I do not place either a copy of the Green Paper or a map of the new authorities under my pillow. I do not do that. I do not dream, I do not wake with a start at three o'clock in the morning dreaming of new authorities in the Vale of Glamorgan or in the Vale of Clwyd or elsewhere, or the return of the flag of Dyfed and the kings of Deheubarth. I don't dream or think of things like that, and I am not committed to a particular model or a particular geography, but I am committed to something else. I am committed to empowered local government. I am committed to stronger local government and better local democracy and democratic accountability. And do you know what motivates me, what does keep me up at night? It's knowing that 700 people in Ceredigion have been made redundant because of what is happening to local government today. What keeps me awake at night is knowing there are people who are afraid of seeing the council tax bill because councils are struggling facing austerity and facing difficulties in balancing their budgets, and that is in the context where this Government has protected those budgets and protected those services. We haven't seen anything like the cuts in Wales that we've seen in England, but we've seen the disruption to services and the failure to deliver services at different times because we have a structure that is simply not fit for purpose and is not sustainable, and the WLGA agree with that analysis, and I know people on all sides of the Chamber agree with that.

But let's go beyond a dry and tired debate on lines on maps and mergers. Let's look at the vision. It isn't good enough—it isn't good enough for any Member on any side of the Chamber here today simply to stand up and make a speech telling us what they oppose and what they don't like. We are not paid to tell people what we don't like. We are not paid to tell people about the problems they already know about. We are paid here to find solutions to those problems, to find solutions to the difficulties that people face. And let me say this—I know that time is against me, Deputy Presiding Officer—Welsh Labour believes in this policy of creating larger, stronger councils because we want to protect our services, we want to protect the people who deliver those services, and we want to deliver greater democratic accountability. We want a new culture, we want a new relationship between this place and local government. I said in my speech on the weekend in Llandudno that it is time for a new settlement in Wales.  

We have seen and we have campaigned, and we have discussed this afternoon, about devolution to Wales. But I believe we also need devolution within Wales—greater powers to robust local authorities with the capacity to use them and with a strategic vision to deliver services across Wales, and greater powers to every local authority, every reformed local authority in Wales. I've given a commitment that we will start to look towards delivering the EU charter of local self-government into Welsh law, and I want to go further than that. I want to look towards shared services and an improvement body for Wales to give local government the powers and the responsibility for improvement in local government.

For too long, this place and local government have been like unhappy siblings, arguing with each other. We need a mature relationship with local government. We need a new relationship with local government. We need a new settlement for local government. We need empowered local government, stronger councils, working alongside Welsh Government to deliver services for the whole of Wales, and I believe, Deputy Presiding Officer, that that is what the people of Wales want as well. Thank you very much.