Can I start by thanking the Minister for her statement again? As a past council leader, I know that many of the decisions that have been made by the Minister would not have been easy. However, too much of this budget simply misses the mark. While Labour Ministers have claimed to be prioritising the key issues for the people of Wales, the truth is that this is far from the case. Rather than focusing on the priorities of the hard-working people of Wales, Labour Ministers have become increasingly more distracted by new powers and pet projects on which they have been wasting time and money over many years. What is unique to Wales is the growing crisis in our Welsh NHS, missing aspiration in our schools, and Wales’s decades-long housing crisis—all a direct result of 25 years of poor policy making by Labour.

In this budget, we should have seen more money being directed towards cost-of-living challenges, towards  our healthcare services, towards our schools and towards further support for business. But, under Labour control, our health service is seeing a real-terms cut of £228 million. This cut is despite the fact that the Welsh Government received an additional £305 million for the Welsh NHS and adult social care for 2023-24. The education and Welsh language budget has also seen a real-terms cut of £343.5 million and a cut of £43 million in cash terms, again, despite an additional £115 million consequential from the UK Government.

It’s clear that Labour haven’t got to grips with education in Wales. A quarter of a century of their rule sees the Welsh education system underperforming against other UK countries and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development average. It’s clear that, while teachers are striking as a result of chronic underfunding and understaffing, Labour Ministers are cutting the education budget. And not a lot changes. For over the last 10 years, Labour have underfunded our doctors, nurses and health professionals by £400 million, redirecting money that was meant to improve people’s healthcare outcomes to fund those pet projects and failed business ventures like Cardiff Airport.