Lee Waters: So, I would hope that—. We're talking about rail, Darren, and this is the deal that the UK Government, the promise your Government made—
Lee Waters: Darren Millar is asking, 'What about roads?' Well, one subject at a time. Let's pay attention to rail, which is a deal that your Government made with all of us in this Chamber, not just our party, to deliver electrification of the main line, and you cancelled the deal.
Lee Waters: You cancelled the deal, and you then said, in exchange for that—
Lee Waters: If you pay attention, you'll understand my reasoning.
Lee Waters: Well, when his microphone is on, Presiding Officer, it's very difficult not to.
Lee Waters: It's now gone off, I'm pleased to say. You didn't stick to your deal. You haven't worked with us to get the replacement that you said you would put in place. So, it's time for you to examine your conscience and work with us on a cross-party basis again to deliver better improvements across the south Wales corridor. Then, finally, to answer Caroline Jones's point, the south Wales Swansea bay...
Lee Waters: Well, I'm looking forward to this. [Laughter.] The Welsh Government will invest in all modes to deliver the modern, high-quality transport system that's fundamental to achieving our sustainability, in all senses of the word.
Lee Waters: So, just let me get this straight, is he complaining that we're not investing, or is he complaining that we are investing and then complaining about the roadworks that that investment causes? I'm not entirely clear of the tenor of his complaint. He can't have it all ways. When we are upgrading and investing, it involves disruption, and that is unfortunately a fact that we can't get away from....
Lee Waters: The Minister, Ken Skates, set out his vision for rail in Wales in his statement on 24 September. As part of our ambitious plans for the south Wales metro, Transport for Wales will deliver additional services, with improved rolling stock and stations in Islwyn.
Lee Waters: Well, I think Rhianon Passmore has stolen my thunder. [Laughter.] She's included the announcement in the question, and she's quite right to say it. We should be proud of the real improvements we're making to the communities she represents so ably in the Chamber. From 16 December this year, as part of the December timetable change, there will be class 170 trains between Cardiff and Ebbw Vale...
Lee Waters: Yes. Between 2011 and 2017, gross value added per head in the Swansea bay area increased by 14.3 per cent, and in 2018, there were 18,025 active enterprises in the Swansea bay area.
Lee Waters: The Welsh Government has invested £59 million in the SA1 development, and on top of that, Swansea University has secured £100 million of European Union funds to support major new facilities and research and development programmes in the development. On top of that, working with the Swansea bay city region and the UK Government, we are investing further in Swansea city centre through the...
Lee Waters: The way that the city deal project has been set up by the UK Government and the Treasury has been extremely challenging and complicated for local authorities that are not kitted out to take projects through a five-case business model approach. Two independent reports done into the city deal pointed out that the capacity did not exist locally and, as a result, great frustration was building up...
Lee Waters: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. If I want to check my bank balance, listen to music, watch a film or, indeed, turn my heating on, I instinctively get out my smartphone, and I can do that because I can rely on fast broadband coverage. Access to reliable and fast broadband is increasingly a necessity, but the responsibility for providing it is not ours; it is the UK Government's. But without the direct...
Lee Waters: Absolutely. On the case of 5G, Simon Gibson of an expert panel has done some great work in putting together a bid that is now with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to focus on Monmouthshire and the Heads of the Valleys to roll out a rural focus on 5G and its application in artificial intelligence. And the work of Michaelston-y-fedw is a brilliant example of what...
Lee Waters: Thank you very much to all Members who contributed, and I must sympathise with Mark Reckless—there is an awful lot of jargon and complexity in this area, which I've been working my way through over the last year myself. To answer some of his factual questions, we have invested £200 million of our funds and EU funds in Superfast Cymru, and the successor project is costing £26 million, and...
Lee Waters: Thank you very much. That's interesting, isn't it? So, the UK Government did match fund, that's quite correct, as did Europe, as did we. We put the package together, UK Government came in off the back. Our job to deliver: it's a non-devolved area. Had we not put this package together, there would be nothing for the UK Government to match fund. It is their responsibility, in a key area of...
Lee Waters: So, you're quite right, they have been left behind. They've been left behind by your Government, because it is a non-devolved area. If you want to invite people to public meetings, by all means invite Boris Johnson to your consistency and he can explain to them why he's not providing for your areas. We've stepped in, we've set targets, we've hit 95 per cent of premises in Wales. There are...
Lee Waters: It's a fact-free zone.
Lee Waters: You tabled the question.
