Diolch. I welcome the first part of the motion. We all, of course, want to thank local government staff and elected members for the work that they've done over the last two years. And they've been exceptional times and local government's response has truly been exceptional. I look forward to continuing the really strong working relationships that we've developed during what's undoubtedly been the most challenging time for local government in living memory. The challenges facing local government, though, are not over and we must now collectively face up to further challenges, including the cost-of-living crisis and the climate emergency, and I know that our local authorities are determined to meet those challenges.

I also welcome the second part of the motion. Local authorities funded to provide good public services for everyone and that support those who need it are at the heart of our plan for a stronger, greener and fairer Wales. So far, through the pandemic, we've supported local authorities with over £860 million through the hardship fund in recognition of additional costs, loss of income and the support schemes that they're administering for us, and councils have delivered to small businesses, to individuals and to communities. And as we've heard, I was pleased to announce, on 16 December, a 9.4 per cent increase in local government core funding for 2022-23 over the current financial year. And this means that an additional £437 million is being provided to continue to support local government to deliver the high-quality services that the people of Wales deserve.

I had hoped to keep my response and my comments in this debate positive and helpful, but, my goodness, I have to object to the Conservatives bemoaning what they're trying to characterise as a decade of underfunding on behalf of the Welsh Labour Government, because, of course, we are talking about a decade of austerity imposed by the UK Government. And I respectfully suggest that it's the Conservatives in this place who need to get a grip and it's high time that they started to take some responsibility for the impacts of the choices of their party in Westminster.

But I will move on to say that the core funding that we provide to local government is distributed through a well-established formula, created and developed in collaboration with local government and agreed annually with local government through the finance sub-group of the partnership council for Wales. And this formula is free of political agenda and it's driven by data, and the settlement is distributed on a formula using over 70 indicators of need to spend. It does have collective buy-in from local government and is rightly based on the key principles of equalising for relative need to spend and relative ability to raise income locally. The formula's constructed and governed in—[Interruption.] Of course.