I think I have addressed the figures and I’ve said already that we have £800 million less to spend on public services and public service workers every year in Wales as a consequence of the failed policy of austerity and, of course, we’ve heard voices from the other side of the Chamber that think that austerity has to go further still. So, I hesitate to take seriously some of the points that are being made this afternoon.

But in responding to this, as a trade unionist, somebody who, throughout his life, has been a member of a trade union, I believe in collective bargaining. I believe that Governments—and I’m proud that this Government has a fair work approach to how we deal with these matters, which ensures that we do negotiate with trade unions, we negotiate with friends and colleagues. And what we do is ensure that the voice of trade unionism is at the heart of the decisions that we take. Let me also say this: as somebody who has served in different roles in this Government and on the backbenches, I hope that this place will always be somewhere that recognises the importance of trade unionism in ensuring that workers, wherever they happen to work, whether its local authorities or elsewhere, have the best deal available to them. And it is effectively organised and recognised trade unions that remain the most important issue in ensuring that pay structures, whatever those pay structures happen to be, are fair and provide the protection that the most vulnerable and lowest paid require.

Deputy Presiding Officer, in closing, let me say this: it is important that we are able to pay our workers the fair wage and the salaries that they require. I was very proud, this week, to hear the announcement from the health Secretary to ensure that salaries in the health service are being increased in Wales, and we are more than matching the increases that are being seen across the border. I hope that local authorities will be able to deliver on a fair wage and fair increases for the lowest paid workers, and I will continue to work, as a Minister in this Government, with colleagues in the trade union movement to ensure that we protect not only the wages and salaries and conditions of workers across and throughout the public sector, but that we pay tribute to them, we do not take them for granted, we value them, and that we ensure that public service workers are at the heart of our approach on local government and public services into the future.