I wish to thank the Minister, Rebecca Evans, for her approach and manner of engagement with the Senedd Finance Committee scrutiny of this very fair, green and progressive draft budget. And I also wish to thank fellow finance Members and our very stalwart Chair.

Wales has endured and continues to endure a global pandemic that has led to the very fundamentals and the very paradigm of our Welsh economy being rocked. These last two years have taken a great toll on all of us, but, for some, the very ultimate sacrifice, and we in this place must never forget.

Llywydd, as we potentially see on the horizon life after the pandemic, we are now looking at a very sharply rising inflation base, and a Tory cost-of-living and energy crisis that dramatically impacts on the lives of every man, woman and child in my constituency of Islwyn. Unbelievably, in one of the richest countries of the world in 2022, fellow citizens are faced with the unenviable, the non-choice of heating or eating. This is not, as the Tories seem to think, political rhetoric or a bad joke; it is real, because some people will die this year because they cannot afford to heat their homes, and all this as rickets, tuberculosis and malnutrition have returned to our United Kingdom hospitals due to a non-operating, broken welfare system.

The background to this dangerous mix is a Tory UK Government led by a Prime Minister who is, and I quote, 'not a total clown'—the words of his new communication director, Guto Harri. And whilst Laurel and Hardy are happily singing 'I will survive', the Welsh populace is struggling every single day simply to put food on the table for their families. This dichotomy sums up the Tory myopia that we see in the Chamber, and Boris and his Tory UK Government has finally admitted that it will not fully replace EU funding to Wales for three years, despite saying constantly to us and within this Chamber that the people of Wales would not be a penny poorer when the UK left the European Union. How can we trust such commentary?

Whilst the Tories have let down Wales, this Welsh Labour Government budget is standing up for Welsh people, and I implore, I implore, the Welsh Tories opposite to do the same. In contrast, the Welsh Labour Government is investing close to £1.3 billion—[Interruption.]—I would, but I'm really conscious of the time and I would like to finish; not on this occasion, Janet—investing close to £1.3 billion into our Welsh NHS service, standing up for local authorities, who've had an additional £750 million direct investment to the revenue support grant, and an additional £100 million targeted at mental health, supporting the social care sector with additional funding to local authorities to meet the additional costs of the real living wage, investing in education with an additional £320 million to the end of term to continue education reform and support across Wales.

And it is right that the Welsh Government and our economy Minister are investing in the personal learning pilots and the young person's guarantee, and that the Finance Committee recommendations around drafting and evaluating budget determination, which takes in at source the very poorest in our society, who remain women, are accepted by Welsh Government. I welcome the feedback on the new shifts around strengthening BAGE and the new budget improvement advisory group. But, as Jenny Rathbone has already scoped to us today, it is absolutely important that Wales has exemplary holistic and intersectional strategic impact assessment processes, and that we explore gender budgeting for Wales.

It is right that the Finance Committee does this work and drafts and evaluates such recommendations. The Welsh Labour Government, to conclude, Llywydd, is investing £366 million over the next three years to deliver 125,000 all-age apprenticeships, investing in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, in cyber, in security and our future generations. And it's today, not tomorrow, we are investing in Wales's future. We are investing in the people of Wales, and I commend this Welsh Government's draft budget to this place. A stronger Wales, a fairer Wales and a greener Wales—a draft budget that seeks a just Wales. Thank you.