Thank you, Llywydd. These are very exceptional circumstances. The COVID pandemic has placed unprecedented pressure on public expenditure in Wales and, to add to the complexity in terms of dealing with that, the timing of UK Government announcements on allocations and on fiscal decisions makes it very difficult for the Welsh Government and ourselves as a Senedd to plan for the future, even for the next 12 months, never mind our aspiration to plan for the longer term. 

We have a draft before us today. The final act of budgeting has become almost impossible. Add to that the lack of fiscal flexibility that we have, the ridiculous restrictions on the spending and borrowing powers, the lack of flexibility on the use of reserves. And in this regard, myself and the Minister do see eye to eye, as we have said in the Chamber and the virtual Chamber many times. But let's call this lack of flexibility for what it is: this is a clear example of the UK not working for Wales and working in a way that considers the needs of Wales. 

This isn't a Plaid Cymru budget. It's the Labour Government budget. We believe that there are many priorities that have been left out and that's why we are unable to support it. There is a failure to support local government certainly. Yes, there is an uplift in the allocation, but not the kind of uplift that would take pressure off councils that have performed heroically over the past 12 months and have faced unprecedented pressures, and continue to do so. The reality is that the additional funding has already been subsumed before arriving at the councils. And put a floor in place for those councils who are seeing the least increase. There's been a missed opportunity here, without a doubt. There's a missed opportunity to take the pressure off local taxpayers too under these circumstances, and I do think that the case is strong for considering freezing council tax. The Scottish Government has done just that. It's not something that could be done lightly, of course—there's a cost to it. But we believe that the funding is in place to allow that, and these are the circumstances under which you should consider that. Of course, we need to think about much fairer ways of funding local government in the longer term. It's the poorest who pay the greatest proportion of their income on council tax.

And may I turn to our amendment specifically at this point? Again, it's targeted at helping the poorest in society. The pandemic has highlighted the inequalities within our society very clearly indeed. So, fund free school meals for all children in homes eligible for universal credit. There are substantial reserves remaining provided for dealing with this pandemic—that is unallocated funding. The Government's own action group on child poverty did emphasise that expanding free school meals would be one of the most effective actions that the Government could take in order to mitigate the impact of child poverty here in Wales. So, do take action.

The Conservatives, of course, say, 'Spend every penny of the unallocated funds, and do so tomorrow—do so immediately.' Now, I have no doubt that spending the money well is the priority, not spending it quickly. But, having said that, we do need to see that money flowing in order to help those businesses who truly need it, to help with the pressures on health and care services, and also to help the most vulnerable in our society.

I look forward to the post-election period, where I hope Plaid Cymru can commence a programme of investment of billions of pounds in rebuilding Wales, socially and economically, and not back to where we were prior to the pandemic, but to a level where we can be far more ambitious in what we try to achieve as a nation. But for you, now, given the restrictions on your ambition, Welsh Government, at least take that step that I've mentioned in targeting particularly the most vulnerable and particularly the most vulnerable children in society.