Cabinet Secretary, thank you for your statement. Now, from the start, we as Welsh Conservatives did raise initial concerns about the Green Paper proposals. You and your predecessors, for the past three or four years, have been playing with the hearts, minds and lives of many working within our local government organisation. The aim of your Green Paper in March was supposedly to invigorate the debate on local government in Wales, and you mentioned at the time your vision for stronger, more empowered local authorities, focusing on local leadership. Yet, in reality, you pushed the button of turmoil, demoralisation and destabilisation once again within offices and council chambers across Wales.

You might see this as flexing your muscles of power, but, frankly, many, including members of your own party, thought that your actions were insensitive and calculating. You undermined the intelligence and dedicated commitment of our council group leaders, our councillors and our officers in their rejection of your preposterous proposals. You boast about 177 responses to the Green Paper consultation, in a population size of over 3 million people, it's not a lot, and, to be honest, I take credit for some of those, because we were actually writing it up in our news column in the local papers and making people across Wales aware of this consultation, because, too often, these go above the heads of the very people whose lives they affect.

You also know that the local authorities were sending copies of their responses to me at my request, so we were ahead of the game in analysing these responses, and we've challenged and scrutinised you since March, all the while, whilst people were very worried in local government about what you were moving towards. This clearly proved that you were going off on a mission well above the heads of these good people who work in local government, delivering vital services.

There are other ways of going about achieving some of the fundamentals that you are aiming for. You mention that no-one is bringing forward alternative proposals, yet I would beg to differ. Local authorities and the WLGA broadly noted the ongoing success of collaborative and regional partnership working, and they want longer for these principles to enable and to bed in. Of concern, though, is that you did not actually ask for any alternative suggestions, but merely offered these three possible routes towards forced mergers. You speak of empowerment for local authorities, but your Green Paper gave them very little. Would you not agree with me that expecting responses to a question you did not ask is a very poor way to undertake consultation?

Moving on to voluntary mergers, in reviewing the responses of local authorities, I must admit that I did not note the appetite that you describe, still, for voluntary mergers amongst local authorities. Denbighshire stated,

'The past experience of some authorities with regard to voluntary mergers and Government’s response to them is hardly encouraging.'

Conwy noted that,

We do not agree now that merging local authorities is appropriate.

That opportunity was lost when Leighton Andrews rejected them offhandedly at the time. The Vale of Glamorgan said that it was,

'taking the position that a merger with any other local authority is an untenable prospect in securing the quality of services rightly expected by our citizens.'

Now, given that sections 3 to 10 of the Local Government (Wales) Act 2015 already provide local authorities with the opportunity to voluntarily merge, can you advise as to why, if such an appetite exists, that you are not pushing that model forward? This, what you're bringing forward now, appears to be just another recycling of Leighton Andrews's plans. Why do you not consider amending the Act rather than bringing forward another raft of costly new legislation?

I also note your proposal to establish a new working group with the WLGA. As a result of all this local government reorganisation over the years, we've seen a Public Services Staff Commission set up, and there's now been a workforce partnership council. So, what is the point of setting up another costly group for local authorities to feed into? Why not consider streamlining these structures? You say that finding more money is not an option. However, we now know that local government, housing, education, social services and health are all intrinsically linked. Why, oh why, will you not seek to work with your other Cabinet Members around the table and seek a wholesale reform of all our public services across Wales, removing the numerous and costly tiers of bureaucracy and waste that exist within all five areas of this service delivery, and which have actually grown in 20 years of devolution in Wales?

The Williams commission gave us 62 recommendations, yet your Government and your predecessors have only ever taken four forward—all relating to local government reform. Is it not time now to get that report out again, blow the dust off it, and work with the panel, who were very good cross-party individuals, to revisit those proposals, and work with key stakeholders towards a wholesale reform of our public service delivery in Wales? Until you grasp that nettle, we are just going to carry on and on on this magic roundabout.