Of course, I share the same region as Dai Lloyd, South Wales West. It's home to three local authorities. They're all Labour-run, by some margin. What? No 'yay's? I was kind of expecting somebody to say 'woohoo' at that point. And, of course, this has been for many years as well, apart from a couple of short-lived experiments by the electorate in Bridgend and Swansea.

Welsh Government may wish to argue that, compared to other parts of Wales, South Wales West hasn't done so badly in the local government settlement for next year. I'm sure my colleagues from different parts of Wales, especially rural and north Wales, would argue that as well. More importantly for my constituents, though, these three Labour councils will say that, after eight years of real-terms cuts by Welsh Government, this year's settlement is the final straw for them as well.

So, we'll start with Bridgend. Their leader warned, back in the summer, of cuts not just to libraries and swimming pools but to bus subsidies and to nursery provision. So, we are just about to roll out free childcare for three and four-year-olds through legislation at a time when provision in Bridgend could be cut. Since then, the council leader has ended his commitment to protecting schools, and of course we already know about the difference per head that children in schools in Wales get compared to their English counterparts, and he's also ended his commitment to protect social services budgets, pointing out that, when the UK Government gives his party's Government an extra £950 million, his party's council gets a cut. 

A big chunk of that extra, of course, has gone to the national health budget—obviously, Dai's alluded to this—but when it comes to pooled budgets for health and social care, in the case of Bridgend, it is the council that is putting in 72 per cent of that budget, when it's the health service that will actually be getting the uplift from this year's budget. That actually sounds wrong to me. At the same time, the same council leader is looking at having to find £4 million for teachers' pay—not pensions, pay. Despite an assurance from the education Secretary that every single penny that Welsh Government receives from the UK Government for teachers' pay will go for that purpose, the leader claims he's only getting a fraction of what it would do to cover the cost.