2. What conversations has the First Minister had with the UK Government regarding funding for rail infrastructure in north Wales? OQ57560

I thank the Member for that question, Llywydd. Welsh Ministers take every opportunity to raise with the UK Government their shameful neglect of investment in rail infrastructure in north Wales.

Diolch. The Tory UK Government are investing just under £100 billion in HS2 rail infrastructure. If the Barnett formula were to be applied, Wales should be entitled to the population share of 5 per cent, which is £5 billion. Scotland will receive £10 billion. But because the UK Government says that the line from London to Birmingham is going to benefit Wales, we are therefore getting nothing. On top of this, a levelling-up funding bid was made to UK Government for investment on the Wrexham-Bidston line, which is desperately needed, but, again, the UK Government failed to deliver investment, and it will take significant time and resource to apply again for the local authority. All we are asking for is that Wales be treated fairly. First Minister, people in north Wales deserve their fair share of investment in the railway network—it is essential. What can we do for this to happen? Thank you.

Llywydd, as the Member has said, Wales is treated anything but fairly when it comes to rail investment by the UK Government. At the last comprehensive spending review, arbitrarily the Treasury reduced the comparability factor under Barnett for the transport department in England from 89 per cent to 36 per cent, meaning, as the Member has said, Wales loses out on billions of pounds' worth of investment. It is nonsensical—absolutely nonsensical—to claim that, because there is a new service from London to Birmingham, somehow that means Wales has had its fair share of that investment. The Welsh Affairs Committee in December 2020, chaired by a Conservative Member of Parliament, with a Majority of Conservative Members of Parliament on that committee, concluded that HS2 should be reclassified as an England-only project. And if that were the case, then of course Wales would get the £5 billion to which Carolyn Thomas has referred. Scotland, where comparability is conceded, will have £10 billion to invest in rail infrastructure in Scotland, every penny of which is being denied here to Wales.

And all of that comes on top of a decade of neglect of investment in the infrastructure here in Wales. You've heard the figures here before—2 per cent of the railway line in Wales is electrified. Do you know how much that means, Llywydd? Twenty-two miles—22 miles of the railway in Wales is electrified. It is pathetic, and it is the direct result of broken promises by the party opposite. There are things they could do, there are things that they should do. This Welsh Government, by contrast, Llywydd, goes on investing in rail services in north Wales. This year, we will increase services on the line between Wrexham and Bidston. Next year, we will provide new services between Liverpool and Llandudno. And the year after that, there will be new services from the north to Cardiff. Where the UK Government treats Wales with contempt when it comes to rail investment, this Government goes on investing in the north and in the rest of Wales.

First Minister, I, too, want to see more investment from both the UK and Welsh Governments in north Wales in the rail infrastructure. One of the things I would very much like to see in my own Constituency is a new railway stop train station in the Towyn and Kinmel Bay area. You'll be aware of the popularity of the Towyn and Kinmel Bay area as a resort: 50,000 holiday caravan bed spaces, and many of those people have to jump off the train in Rhyl or in Abergele in order to then jump into a car to get to the place where they want to get to. Now, if we're to make this modal shift in our transport, if we're to get the carbon emissions in transport down and provide real choice for people to get to their destinations, then a new station would make a big difference in that community. There used to be one; it was closed many years ago. It's time to re-establish it and re-invigorate rail transport in my constituency. 

Well, Llywydd, I don't doubt for a moment that the Member does wish to see additional investment in services in his own Constituency. The Welsh Government does have an opportunity to bid to a UK fund to re-establish stations where they were closed, and, indeed, we did get one positive result out of that programme when it was last determined: a new station in St Clears in Carmarthenshire, which, I'm afraid, I remember being opened before it was closed very many years ago. And I'll say this to the Member, that the Welsh Government would be very happy to work with him and other local interests to make the case for a station in the Towyn and Kinmel Bay area, and then we will have to put that to the UK Government and hope for the best. 

First Minister, can I thank you for your answers to these important questions about rail infrastructure in north Wales? The most straightforward way to address historic underfunding would, of course, be to devolve responsibilities and appropriate funding to the Welsh Government, and we do still await UK Government funds to level up our railways in north Wales. But, First Minister, can you assure us that the Welsh Government remains keen to invest in rail services and rail facilities where and when it can, be it redundant railway stations or through support for incredibly important groups, such as the Friends of Chirk Station, the Friends of Ruabon Station in my Constituency? 

Well, Llywydd, the union connectivity review that the UK Government established concluded that devolution had been good for transport—that when the decisions were made closer to where they would have their impact, better decisions were made. The report underlines the case that successive Welsh Governments have made for the devolution of responsibility in rail to the Senedd, accompanied though, as Ken Skates has said, by the funding that needs to go alongside that responsibility. Of course, the Welsh Government is keen to go on investing in the way that Ken Skates has outlined, Llywydd. I've had the opportunity to visit with him Ruabon station and to see the fantastic work that the friends of the station do there in maintaining it and making it such an attractive place to visit. For Transport for Wales, further improvements at Ruabon remain a priority: a new ticket vending machine, smartcard ticketing solutions to make sure that the station can be used as frequently as possible, both because it contributes to our active travel agenda and because it is a gateway to the tourism industry in that part of Wales with everything that it has to offer.