It's my pleasure to contribute to today's Welsh Conservatives debate, especially as many people across Wales will be receiving their new council tax bills in a matter of days. I think, therefore, it's imperative for all of us to remember—paraphrasing, indeed, a great American President—that Government is of the people, by the people and for the people. We should therefore ensure that council tax payers are getting the best value for money while they support vital local services.

So, are we getting value for money? Well, no. In Labour-led Swansea, there's a blistering 5.95 per cent council tax rise from April, costing the average band D property in the area £1,893 over the next year—that's treble what they would have paid in 1999. In Labour-led Bridgend, a 4.9 per cent rise will cost band D properties £2,052—a 217 per cent rise compared to 1999. And in Neath Port Talbot, it's 4.5 per cent; in Rhondda Cynon Taf, it's 3.9 per cent—better, but still adding costs to the average household when they're struggling. I've heard the Labour and Plaid benches saying it's not their fault, it's all to do with austerity, and they've got no money left, and yet, together, the councils I've mentioned are sitting on useable reserves of over £0.75 billion. Two, Swansea and Rhondda Cynon Taf, make up nearly two thirds of them. RCT by itself, with £270 million in reserves, has the highest level in Wales.

In light of these figures in South Wales West, I must say that I agree with the former Labour leader of Bridgend County Borough Council when he said that, and I quote, 'an easy and lazy option when it comes to local government is to blame austerity and the Tories. It too often ignores other factors, such as poor decision making, when it comes to both budgets and service delivery.' That's a former Labour leader of Bridgend council. I couldn't agree with him more, especially when money for services is being set aside for vanity projects, unaffordable targets and simply bad accounting, and Welsh Government is at the very heart of this.

There's the fact that nearly £100 million was written off in debts by Welsh councils over the last five years, including non-domestic rates, court costs and invoices on top of council tax; there's the fact that RCT is reducing black bag bin collections to once every three weeks to avoid a fine of £420,000 from Welsh Government if it doesn't meet recycling targets; there's the fact that, after declaring a climate emergency in 2019, Swansea council has estimated that it would cost £187 million for it to reach net zero by 2030 under Welsh Government targets, and it's budgeted £4 million for it.

Thankfully, attempts by Swansea city councillors to name rooms after themselves in the city's new £50 million arena were paused last year. However, this lack of prudent accounting reaches the very top of Government here in Wales. Not only is the Welsh Government wasting vast amounts of cash on an unpopular and unwanted 20 mph national speed limit, due to COVID, it failed to spend £155 million in public money due to poor account management, and had to pay it back to the Treasury—[Interruption.] That's money small businesses and councils could have used to keep a stable footing and even pass on savings to taxpayers in this time of need.

I know the leader of Plaid Cymru before has said that council tax is a regressive form of tax, however that fails to take into account the local government funding settlement, which so generously provides those local authorities with the highest level of reserves, leaving others who break even to make up the shortfall with even bigger council tax increases. The local government funding formula, complex and outdated, doesn't give councils or taxpayers a fair deal. Surely the best form of progressive council tax, instead of the one outlined in the co-operation agreement and in Plaid's 2021 manifesto, would be one that took less money out of people's pockets in the first place. Perhaps we should be of the view that increasing taxes should be the last resort, rather than the first. So, yes, I do believe that the local government formula should be reviewed independently, and, yes, councils should be ensuring that their useable reserves are used for helping council tax payers.

Llywydd, through the Welsh Government's council tax reforms, I see nothing progressive. When a small business trying to keep their heads above water after two years of lockdowns are now hit with the potential of a 300 per cent council tax rise if they don't meet some arbitrary 182-day occupation target, these are the things and these are the times when we have to take a stand. So, I therefore wholeheartedly support the motion before us today, because something needs to change. Diolch yn fawr.