Diolch yn fawr, Dirprwy Lywydd. Now, I certainly welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate and I think, at the start of a new financial year, it's right that we take the opportunity, I think, to reflect on the current state of local authority finances and the resulting implications for council taxes. And the reality is that an average rise of 5.5 per cent in council tax across Wales for the next financial year will be challenging for many people who are already struggling for reasons that we're all too familiar with.

But frankly, I think it is certainly disingenuous for the Tories to bemoan these hikes in council tax without acknowledging the root cause of the issue, namely the devastating impact of 13 years of Tory-driven austerity and economic incompetence that have affected local authorities and their ability to sustain essential public services. Austerity, as I've said before, is a political choice and it is a choice that disproportionately shifts the burden onto the poorest and most vulnerable in our society, and that stems—this whole situation stems directly from over a decade of cuts and under-investment that has left public services in an existentially parlous state. And now, the latest round of Tory austerity imposed on Wales—it's going to be an utterly disastrous experiment and it's leaving a gaping £30 billion hole in UK public finances, which is—