Diolch. This report should have been a wake-up call for the Tories, but it's not, so I'm not even going to address the Conservatives' denial. As for the points made by the far right, you are a complete joke. You have no idea about poverty or how the world's poorest will suffer as a result of your climate change denial, or how poor people with protected characteristics will be harmed by your hateful rhetoric. Your contribution and the recent new, even further right adviser to your party shows that you are unfit to represent people. You have no place in the kind of Wales that I want to see. You are part of the problem and not part of the solution.

As for the Tories, you are so out of touch you have no idea of the pain that people are being put through with universal credit. Despite the evidence—and the DWP's own impact assessment in 2011 showed that universal credit does not make work pay—more people face higher disincentives to work than under the old system. Despite the evidence, you still claim that this system is great. Anyone watching this will form their own view, I'm sure.

I want to say 'thank you' to the Members who contributed to this debate in a positive way, in particular to those who highlighted the impact on other devolved services from the fallout of universal credit and those who spoke about specific groups being discriminated against. And a special thanks goes to Helen Mary Jones for putting the gendered nature of this debate so forcefully. I also support Jane Hutt's call to put further pressure on Amber Rudd on this. 

I have to address the point made by Joyce Watson and the Minister about what Scotland has done in terms of mitigating these problems. In Scotland, they now have powers to deliver 11 benefits. They are going to introduce an increased carers allowance, followed by the Best Start grant and the funeral assistance grant from September 2019. They've had the money and they are spending more. Why? Because they are prioritising poverty. Now, Scottish Labour want the SNP to go even further, to be even more generous, to mitigate even further the effects of these benefits. So, why are you opposed? This is yet another example of Labour facing in a number of different directions. The changes that we want to see in terms of the devolution of the administration of benefits would save this Government money. Get this right and you could save the NHS, you could save money in housing, you could save money in education and much, much more. Given where we are with all of this poverty, and it's likely to be made much, much worse post Brexit, the fact that the Government has no strategy and no dedicated Minister to tackle either poverty or child poverty is an absolute disgrace.

I want to finish with a quote from the report, from Professor Philip Alston himself, who says,

'In the absence of devolved power over social security benefits, the Welsh Government’s capacity to directly mitigate the reduction in benefits is limited, thereby shifting the burden to low-income households. There is a wide consensus among stakeholders that the benefit changes are one of the structural causes behind the increase in poverty, rough sleeping, and homelessness in Wales. Parliamentarians and civil society voiced serious concerns that Universal Credit may exacerbate the problem, particularly in light of the Welsh Government’s inability to introduce flexibilities in its administration, unlike its Scottish counterpart.'

That says that you have the power to do something about this. Just do it.