I think it was quite telling at the start of this debate, when the Government bench had one Minister on it, and the back bench had one member of the governing party to defend its actions in a debate that was looking back over the last nine years, back to 2009. That in itself tells you its own story of engagement by the governing party in debates here this afternoon.

It is a pleasure to stand up here today, and it is also worth reflecting on the activities and achievements of the current First Minister. This time next week, he will not be the First Minister, and someone who has occupied a role for nine years and been at the centre of Government for the principal part of devolution—I think he came into Government in 2000-01—is worthy of any recognition and praise as well, because that is an intensity in public office that really does warrant sufficient observation from opposition parties and the governing party as well, that someone's dedicated themselves to public service.

But it is right, also, to reflect on missed opportunities, especially over a sustained period of time. Sometimes, instead of looking at the big issues, you sometimes need to look at the very small issues and work up from the small issues to the big issues. Today, for example, I was in the town of Barry, where there has been a vigorous campaign around the incinerator that has been located there, which has been granted planning permission through the normal process. The environment Minister, back in February, agreed to consider imposing an environmental impact assessment on that incinerator. I raised the question with the leader of the house yesterday, and, some 300 days later, that community is still waiting for that decision from the Government. If you are in Government, you've got the ability to do things. You have the ability—as Mohammad Asghar referred to on the front page of the First Minister's manifesto, 'Time to Lead'—to lead, and actually make a positive impact in communities. In respect of that particular community, that inertia in making this decision epitomises much of the bigger stuff that the First Minister, and indeed his successive Governments, have failed to achieve for Wales.

You cannot walk away from the successive PISA tables that have shown, regrettably, that we have not enjoyed the success in education that we all want to see—take the politics out of it; we all want to see a better education system. It's not much good saying, 'We can wait till 2022 when the new curriculum comes in.' What about the generation that's going through schools at the moment? I'm a father of four kids. They get one go around the track, they do, and you want to give them the best chance possible. So, what are we saying: 'The last 20 years—oh, well, sorry about that, but we'll get it right for the next generation'?

The international figures do not lie. And, you know, a bit of reflection from the governing party and the governing benches wouldn't go amiss on where things have gone wrong and where we can put things right. I am the first one to acknowledge that twenty-first century schools has made an improvement in schools the length and breadth of this country, but it is a fat lot of good having shiny new buildings if the outcomes coming out of those shiny new buildings aren't replicated in the achievements of our young people. I am as ambitious as anyone for our young people to achieve the best that they possibly can in their lives, but it has to be on the scorecard that the Government could have done better.

If you look at the economy over the last couple of years, it is a fact that Welsh workers are taking less home today compared to their Scottish counterparts when they started in 1999—£55 a week less, in fact. Now, the governing party talk about austerity. I have not heard an alternative put forward for how we could have cleaned up the mess that Gordon Brown left of a public sector borrowing requirement of £160 billion that is coherent and would have kept the confidence of the markets so that we wouldn't have seen a massive recession. But what I have seen is the economic policies of successive Labour Governments in Wales deliver poorer take-home pay as opposed to improved take-home pay in other parts of the United Kingdom. It is a fact: we are the lowest take-home pay economy of the United Kingdom. That is a fact. You cannot deny that.

When it comes to the NHS, it is a fact that a political decision was taken in 2011-12 to cut health spending here in Wales. That was a political decision that was taken. It is the only Government in the United Kingdom, and, indeed, the First Minister is the only leader of a Government who has taken that conscious decision to cut spending. And the argument at the time was that that money needed to go into other columns to support other services, and that is fine if that's what the political choice is, but the fact of the matter is that decision was taken and the Government has to reap the consequences because of it. In 2009, for example, the 36-week wait in the Welsh NHS was zero—zero. Today, it is 13,500 people waiting 36 weeks or more to have treatment. That is the measure that people use to measure the success of the NHS, of how timely they can be seen when they are presented with an illness or condition. And that, on the scorecard, has to be marked down as a failure.

So, I am more than willing to stand here and praise the public service of the current First Minister—a record that deserves to be praised—but the successive Governments that he has led have failed to achieve the real improvements that were promised at the start of devolution and through the time of the Governments that he has led. Now, that's not the fault of devolution: it's the political choices that have been taken, and let's reflect on that, because the next week is a time for reflection and a time to get onside and actually change the record so that we change the outcomes. And that's why I hope this Assembly will support the motion before them this afternoon.