Well, Llywydd, the Welsh Government's record of supporting local government in Wales bears any examination in comparison with what has happened in other parts of the country. That is why local authorities in Wales in this financial year have a very modest uplift in the investment that we are able to provide them, whereas further cuts are happening across our border. That does not mean for a minute that, nearly a decade into austerity, there aren't real pinch points and pressures that our local authority colleagues feel, and we discussed those with them absolutely regularly, and, as a Cabinet, we worked right through last summer to find money from every place we were able to go to in the Welsh Government to provide more funding for local authorities in the current financial year

Now, for next year, we have no budget at all. There is no comprehensive spending review that has been completed and we have no knowledge of what the revenue for Welsh public services will be from 1 April next year onwards. Those are tremendously difficult circumstances for local authorities, but also for every other public service that this National Assembly supports across Wales. We will do everything we can, working with local authorities and others, to protect those vital services, but the impact of austerity on the one hand and the absolute absence of a budget within which to plan for next year make that inevitably hugely difficult for us and for all of those services that depend upon the decisions that are made here in this Chamber.