It's a pleasure to have the opportunity to take part in this debate again and champion the cause of veterans in Wales. It's a cause that, despite the improvements in rights and services for veterans in recent years, still needs championing. The housing crisis that exists in Wales disproportionately affects our armed forces community. Research from the Royal British Legion has found that working-age adults in the veteran community are more likely to be sick or disabled than other UK adults. This means that already long social housing waiting lists are made even longer when accessible housing is required. This issue was highlighted by ITV News, who reported on army veteran Tom Weaver from Bridgend, who had to wait a decade for a fully accessible property to become available.

The cost-of-living crisis will also disproportionately affect the armed forces community. On average, disabled households face additional costs of around £584 per month—a figure that will only be exacerbated with skyrocketing energy costs and rising inflation. When you add in the high rates of mental health issues and substance use among veterans, there is a clear need to look out for our former armed service personnel.

There's also a clear need to learn from mistakes of the past and to avoid putting armed service personnel in harm's way in unnecessary conflicts. The first world war is largely seen by historians as an unnecessarily—I couldn't say that—as a unnecessary conflict. The price paid by communities the length and breadth of Wales was heavy indeed. The conflict led to Remembrance Day, and a sombre anti-war mood is encapsulated by the classic book All Quiet on the Western Front. The recent film adaptation of this book has been complemented for its realistic portrayal of the brutality of war, but it inevitability falls short of the source material. Written by German novelist Erich Maria Remarque, who was conscripted into the war at the age of 18, it still remains the ultimate anti-war book. Some of the sabre-rattling leaders around the world would do well to read and understand the unflinching and uncompromising message. As Erich himself wrote:

'This book is to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it. It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war.'

These quotes should echo through history as a warning to each new generation about war. This is why I urge you to all support our amendment to strive for peaceful resolutions to conflict.

Unfortunately, the vow of 'never again' that followed the first world war was broken after just two decades by the advent of another world war, which killed more people and saw the dawn of a new terror, the atomic bomb. The one silver lining that emerged from the bloody conflict of the second world war was the desire to create a new society in the UK. Those returning soldiers and their families, my grandparents included, put themselves first and elected an ambitious socialist Government that promised to put the neglected, the maligned and the poorest first. This ambition led to the creation of the NHS, rebuilding the economy and a mass house-building programme that was absolutely essential.

We have not suffered a global conflict in recent years, but, of course, there are still conflicts happening globally at the moment. These come in addition to a global fight against COVID that caused a huge shock to our health services, the economy and our society as a whole. In 1945, the end of the second world war created an opportunity for a progressive, ambitious socialist Government to take action; maybe the COVID pandemic can provide an opportunity for the Welsh Government to find some ambition to reset and rebuild in order to deliver improved services for the people who need them most.

The status quo is not working for many, including veterans. We should take the opportunity to bolster public services and improve the lives of the majority, not the privileged elite. Ambition, with a will to implement change, is needed to protect our most vulnerable and to strive for a more peaceful and prosperous future. Diolch yn fawr.