The reality is that we may not be able to ensure that universities, and, indeed, the further education sector, who also were significant beneficiaries of European funds, don't lose out. That's because of the choice that has been made. It's a clear-sighted choice not to include the Welsh Government and not to meet the clear manifesto pledge to replace every single penny of former European funds.

You are right to point out the several hundred millions of pounds that have gone into the further and higher education sectors, and that's a challenge—at this point in time, we don't have the budgets to make up for all of that loss. That can't be right for Wales. Actually, if you think about any party before the last Senedd election we had about a year ago, no-one went into that election pledging to remove funding from research, development and innovation. In fact, we were all talking about what more we wanted to do, and the same, indeed, for skills. But it's a direct consequence of what's happening that we don't have the budget to carry on even at the same level in that overall picture as a result of European funding.

I've made choices to prioritise skills investment, and that means I'll be able to do less in other areas. And when you think about some of the positive headlines that have come from the way that the levelling-up department has announced recent initiatives, they talk about a rise in the percentage of allocation of money into research, development and innovation. The problem with that is that that rise that's been announced amounts to £9 million of extra funding; you have to net that off, though, against the £60 million that we have lost from EU funding. So, it's still a net loss to Wales of £51 million every year. It's all of those things that are adding up, and that is the very real challenge that we will face.

I hope that people will take up the call that was almost made by the Conservative spokesman on this issue, where he said, just a few short weeks ago in this Chamber, that Wales should not lose out and the manifesto pledge should be kept. I hope we can have clarity on the matter right across the Chamber to make the case for Wales, to make sure there is no missing billion in the next three years.