Can I thank the Member for his questions today, and also for the fact that he welcomed this statement and the progress that is being made on the franchise? As I said in my opening statement, we hope to resolve questions over cross-border services that will deliver the best outcome for Wales in the coming weeks and months. In terms of funding from the EU, the capital sum amounts to approximately 20 per cent of the entire metro project, so it is a considerable sum of money, which I do not believe could be compensated for through borrowing by the establishment of an infrastructure commission that sought to borrow for the purpose of capital—not least because there would be implications in terms of ongoing revenue costs for borrowing. It is our position, very clearly, that we expect every single penny that we had assumed would come from the EU to come now from the UK Government, as has been promised repeatedly by those who campaigned for Brexit. If that does not happen, then this could mean, unfortunately, a reining in of the plans for the metro, which may include, for example, fewer services available or fewer stations and park-and-ride facilities at planned stations. It would be most unfortunate, however, as I say, our position is that we believe that every penny for this proposal should still come to Wales albeit from the UK Government rather than direct from Europe.

With regard to the metro programme for north Wales, something in the region of 20,000 people travel from north Wales to the north-west of England every day. Something in the region of 20,000 people travel from the north-west of England into north Wales every day. The cross-border travel is enormous. It puts great pressure on the road infrastructure and on the rail infrastructure. There are also significant issues with a lack of upgrading of the rail infrastructure in north Wales—historic lack of upgrading and maintenance of north Wales rail infrastructure, which requires attention.

The Mersey-Dee access area represents an economy in its own right that contributes something in the region of £35 billion a year to the UK economy. I do not believe that focusing on a solution that brings together the north-west of England and the north-east of Wales in any way distracts us from ensuring that there is a pan-Wales solution to our transport problems, and indeed a solution that better connects the north-west of Wales with the north-east of Wales. That’s why we’re bringing forward work, accelerating the work that’s taken place on a business plan for a third crossing on the Menai strait.

In terms of the north-south links, well this Government has invested heavily and is investing heavily in solving traffic problems between the north of Wales and the south of Wales. Rail times have been cut. We are constructing, as the Member is aware, a Newtown bypass. There are improvements to the A44 and A487 at Aberystwyth, there are infrastructure improvements taking place on the Cambrian line. We’re funding additional service improvements on the Cambrian main line to provide a partial hourly service. We’re funding additional services to the Heart of Wales line to provide five services per day on a three-year trial basis to May 2018. We’re funding our TrawsCymru service in mid Wales as well, including the T4 to Newtown and considering how the network might be enhanced. I would urge Members not to see individual components of the transport plan as being more important than the overall picture for the entirety of Wales. It is part of a national plan for improving the whole of Wales’s transport network.