Diolch. Our motion today recognises the important role played by local authorities in delivering public services across Wales. It also acknowledges the funding challenges currently faced by Welsh local authorities.

From their obsolete local government funding formula to their botched local government reforms, successive Welsh Labour Governments have left councils having to balance the books under sustained pressure. Nine out of 22 Welsh local authorities receive an increase under the Welsh Government’s settlement for 2019-20. However, with the exception of Denbighshire, which now receives a flat settlement, all north Wales councils are to receive a cut, with the largest cuts in Flintshire, Conwy and Anglesey, alongside Monmouthshire and Powys.

Rural councils and north Wales councils have therefore lost out, while Labour-led councils in south Wales, such as Cardiff, with total usable reserves in April 2018 of £109.6 million, and Merthyr Tydfil are this year’s biggest winners, with uplifts of 0.9 per cent and 0.8 per cent respectively. This leaves the average household in Wales with a £1,591 council tax bill, nearly £100 higher than the current financial year.

Only two out of 22 local authorities, Rhondda Cynon Taf and Neath Port Talbot, have not broken the informal 5 per cent increase cap on council tax rises set by the Welsh Government—