I'd like to welcome the Minister's statement this afternoon and this budget. It's probably the toughest budget around any of us in this place have seen, and certainly in the three Senedds I've sat in, this has been the most difficult year for any Government at any time. So, I think whatever our individual politics and whatever our individual views on the decisions that the Minister takes, I think we should congratulate her and give thanks to her, her team and the Government who have worked so hard to ensure that we've actually got money through the system and out of the door, sustaining and supporting jobs, businesses and public services in the most difficult of times.

I'd like to address three aspects of the budget this afternoon. First of all, overall spending on COVID over this period; secondly, the impact of the UK budget announced last week; and finally, the Welsh Government's plans for an investment-led, jobs-led recovery from COVID. It's fair to say that COVID has dominated our discussions over the last year and in looking back over the current budget, but it's also dominated our discussions and our debates on this budget for next year as well.

I strongly welcome the support and help that's been made available for people, and I continue to do so. The emergency assistance provided by the Welsh Government over the last year is something that has sustained many families and many communities throughout the country, but we know that's not going to stop at the end of this financial year, and I'm glad to see that the Government is putting in place the structures, the frameworks and the funding to ensure that we're able to continue to support people over the coming period.

The second aspect is that of the UK budget. What we saw last week was austerity with better PR: more investment in the Chancellor's own brand and ambitions than investment in the people we represent. We saw sleight of hand, warm words but more of the failed austerity. And, do you know, I listened to Conservative Members slavishly reading out their lines to take? I would say to those Members: do your own work, read yourselves, do your own research, and what you'll see is something different. You'll see the Institute for Fiscal Studies describing the budget figures as being implausibly low. You'll see the Resolution Foundation saying that it doesn't feel like the end of austerity, particularly if you're running a local authority or a prison. What you're seeing is a Welsh budget that's 4 per cent lower in real terms than a decade ago, and what you're going to see is a real squeeze on public services in the coming years. We've seen already what the UK Government thinks of health service workers. Well, we're going to see that extended over the next decade to all public service workers, and that's something not to be proud of but to be deeply ashamed of.

And finally, Deputy Presiding Officer, what are the plans for an investment-led, jobs-led recovery? I've been hugely impressed by the work of the finance Minister and of other Ministers within the Welsh Government, corralling money to invest in our communities. We already know that there is no additional capital funding in Wales in the next financial year, but it's gone further than that, and we've seen further sleights of hand and broken promises. The UK Government is being fundamentally dishonest in its approach. The shared prosperity fund to the levelling-up fund, we are seeing money being taken out of Wales, investment being taken out of Wales. We are seeing a Government that is concerned about its image and its identity but that doesn't, frankly, give a damn about its people, and that really worries me, because we are going to have to see more investment in people and structures and businesses in the next year than we've seen in decades, and it's not being done fairly and it's not being done at the level it needs to happen. We have seen the UK Government channelling money to Tory seats in the north of England and taking money out of Wales, breaking promises on replacing European funding, breaking promises on delivering investment, breaking promises on being a fair player. We are seeing a dishonest Government acting in a way in which I could never have believed a Government would act in the past.

So, in closing, I will be supporting the Welsh Government this afternoon in this Bill, but that won't surprise anybody. But what I want to be able to do as well over the coming year, and if I'm re-elected in May to represent Blaenau Gwent, is I'll be campaigning for the investment that this borough needs, that our people need, that these communities require to recover from COVID, and that means a Welsh Government providing that investment, because we know we can't trust the Tories to do so.