Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:15 pm on 13 February 2018.
I'm grateful, Deputy Presiding Officer. I do recognise the points that have been raised by Members on all sides of the Chamber this afternoon about issues within the budget, and I will give Members my undertaking that I will consider all of those matters and will make further statements on those issues in the weeks and months to come.
But where I may disagree with Llyr Gruffydd in his final remarks is that these matters are fundamentally a matter as a consequence of the policy of the United Kingdom Conservative Government and the policy that is being pursued by the Home Office in delivering year-on-year real-term cuts to our policy forces—[Interruption.] I will take an intervention, but please allow me to finish my first sentence. I would be grateful. I will address—. There was a comma there, not a full stop. I will address the points that were raised, but, fundamentally, these are issues as a consequence of declines in budgets for police forces as a consequence of the ideologically driven failed policy of austerity. I'll give way.