Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. Can I repeat my thanks to the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee for its work? We've accepted the merits points made in its report, and I'm grateful to the committee for recognising the time pressures, which are not of our own making and are a direct result of the awkwardness we discussed during the debate on the final budget of having a major UK fiscal event halfway through our own budget-making processes.

Of course, I agree with Adam Price that it is important to take a more fundamental look at the way in which money is raised in this part of our budget, and he will know, because we've discussed it, that there is work in hand inside the Welsh Government to test in a practical way whether there are alternative ways of raising revenue of this sort in the Welsh context. Does that mean that it is right to vote against the proposal in front of the Assembly this afternoon? Well, I don't think so, of course. My belief is that, if the vote is lost, the effect is that businesses in Wales next year will see their bills rise in line with RPI not CPI, because we have to get on and make the local government budget. We wouldn't be able to come back with alternative proposals in time for next year. Would I be tempted to come back with alternative proposals that included a split multiplier? I don't think I would, Llywydd. It's one of the advantages of our system, businesses tell us, that they don't have the complexity of split multipliers, particularly when the split multiplier would apply to a very small number of large businesses and would not, I think, raise revenue of a sort that would make a material difference to others.

What we do plan to do, and what we have proposed to the National Assembly, is that we do not place Welsh businesses in a different position than the businesses across our border who will see their bills in this area grow more slowly than they would in Wales if the vote today were not to be supported. I confirm for Nick Ramsay that there was a consequential in the autumn budget that comes to Wales. We will apply that consequential to pay for the change that we are proposing to you today. Welsh businesses using that consequential will be £9 million better off next year than they otherwise would be, and £22 million better off the following year than they otherwise would be. You can vote symbolically if you like, but for Welsh businesses, the price of your symbol is to be £30 million worse off than they otherwise would be.