Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:11 pm on 30 April 2024.
Russell George
Conservative
2:11,
30 April 2024
First Minister, I want to raise with you public transport in mid Wales from a rail perspective. It's pretty abysmal, I'm afraid. I continue to get constituents contacting me about delayed trains on the Cambrian line, and also trains not turning up at all at short notice. It shouldn't really be a surprise, of course, because Transport for Wales had the worst customer satisfaction of any train operator in the UK, according to the rail user survey.
But most frustrating to me is the delayed progress on an hourly service. We've had commitment after commitment that's gone broken. Back in 2021, Transport for Wales informed me, 'We're very sorry to break another commitment, but your hourly service on the Cambrian line will now be delivered in May 2024.' Now we're in May, just about—later this week—and I'm told that it's going to be 2026 until we get a true hourly service stopping at every town on the Cambrian line between Shrewsbury and Aberystwyth. And even then, it will only be in the summer months.
So, First Minister, as you are ultimately responsible for Transport for Wales, can you give me a commitment, and my constituents, as to when they can expect a service that is on time for the vast Majority of occasions, and also is not cancelled at short notice, and when can we really expect that true hourly service, as was promised many, many years ago?
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 term "majority" is used in two ways in Parliament. Firstly a Government cannot operate effectively unless it can command a majority in the House of Commons - a majority means winning more than 50% of the votes in a division. Should a Government fail to hold the confidence of the House, it has to hold a General Election. Secondly the term can also be used in an election, where it refers to the margin which the candidate with the most votes has over the candidate coming second. To win a seat a candidate need only have a majority of 1.
