Diolch yn fawr, Dirprwy Llywydd. Can I start by thanking Plaid Cymru for bringing forward this debate? We've just had a very powerful debate on the Equality and Social Justice Committee report on tackling fuel poverty, and indeed yesterday the First Minister also made a statement on how the Welsh Government is tackling the cost-of-living crisis, and seeing this as a critical priority of this Government. 

People in Wales are facing the biggest fall in living standards since records began. Domestic energy bills have doubled over the last 12 months, and the impacts are being felt right across our economy and our communities, particularly amongst those on the lowest incomes and the most vulnerable, and that's been expressed clearly today. In this financial year alone, we as Welsh Government will be spending £1.6 billion on targeted cost-of-living support and universal programmes to put money back in people's pockets and to help alleviate this crisis. And just yesterday, the First Minister announced those additional three measures we'll implement—on the third 'Claim what's yours' campaign, on warm spaces and on foodbanks.

There's much we have done here in Wales, but we know that the key levers for alleviating this crisis lie with the UK Government, who've allowed this crisis to spiral and whose interventions merely paper over the cracks. The energy price guarantee by the UK Government is needed. However, the reality is that 45 per cent of people in Wales were already likely to be in fuel poverty following the price cap rise in April of this year. That's already been said. There is little in the guarantee to support those who are already impacted by the increasing energy costs.

The Resolution Foundation have predicted that when we take into account the energy price guarantee, and the expected reversal in the previous Tory Government's rise in national insurance contributions—we await Friday's announcement—on average, the richest tenth of households will benefit from these measures by about £4,700 a year while the poorest will receive £2,200, deepening the inequalities that blight people's lives. And as the First Minister said yesterday, the UK Government's decision to use borrowing to pay for the cap instead of a windfall tax on the extraordinary profits made by oil and gas producers consigns us all to a future of higher bills for many years to come.

I agree with Plaid Cymru that current increases in energy bills are unsustainable, and I agree that it's shameful that people in Wales are facing these increases in their bills whilst the fossil fuel companies are making record profits. So, we call on the UK Government, many of us here in this Chamber, to recognise the severity of this crisis on taxpayers, to rethink their approach to covering the cost of energy price caps and to tax the record profits of the oil and gas producers.

I also call on the UK Government to review the benefits system. Jane Dodds made the point about the £20 cut to universal credit last year, and I've also called for the removal of the benefit cap and the two-child limit to support families and to give children the best start in life, and to reconsider the recommendations that were made by the Welsh Affairs Committee for the UK Government to work with the Welsh Government on addressing all of the social security needs and responsibilities in Wales. I have on several occasions in this Senedd stated the Welsh Government's commitment to do everything in our power to support the people of Wales through this unprecedented crisis, and again make this commitment today.

But I have to say also that, as a Government, we're not immune to the impacts of the cost-of-living crisis, and just as inflation erodes what individuals and families can purchase, so of course it does the Government too. So, our three-year spending review settlement, which we had from the UK Government last year, is now worth at least £600 million less than it was the time we received it last October, because of the impact of inflation, and this gap is likely to increase when we see the latest Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts, whenever we see them.

But while we recognise the need to act, there are inevitably limits to how far we can go. Unless the UK Government increases public spending—[Interruption.] I think this is something that is so important, because it is about how can we actually reach out and make sure that our £1.6 billion that we've found to target cost-of-living support and universal programmes can actually put money back in people's pockets. And, you know, that does include the £330 million cost-of-living package.