I'd like to start by saying a word of thanks to the Government for undertaking this debate in the absence of the Finance Committee during this period. I think that it is an important thing that the Senedd does have an opportunity to discuss the budget before the Government establishes it, so we have an opportunity to say, as the representatives of the people of Wales, what our priorities are as a nation. And I want to start by asking the Minister, in your response to this debate, to explain where the Government stands on the subject of a legislative budget. The Minister will know that I have discussed this several times over the years, and I think that this is an important thing, particularly in this Senedd.

But like others, there are some areas where I think the Government should set its priorities. Like others, I would suggest climate, tackling poverty—I think that's vital—and safeguarding the future of public services. No-one here would be surprised by those priorities, and it's the easiest thing in the world to say that, but I also want to say that it's important during the coming years that the Government does do things that are not particularly popular.

I have argued over the years—and I think it's about time that the Government tackled this—that the Welsh Government is too small to achieve the aims that we set for it. I think we need to invest in the network of the Government itself. The easiest thing in the world—and we all do this, all the parties, the opposition parties and the Labour backbenchers—is to criticise the Government for not introducing or rolling out what it wants to do. But for too long as well, we have all been arguing for cuts to the civil service and cuts to the administration of the Government. And if we are serious about the different policies that we have—and I've mentioned the climate, and I've mentioned poverty—we also need a Government who can do that, and that means that we invest in the Government, and I think that it's important to do that.

And I'm very pleased that the First Minister is in his seat for this debate this afternoon, and the First Minister has said in response to questions that there will be a statement made by the Government on how the current, new Government is going to undertake work in the Valleys. I and others led work on the Valleys taskforce during the previous Senedd, and I'm eager to understand how this budget is going to consider investing in our most impoverished communities in the country. I hear what people say about there being impoverished communities right across the country, and it's possible to make strong arguments for investing in each community—I recognise that—but we all recognise that the most impoverished communities in Wales, Britain and Europe are still in the Valleys, and I think we do need this Government to make a clear statement that there will be investment in that region.

The final thing I want to say is about how we afford all of this, because we all still think about a budget as a spending plan, and there hasn't been any contribution yet during this debate about where the income is going to come from. Now, we have the opportunity here to raise taxes, if that's what the Government's objective is; I've argued previously that we do need to do that in order to safeguard our public services. But what I want to hear from the Minister is this: she has said what the Government's priorities are, and I agree with all of them, but can I ask the Minister whether there is enough cash in the bank to do that? And if there isn't, where is that money coming from? What kind of impact has the pandemic had on income from Welsh taxes? Do we know that yet? Has there been any analysis of where the income is coming from? Because I do think that, as part of the maturing process of the Senedd, we have to move towards a legislative budget, but it has to be a budget, and not just a spending plan. I think that's the weakness that has underpinned our previous discussions on this. Everybody wants to spend money, but no-one is proposing where the money should come from, and I do think that we do need to start to consider that during the coming months. Thank you.