Diolch, Llywydd. I rise in support of the Plaid Cymru motion—no surprise there—in particular point 1:

'Condemns the UK Government’s recommendation to the NHS Pay Review Body for a wholly inadequate 1 per cent pay rise to nurses and other NHS staff which would amount to a real terms cut in their wages.'

That is point 1 of the Plaid Cymru motion, and I wholeheartedly agree with it. And furthermore, I wholeheartedly condemn the Conservative and unionist amendment here today that seeks to delete this point 1 altogether. Clearly, Llywydd, you will be aware of my medical background—I may have mentioned it once or twice over the years—and I have family members working in the NHS today. Colleagues in the British Medical Association, the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Royal College of Nursing have all voiced huge concerns about this derisory pay rise, also huge concerns about a UK Government budget announcement that disinvests in public services and ignores social care. 

After the pandemic year we have all had, care staff and NHS staff are exhausted, burnt out, angry and hurt. They bear huge responsibilities daily over matters of life and death, and it's difficult to grasp that level of responsibility unless you have felt personally yourself that total terror that engulfs you when your medical decision—your decision—has resulted in something going wrong, damaging another person even to loss of life. And it's so overwhelmingly busy now, you cannot plan carefully or ask your seniors if they're not available; you've got no control over what's happening. Health services were overstretched before the pandemic. Nurses and doctors are driven by a deep sense of service and duty to their patients, but motivation can really be tested by an occupational disease like COVID. Hundreds of NHS and care staff have died UK wide, hundreds more floored by long COVID. 

And personal protective equipment was totally inadequate in the early days, and staff wore bin bags for protection, risking their lives and the lives of patients. When staff die because of catching COVID in the workplace as an occupational disease, their families cannot claim their funeral costs. And a derisory pay offer on top of all that. While UK Government stockpiled tens of millions of unusable PPE items made by companies who had no experience in the field, with contracts worth millions handed to Government chums without scrutiny and without experience in PPE, the High Court found the UK Conservative and unionist Government broke the law here, all while ignoring companies with experience and capacity to provide PPE. 

And the £37 billion spent on a UK test and trace system, set up in parallel to what we've got already and private in the middle of a pandemic, from scratch using people with no health or care experience. I mean, what could possibly go wrong? The £37 billion system has made no difference according to Members of Parliament recently. A new £2.6 million press briefing room has just been unveiled in Downing Street, and don't get me going on care staff pay and conditions, because I'm coming to the end, Llywydd—I see you anxiously there—because that's point 3 of our motion.

Finally, health staff see all this that I've outlined. They know all this. They are not taken in by Ministers' insincere claps, and the 1 per cent proposed pay rise shows staff just how much their unbelievable sacrifices are valued by the UK Conservative Government. Do not dismiss the justifiable anger—agree a proper pay rise.