Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:57 pm on 27 June 2023.
Rhun ap Iorwerth
Plaid Cymru
1:57,
27 June 2023
The First Minister rightly points to the problems of infrastructure and the lack of investment over the years. The Member for Aberconwy says that it's about the rolling stock. Well, rolling stock will get better, but we absolutely need to get the track better, and I'm afraid successive Labour and Conservative Governments have failed over a period of decades to make sure that Wales has its fair share, or anywhere near its fair share, of investment in improving rail infrastructure in Wales. It's that lack of infrastructure that's led to the lack of electrified lines—none at all until recently—and the lack of basic links, like from Pwllheli to Bangor. There used to be a train there. There is still a train, but it takes eight hours. That's not the kind of rail service that we want in Wales.
Meanwhile, taxpayers are still expected to contribute towards the high speed 2 line. That is the very definition of economic injustice. This is a rail development completely outside of Wales, but Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer seem content with that injustice. At the recent Welsh Labour conference, the Labour leader refused to commit to granting Wales its fair share of HS2 funding, should he enter No. 10. Will the First Minister use his direct line to Keir Starmer to ask why, when it comes to this basic economic fairness, he chooses to side with the Tory Government, and not the people of Wales?
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
The political party system in the English-speaking world evolved in the 17th century, during the fight over the ascension of James the Second to the Throne. James was a Catholic and a Stuart. Those who argued for Parliamentary supremacy were called Whigs, after a Scottish word whiggamore, meaning "horse-driver," applied to Protestant rebels. It was meant as an insult.
They were opposed by Tories, from the Irish word toraidhe (literally, "pursuer," but commonly applied to highwaymen and cow thieves). It was used — obviously derisively — to refer to those who supported the Crown.
By the mid 1700s, the words Tory and Whig were commonly used to describe two political groupings. Tories supported the Church of England, the Crown, and the country gentry, while Whigs supported the rights of religious dissent and the rising industrial bourgeoisie. In the 19th century, Whigs became Liberals; Tories became Conservatives.
