Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I've agreed to give a minute of my time to Mohammad Asghar, Janet Finch-Saunders and Russell George.

The countryside of Wales is not only the sweeping canvass that underpins our nation and defines our borders and identity, but it forms the backdrop to a way of life that is often not understood or as valued as it should be. Yet rural Wales is home to around 33 per cent of the Welsh population. A third of us live in towns, villages and communities where our landscape is quite different to the rest of Wales, and where we often feel that our valuable contribution to supporting the economy of Wales and its rich cultural and social heritage is not given the weight it deserves.

Like many nations, Wales experiences a split between its urban centres and the rural hinterlands. All too often, Government policy is centred on making sure that the large urban centres are catered for to the cost of the more remote and less populated rural counties of Wales. Policies surrounding healthcare, education and economic growth cannot be implemented through a one-size-fits-all approach, and the Government needs to remember that, for many, a rural way of life is one of survival and hard graft and not the picture-postcard, doe-eyed good life that many others consider it to be.

All of us weigh up many factors when deciding where to live and those who want to live in rural areas are often prepared to compromise, to accept that jobs might be harder to get, that services might be a bit further away, that schools might be smaller, that we won't earn as much or indeed have so many opportunities to spend what we earn and that our way of life does cost a bit more. But Welsh Government is now asking us to compromise too much. For example, education: access to a local village school and the community that comes with it is a key reason for many choosing to live where they do, but, under Welsh Labour, we have seen schools close and communities disintegrate; villages have lost their focal point. These actions were supported by Welsh Government, and whilst I was happy to see the revised school organisation code, which finally introduces a presumption against the closure of rural schools, it is too late for too many teachers, too many pupils and too many parents. After all, three out of five schools were closed between 2006 and 2016.