5. Will the First Minister make a statement on Welsh Government support for public transport in Mid and West Wales? OQ61012

We have provided substantial and continued support for public transport in mid and west Wales, both financially and through the resources of our officials and Transport for Wales. We want mid and west, and indeed all of Wales, to have a public transport system that meets the needs of our communities.

I welcome the Welsh Government's investment of £4.6 million in mid Wales to improve public transport and economic growth. The funding will help to develop important projects like the second phase of a shared-use path along Severn Road to Welshpool town centre, improving road safety in Llanidloes, and the Rhiwgoch footway link to Aberaeron. First Minister, do you agree with me that it's vital that we see continued investment in local tranport infrastructure to encourage people to use active travel and public transport?

Yes, and I'm really pleased that the Member has highlighted the £4.6 million that has been invested to improve public transport and active travel in mid Wales. This is part of more than £100 million awarded to local authorities through grants for active travel and safe routes, to help improve road safety, electric vehicle charging facilities, road resilience, local transport and unadopted roads. We're also, of course, investing in transforming high streets in Brecon, Crickhowell and Newtown, and in strategic bus corridor infrastructure in Ceredigion. It's a good example of the practical support we provide—not just support in terms of wanting people to use public transport, but how we practically make it easier and more effective for our constituents to do so.

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?

There are two broad points to mention, and they're factual points here: the factual point is that Transport for Wales is the best performing franchise in Wales by a significant distance. It performs better on timeliness and on the lack of cancellations compared to every franchise that is run and managed through the UK Government departments. That's a matter of fact, not a matter of opinion, and it's a shame that the Member can't recognise that, even if he would choose not to celebrate it. [Interruption.]

I would like to hear the First Minister's answers, and that means all backbenchers on all sides should remain quiet, so we can hear the answers.

The second point, of course, is that rail infrastructure is not devolved. The challenge that the Member faces is on the one hand regretting and complaining about the challenges that a lack of investment in rail infrastructure causes, without willing the means for that to happen. I'd have a deal more respect for the Member if he was prepared to stand up and call out the fact that the UK Government has not invested in rail infrastructure in equitable terms, and it is the rail infrastructure that is a direct cause of the challenges that the Member points to on this part of the rail network. I'd have a great deal more respect if he was prepared to call that out. I look forward to a UK Labour Government that will invest in rail infrastructure. I look forward to making and winning the case for real investment in rail infrastructure here in Wales. I hope the Member will then recognise that in the future, even if he is not prepared to call out the shameful Tory failure to invest in our rail infrastructure in Wales.