Well, following on from that exchange—

3. What is the First Minister's assessment of the first year of the Co-operation Agreement between the Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru? OQ58849

Well—[Laughter.]—I thank Hefin David for raising the standard of debate here in the Senedd this afternoon. By working together, we have made real progress on a range of joint commitments that have a direct impact on people's ability to manage during this cost-of-living crisis. These include free school meals, the expansion of free childcare, and measures that help people to live in their local communities.

Last week marked the one-year anniversary of the co-operation agreement—I'm glad to see it's still so healthy. [Laughter.] But, one of the co-operation agreement's commitments, though, was something that we all share—at least this two thirds of the Chamber—namely a national care service for Wales. Unison Cymru launched a report last week at the Norwegian church that set out the need to support the pressing crisis in social care, and, last week, the First Minister said that he himself would like to revisit some of the funding issues on social care. I've mentioned in this Chamber before my personal support for a Holtham levy to resolve the crisis. I know he's said previously that, should we take that route, there is always a chance that the UK Government could take away with the other hand. I fully accept that argument. But, at this point in time, what assessment is he making of the need for us to act now, here in Wales, to resolve this crisis in social care?

I thank Hefin David for that, Llywydd. The expert group that was established as part of the co-operation agreement has carried out its work. Its report has been received; we published it on 10 November. We're very grateful to the members of that group for the very detailed consideration they gave to the challenging circumstances of social care.

It's undebatable, I think, Llywydd, that the context has changed since the co-operation agreement was signed and we asked that group to carry out its work. Prime Minister Sunak has pulled the plug on the social care funding that Chancellor Sunak set up when he was in that office. Prime Minister Sunak has pulled the plug on the paying for social care arrangements that Prime Minister Johnson had put in place while Mr Sunak was the Chancellor. All of that means that we have had to think again about the report and ways in which we can think of paying for social care in the future. And that does mean, as I said, and as the leader of Plaid Cymru said last week when we were talking together on this, that we should revive the work that was done in the last Senedd term—some very detailed work done looking at the Holtham review, the proposals for a social care levy—to see whether it does provide us with an alternative route, given that the UK routes that were meant to be in place have now been closed off, and whether that offers us an alternative route to funding social care in Wales in the future.

The difficulties that Hefin David pointed to remain. The line that divides devolved and non-devolved responsibilities in this area is a very blurred one, and there are actions that lie in the hands of the UK Government that can have a fundamental effect upon the way in which actions we might take would have their impact in the lives of Welsh citizens. That's why it's so disappointing to see the things that we believed were in place now being reneged on once again, because it throws all of that back into uncertainty. The good news is that the work that was chaired by my colleague Vaughan Gething in the last Senedd term is all there for us to go back to. Now my colleague Rebecca Evans will take that up and make sure that in the new circumstances, and with the report that we've got available to us, we look to see whether that offers us any fresh chances to design a system that would work for Wales. 

First Minister, I don't think you'll be shocked by what I'm about to say. I may not share the same sentiments as Hefin David in relation to this. This co-operation agreement, which, quite frankly, my colleagues on these benches and those outside of this Chamber have been referring to as a coalition, because if it looks like one it normally is one, has brought in one damaging proposal after another. I'm referring to specifically the 20 mph default speed limits, a freeze on road building, a tourism tax, and creating more politicians in Cardiff Bay to the sum of over £100 million, and that amount is growing day by day. These proposals feel very far removed from the Welsh public's priorities. No-one here can deny—and no-one could even think about denying—that NHS waiting times have continued to grow. Wales has three quarters of a million people on waiting lists for treatment, the worst A&E waits in Britain, the slowest ambulance response times on record, and our schools are at the bottom of UK Programme for International Student Assessment rankings. So, First Minister, I'd like to know when is the Welsh Government going to address the people's priorities—[Interruption.]

I know that Labour backbenchers think they're helping the First Minister when they're commenting on the question in hand, but I don't think that's actually the case, because I think both the First Minister and myself struggle to hear the questions being asked at that point. 

Thank you, Presiding Officer.

So, if you can carry on with your question.

No problem. So, First Minister, I'd like to know when is the Welsh Government going to address the people's priorities, or can the so-called co-operation agreement with your Plaid pals be best described as a simple Labour-saving device before the next elections? Thank you.

Well, Llywydd, where to start? If I was the Member, I would have crossed out the line she was given about coalition, having heard the discussion on the floor of the Senedd this afternoon. What you've seen is the co-operation agreement work as it was always intended to do—that, where we are able to agree on things, and there are 47 very important things that we were able to agree on, we work on them together in order to put them into practice. And where we don't agree, we're able to have robust exchanges of the different views of our different parties. That would obviously not be the case if there were a coalition.

As for the priorities of people in Wales, people in Wales had an opportunity to vote in an election when all those things that Member read out were in a manifesto that was put in front of them. So, I think that having 45,000 more people offered free school meals in Wales would be a priority for people in Wales. I think the expansion of high-quality childcare to 2-year-olds will be a priority for people in Wales. I think the actions we have taken to make sure that people are able to remain in their local communities, and we reset the balance between the needs of those people and people who are lucky enough to be able to afford second homes, let alone a first home—I think that would be a priority for people in Wales. And if I could try and put it as kindly as I can to the Member: I think, when we speak on these benches about the priorities that matter to people in Wales, it is with the satisfaction of seeing an opinion poll that puts my party at 51 per cent support in Wales and rising, and her party at 18 per cent and falling.