I'd like to declare an interest, as a current serving member of Denbighshire County Council for the fantastic Prestatyn South West ward. So, you speak to any council in north Wales, even Labour-run Flintshire County Council, which Carolyn Thomas is a member of, and they will tell you the same thing—that they get short-changed by Cardiff Bay. Historically, we in the north have lost out because the funding formula prioritises the south Wales Valleys.

While it's very welcome that Denbighshire is to get one of the biggest increases this year, it does nothing to address the historic underfunding and gives no certainties for future years. This is an annual lottery and it has to end, and it's high time we had a funding formula that was fair to every part of Wales. Sadly, my constituency is home to two of the poorest areas in the country, and has one of the highest percentages of retirees. Around a quarter of the population of Denbighshire is over the age of 65, yet the current funding formula does not reflect the additional need for services to cater to this ageing population. Councils get an extra £1,500 for every person over the age of 85, but a pittance for anyone between the ages of 65 and 84. How are councils supposed to provide adequate social care when they continue to be short-changed? For places like Denbighshire, the outlook is not great.

Demographic changes over the coming decades will place a further strain on already struggling finances. Key services have been cut to the bone or axed altogether in recent years due to poor settlements from the Welsh Government, forcing councils to put up council tax— council tax bills that the public can't afford. The pandemic has exacerbated the situation, with inflation rocketing around the globe, pushing up food and fuel prices, putting an extra strain on household budgets. Yet my constituents will once again be asked to foot the shortfall in local government funding. Council tax bills will soar once again this year as hard-pressed councils seek to address huge gaps in their funding, struggling to keep services running, and this shortsighted approach by the Welsh Government can and will have devastating consequences. We are already seeing the strain a lack of social care is placing on our NHS. How many people will die because our local authorities can't afford to provide sufficient care packages? And that's the reality of this situation. The societal cost of poor local government funding—