He said he's going to stay as long as I make it interesting, so, if he does go, we know what he's thinking.

And the definition within the report—they describe anchor towns as sub-regional centres of employment, education and key services with strong transport links, and they support new and growing businesses and provide a large enough customer base for local businesses such as food shops, restaurants and cafe and local services, such as post offices and banks, to thrive alongside a strong cultural and community offer. Now, those of us in this Chamber who are representing communities with towns that are in difficulties will know that that is almost the holy grail; that is quite difficult for us to achieve, that is quite a big challenge for us to achieve. And it does link within the report as well, Deputy Minister, the foundational economy. That makes a very positive statement towards the foundational economy, which I think kind of began and developed on the Labour back benches and spread across this Chamber and was taken into Government very effectively by the Deputy Minister. The reason the foundational economy has been championed in Government is because of that Deputy Minister right there; I don't praise him very often, so, please, Minister, make the most of it. 

There are a limited number of towns that can be classified as anchor towns, and not all display those characteristics. Inevitably so, because they are so very specific and difficult to achieve. Yet, according to the Bevan Foundation, small towns are home to 40 per cent of the Welsh population, and many live closer to a town than a big city. And I remember growing up in Penpedairheol, which was a village; we would talk about going on a day out with my grandfather to Bargoed—that was where you'd have the day out, not to Cardiff, not to Blackwood, but to Bargoed. I doubt that people in Penpedairheol talk these days about going out on a day out to Bargoed. That is part of the tragedy. People love their towns—people love their towns—and they turn to despair when the towns are downtrodden and are not as effective as they used to be. I'm thinking also, Alun Davies, about Brynmawr, and the campaign to save the Market Hall Cinema. That's an example of a love of a town, and that campaign ran throughout the town of Brynmawr, and people felt incredibly strongly about it, and I know you do as well. 

And in my constituency, amongst others, we've got Bargoed, Senghenydd, Bedwas, Nelson, Ystrad Mynach, and of course, Caerphilly, and they would all consider themselves to be towns to some extent or another. So, let's think about anchor towns. Can they be anchor towns, and what are the positives of this concept? Let's have a think about that. 

Well, first of all, as I said, I think this report has been a valuable contribution to the debate, and there are things in here that I think should inform Welsh Government strategy in the future. It sits well with the original iteration of the Valleys taskforce—the original Minister's iteration of the Valleys taskforce. I think it particularly sits with that, and perhaps more so, with that than the subsequent iteration that was developed by the Minister. Having said that, it also moves beyond that flawed concept of strategic hubs. And I do think they were flawed, and I'll elaborate on that later. And the concept of anchor towns talks more about services that are integrated into the concept of place in a way that the strategic hubs, I don't think, did.

Another positive I think as well is that anchor towns are away from the M4 corridor. So we are talking about a rebalancing of travel, away from, in the morning, north to south, and start to move south to north—more about east and west in a minute. And I think that is a very good thing, and it certainly will do more to take cars out of Cardiff than this ridiculous congestion charge that is actually a tax when there are no other alternatives for people to get into Cardiff than using their car. So I think this concept of anchor towns is far more positive in that it offers an alternative to travelling into Cardiff, in my view.