Welsh local government can only see this as Labour's austerity here in Welsh Government, compounding a decade, almost, of deep and, to me, unforgivable Tory austerity cuts. Cutting spending by nearly 2 per cent when overall revenue funding is up by over 2.4 per cent—or 2.4 per cent—is about local government not being given the priority we on the Plaid Cymru benches say it deserves. Now, UK budget consequentials did loosen the constrictor grip on Welsh councils, but I do question why Welsh Government chose to opt for putting councils in that vice-like grip in the first place.

What do we see elsewhere in this budget? We see a significant uplift again in health spending. Now, I'm not going to argue against giving money to health and social care, but we really have to see the delivery of public services in the round. Local government is a major part of the delivery of health and social care. And with councils starved of money, social services struggle, the pressure then on expensive secondary healthcare goes up and up, they overspend, additional funds are directed to them in budget after budget. It's a vicious spiral. Are we just seeing here Government reacting to a public cry for more money for health? Possibly, perhaps, that may be the case, but we need to see investment in those things that help the delivery of healthcare, not just the NHS. And that not only means funding hospitals, it means funding councils so they can provide strong social care, so they can provide strong leisure services in order that people are kept healthy, in order that education gets the investment that it needs, because education clearly is the route to making sure that people have the tools to equip them for making the right decisions.