Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I’m very pleased to take part in this debate on local government. As you’ve already mentioned, I do move the amendments in the name of Rhun ap Iorwerth.

As a former county councillor in Swansea for several years, as were others in this Chamber, I understand very well the financial challenges facing our counties. Having said that, I’m surprised that the Conservatives want to discuss these financial challenges, because it’s their austerity policies coming down the M4 from London that have caused the financial cuts. Our counties are in need of genuine partnership and support to achieve the Government’s aims, and it’s also true to say that this Labour Welsh Government in the Senedd hasn’t always prioritised the funding of local government either. And with the relationship between the Government here and the leaders of our councils at times potentially challenging, who can forget the accusation of Oliver Twist from Alun Davies, the Minister at the time, and that led to a number of similar comparisons from the Dickensian world.

Now, 22 authorities came into existence in 1996 under the Conservative plan, and, of course, the Assembly came into existence in 1999, and we’ve never had the sensible and mature discussion of the expectations of those two different layers of government in this place. How can we collaborate? The Assembly was the new baby, and the councils were also relatively new. We never had that mature discussion to decide who should do what and how we could collaborate better to improve the lives of the people of Wales. So, we have a Senedd. What activities should be done on a national basis? What activities should be left to the regions? And what activities should be undertaken locally? As well as how we should pay for this locally. Council tax and business rates are not fair by any stretch of the imagination, and they can stymie innovation. But, as I've said several times in the Senedd over the years, Wales hasn't been funded sufficiently under Barnett, as it was for years, or under the funding floor as it is now. Wales isn't funded sufficiently, and that was true even before the cruel and destructive policy of austerity from the Conservatives came into existence. Please support our amendments. Thank you.