Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:02 pm on 12 July 2016.
Diolch, Lywydd—I’ll keep it as brief as possible. Looking forward at the future Wales and borders franchise, we in north Wales need to be better connected to our capital city. Whilst I recognise we’re restricted by existing and inherited infrastructure and network, it can’t be right that, from the main station of Flint in my constituency, it’s quicker to get to London than it is to Cardiff. We also need to make sure that the service meets twenty-first century requirements and that modern utopia. That would include Wi-Fi, but I’m sure many of the regular commuters would actually think that working plug sockets on every service would be like Christmas come early.
Cabinet Secretary, I’m pleased to hear plans to press ahead with the metro programme for north-east Wales, and, as a fellow north-Walian, you’ll be aware, as I am, that our region is culturally and economically interconnected with our near neighbours over the border in the north-west of England. So, will you ensure that the infrastructure needs for the north to prosper and the plans for the north-east Wales metro are kept high on the agenda moving forward?