I'd like to take part in this debate today and support the Welsh Conservative motion, in particular our motion calling for an independent review of the outdated Welsh local government funding formula, which so desperately needs to be revised.

When I started thinking about my contribution today, I thought, 'Well, I'll dust out my speech from last year, the year before, or the year before that; the one that Mike Hedges intervenes on every year.' So, that is evidence, I think, Mike, that we do speak about this on this side every year because you intervene every year. But, this year, I thought, rather than asking the Cabinet Secretary to contribute towards what I'm saying, I'll ask you to contribute to what the leader of Powys County Council is saying. She wrote to all AMs represented in the Powys County Council area, and, I thought, in my contribution, I'd relay some of what she has said, so you can reply directly to her. Her letter sets out the funding gap of £14 million in the next financial year for Powys County Council, and a further £20 million over the following three years, and she talks about the budget reductions taking little account of the cost of providing services across large areas of rural counties like Powys. She goes on to say,

'Powys has been in the unviable position of having the poorest, or joint poorest budget settlement in nine out of 10 years.'

To put this in context, in the last 10 years between 2010 and 2020, there would have been approximately £100 million from our budget, and this in a time when other local authorities across Wales are seeing an increase in their settlements. This is the example that Darren Millar was talking about in his opening comments about the divide between urban and rural Wales. [Interruption.] Yes, Mike, as always.