Part of 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office – in the Senedd at 1:59 pm on 15 May 2024.
Llyr Gruffydd
Plaid Cymru
1:59,
15 May 2024
Many of us in north Wales look jealously at the investment going into the south Wales metro, the £1 billion plus upgrade of services, which, of course, is welcome, but, by contrast, we have a rather ambiguous candy floss concoction that's been branded a north Wales metro that merely links up existing rail and bus services. Bus services, as we know, have long been a poor relative of rail, with services in decline since before COVID, actually. I welcome Government proposals around bus franchising and ending the grip that private bus firms have on those services, but for it to work properly, it obviously has to be funded properly. So, can you assure us today that you will be investing more money in bus services to ensure that the proposed bus legislation is as effective as we all hope it to be? And can you also assure us that north Wales will get its fair slice of the cake?
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
