I will, first of all, speak in my capacity as my party's spokesperson on finance, and then make some comments as committee Chair, with your permission.

As Plaid Cymru, we do welcome that this is a multi-year budget, as we heard from the Chair of the Finance Committee. I think we've waited around five years to be in this position. It's miraculous how public bodies and the Government itself, to a certain extent, have been able to plan on such an ad-hoc basis, having to move from year to year because of the various scenarios that have arisen in Westminster. And hopefully now this assurance will be able to provide our public service providers with the ability to squeeze every penny out of the public purse in order to ensure that it's working as hard as possible. And that does need to happen, of course, because some might argue that the settlement is, apparently, at first sight, perhaps, quite generous; the reality is very different, particularly if you look over the whole three-year period.

We are still seeing the implications of Brexit, which is bringing additional costs to us in Wales, we are still fighting COVID, we are still facing a climate and nature emergency in Wales and globally, and we are now seeing the cost-of-living crisis hit. So, if you believe that the health service and local government and providers of public services have been under pressure for years, well, that is by no means going to be reduced in ensuing years. It is likely to intensify, and we must bear that in mind. For the Conservatives to stand up in this Chamber and suggest that the UK Treasury has been generous to Wales—well, that's farcical in my view. And it's insulting, if truth be told, and even if you did accept that it's a better than expected settlement, what we're seeing, of course, is the UK Government giving with one hand and taking away with the other. There's £1 billion of European funding that should be coming to Wales. They've rejected the Welsh share of HS2, whilst they're happy to give it to Scotland and Northern Ireland, but not to Wales, oh no. Wales needs to know its place when it comes to consequentials of that kind.