Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I'm grateful to the Chair and members of the legislation and justice committee for the points that they have made, and the Chair's quite right in summarising the Welsh Government's response to those points—I have nothing further to add to those two.

Both Laura and Delyth, I'm afraid, have sought to rerun the conversation that occurred in the Senedd before the passing of the Act at both Stage 2 and Stage 3. These, of course, are not the fundamental principles that we're talking about today, these are the regulations that enable the Act, which was democratically passed by the Senedd, as they both rightly said, during this Assembly term. So, rerunning the fundamental issues around the Act, which were rehearsed extensively at Stage 2 and Stage 3, doesn't really actually address any of the issues of the regulations that are in front of us today.

So, I don't intend to go back through all of the arguments that we had in front of the Senedd when we passed that Act democratically, Deputy Presiding Officer. I will say this, though: we have done this in absolute collaboration with local government all the way through. I myself have invested an enormous amount of time and energy in speaking directly to leaders weekly, sometimes on a daily basis, through the pandemic. We have consulted widely about this, and officials throughout local government have assisted us to put these regulations and the guidance that goes with them in play. This has been done in co-development throughout with people who understand entirely how local government works, value its place in our family of democratic accountability and thoroughly want local government to be able to take its place on a proper stage.

So, I absolutely reject, from both sides, actually—and it's interesting that their attacks are from completely different sides—I absolutely reject that. What this does is it empowers local government, it gives it an important tool for collaboration. It will support the strategic recovery and transformation of the delivery of services in Wales. It gives local government a tool they have never had before in Wales, and I'm sure that they will use it wisely, because I believe in local democracy and in local government, and this Act shows that that's the case. Diolch, Deputy Presiding Officer.