse off. One of my constituents, Shirley Nicholls, a Welsh NHS nurse for 30 years, says this:

'I feel we are being squeezed year after year by austerity. Many cannot make ends meet. Many are leaving. Morale is low. It seems it is only the poorest who are being made to pay for austerity. I fear that if Westminster does not end the pay cap and bring austerity to an end, our NHS and public services will not survive.'

I'd ask you to consider, Cabinet Secretary, whether there is more we can do to put pressure on the UK Government to make statutory pay body awards binding, because that seems to me to be the fundamental flaw—that we set a body to determine pay, but the UK Government then refuses to actually pay that.

Can I then refer to a number of matters within the Welsh budget that I'd like to give some consideration to? The first one is the community facilities programme. I very much welcome the additional £6 million and further increases in subsequent years to this programme. It's a programme that has had a significant impact in my constituency, with the Ely Valley Miners sports project and the New Life Church, which provides a whole range of community support programmes. All of these, which have leveraged in other money, seem to be a very effective use of the tackling poverty priorities of the Welsh Government, and I really wonder if there is additional funding that further consideration might be given to, on how that could actually take place.

The second point I'd ask you to consider is really on the section you have in the report on the metro, and what the impact might be in respect of access to European funding, but also access to borrowing in respect of the European Investment Bank, and the impact this might have on some of the projects we want within the metro, such as the proposed new line to Llantrisant in my constituency.

Can I make one further final point, and that is on twenty-first century schools, welcoming the £1.4 billion investment? But it's really to congratulate Rhondda Cynon Taf council, who've already invested under this programme £200 million, and have plans for a further £300 million, with a massive structural transformation of education facilities as a result of this. It'll mean that, over a decade in Rhondda Cynon Taf, the council will have invested in educational facilities almost £0.5 billion. That is an amazing success, I think, and should be recognised.

One final point, then, on new taxes, Cabinet Secretary. I wonder whether in your consideration of items for new taxes there might be an opportunity now to give consideration to resurrecting the asbestos Bill.