The crisis facing us is huge. Inflation is at its highest point for 40 years, and has shattered all predictions made by economists. Forecasts show that it will increase even further. Energy prices have increased to totally unsustainable levels for most people, and the increase in that price is reflected in the price of food, transportation and other prices. All this comes on top of decades of salaries failing to keep pace with inflation, 10 years of cruel austerity from the Tories in Westminster, and cuts in the benefits of the most vulnerable.

According to the Bevan Foundation, around 180,000 households here in Wales now can’t afford some of the basics of life: heat, food or hygiene products, never mind luxuries. We are calling this a cost-of-living crisis, but the truth is that it is an affording-to-live crisis. That's the crisis here; people can't afford to live. Put in these terms, we see the crisis for what it really is, namely that capital is prioritised over people's lives. There is plenty of food available, there is plenty of energy available, there are plenty of homes available, but people are dying and are suffering because free-market dogma says that the value of these things is greater than the value of people's lives. That's the reality of the situation. And before too long, this too will be a crisis for the free market as people see that the order isn't working on their behalves, and start to push back. 

In discussing this crisis and the inflation related to it, one central element to all of this that's hardly ever mentioned is the cost of putting a roof over our heads. I've grown tired of having to talk about this in the Chamber time and time again, but rents in Wales have increased more than in any other part of this unequal union, with people on the lowest incomes in Cardiff, for example, paying 35 per cent of their income on rent alone, and rent in this city has increased 36 per cent in just two years. A quarter of private tenants in Wales are concerned that they will lose their homes in the next three months, and this on top of the fact that they have seen huge increases in no-fault evictions already. 

And for those who are evicted or are looking for a home, then the opportunities to find appropriate properties are painfully rare. Today, the Bevan Foundation launched its report on the housing crisis, looking at the rental market in Wales over the last summer, and found, believe it or not, that only 60 properties were available throughout the whole of Wales at the local housing allowance rate, and that there were seven local authorities without a single property available at the LHA level. We know that the waiting list for social housing has increased by almost 50 per cent, and that list is somewhere in the region of 90,000. In light of this, we must take action as a matter of urgency.

I'm pleased that Plaid Cymru's co-operation agreement with the Welsh Government is looking to introduce a White Paper that will include looking at rent caps, but we must take action prior to that. That is why we must look at freezing rents in the short term, and ensure that there is a pot of money available in order to compensate the social housing sector as they look to decarbonise their stock. Freezing rents would also mean that private landlords cannot profit on the back of the suffering of others during this difficult period. I thank Carolyn Thomas for raising this point earlier today, and I know that she speaks on behalf of the Labour movement in Wales in doing that.  

After all, we must bear in mind that the most vulnerable members of our society—those with disabilities, single parents and others—are most likely to go into debt and to fall into rent arrears because of low income levels. Such debts will have impacts on mental health and on the upbringing of children, and therefore taking action to prevent this will be an investment too in saving money for other departments of Government, ultimately. I therefore call on you in the Government to follow the example of the Scottish Government and to freeze rents here in order to enable the most vulnerable to survive this most difficult winter. I call on Members on the Labour backbenches to reject their own Government's amendment, and to keep true to those principles that convinced you to put your names forward as politicians, and support the Plaid Cymru motion today.