The following amendments have been selected: amendments 1 and 2 in the name of Simon Thomas.

We move on to our next item on the agenda, which is the Welsh Conservatives debate on transport in north Wales and I call on Mark Isherwood to move the motion—Mark.

Motion NDM6093 Paul Davies

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales:

1. Recognises the importance of transport connections within north Wales, and between north Wales and the north west of England, and the Midlands.

2. Believes that the proposals contained within the ‘Growth Vision for the Economy of North Wales’ offers the basis for improving the economic performance of north Wales.

3. Calls upon the Welsh Government to:

(a) publish a plan to improve and upgrade the A55 trunk road to address problems with congestion, flood risk, and lack of hard shoulder in some areas;

(b) work with the UK Government and the North Wales Economic Ambition Board to deliver upgrades to the north Wales line;

(c) work with stakeholders to establish an integrated transport travel card scheme for north Wales;

(d) publish a detailed business plan for the development of the North Wales Metro.

Motion moved.

Following publication by the North Wales Economic Ambition Board of a growth vision for the economy of north Wales and its submission to the UK and Welsh Governments, this motion is unashamedly about north Wales.

The vision is supported by the leaders and chief executives of all six unitary authorities within the region, the North Wales Business Club, Bangor University, Glyndŵr University, Coleg Cambria and Grŵp Llandrillo Menai college.

North Wales is a united region with a strong sense of identity, and the vision gives clear direction for future planning. It sets out shared aims and aspirations

‘for a confident, cohesive region with sustainable economic growth, capitalising on the success of high value economic sectors and its connection to the economies of the Northern Powerhouse and Ireland’.

Although we agree with Plaid Cymru’s amendment 1 about the importance of transport connections for the whole of Wales, it is not appropriate to this north Wales-specific debate. However, we will support Plaid Cymru’s amendment 2, which matches Welsh Conservative proposals for an integrated transport travel card for the whole of Wales, recognising that a north Wales-specific scheme would be a matter for north Wales under the devolved powers it is seeking. Our motion recognises the importance of transport connections within north Wales and between north Wales and the north-west of England and the English midlands, and believes that the proposals contained within the ‘Growth Vision for the Economy of North Wales’ offers the basis for improving the economic performance of north Wales.

The UK Government announced, in its March 2016 budget that it was opening

‘the door to a growth deal for north Wales’ and that it would, crucially, be looking for the next Welsh Government to devolve powers down and invest in the region as part of any future deal. The UK Government has also encouraged local partners to prioritise their proposals, which is precisely what this growth vision does when it calls for the devolution of powers by the Welsh Government over employment, taxes, skills and transport, stating that this would boost the economy, jobs and productivity, create at least 120,000 jobs and boost the value of the local economy from £12.8 billion to £20 billion by 2035.

As the vision states:

‘The region is prepared and ready to accept new responsibilities and powers on key decisions that affect the region…through a “Team North Wales” approach.’

Examples they provide include:

‘Integration of employment and skills programmes at the regional Level’, including Welsh Government skills initiatives

‘to tackle worklessness in a much more meaningful and effective way’; an asset-backed investment fund achieved if a local authority and Welsh Government public body assets ‘were pooled’;

‘Strategic land use planning…identifying the supply of land required for housing’ and economic growth

‘more regionally and strategically, as well as identifying strategic sites;’

‘A regional transport authority with the opportunity to prioritise schemes’ from across the region;

‘A business support and trade team’; and, with business rates devolved to Wales,

‘New fiscal powers at the regional level’ particularly ‘Tax Increment Finance projects’ funded by additional business rates tax revenue gains ‘from economic development activities’.

Both north Wales and the UK Government, therefore, need to hear from the Welsh Government how it proposes to respond and take this forward. It is, therefore, concerning that when I called for a Welsh Government response to the north Wales growth vision here last week, the Welsh Government leader of the house stated and said that they awaited the UK Government’s response. Well, yes, we do need the UK Government’s response, but we need the Welsh Government’s response, I would argue, first, and north Wales needs to hear the Welsh Government response given their key calls are to the Welsh Government for internal devolution. The Welsh Government’s position, described yesterday, therefore, wasn’t good enough, and we hope to hear better today.

Welsh Conservative policy, outlined at the 2016 Welsh general election, would create a north Wales powerhouse. By working with local authorities, business groups and the voluntary sector, Welsh Conservatives would devolve key economic levers and deliver true devolution to north Wales, with powers devolved to a regional north Wales board, delivering economic growth levers to north Wales and letting businesses and people take control. These would include extra powers over business rates, planning and integrated transport via an independent body.

At a meeting in November 2012, attended by leaders and chief executives of local authorities and the business community in north Wales, and chaired by the then Secretary of State for Wales, David Jones, it was agreed that the North Wales Economic Ambition Board would build a business case for the electrification of the rail line from Holyhead to Crewe and develop actions and strategies for transport in north Wales.

The Growth Track 360 report was issued in May 2016 by the Mersey Dee Alliance, the Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership and the North Wales Economic Ambition Board, calling for substantial rail investment to enable growth in the cross-border economy of the north Wales and Mersey Dee region. Prior to this, the ‘Fast Track to Growth’ north Wales and Northern Powerhouse document noted that north Wales, the Mersey-Dee area in Cheshire and the M56 and A55 corridor form a regional economy worth £35 billion, and there are 1 million cross-border commutes per month between north Wales to and from north-west England. It added, however, that north Wales has the highest proportion of travel-to-work-by-car rates in the UK, and poor transport infrastructure is strangling economic growth; that although tourism is worth £1.8 billion to the north Wales economy, equivalent to 40,000 jobs, current rail services are a drag on the region’s competitiveness; and that freight from Ireland arrives at Holyhead by HGV roll-on/roll-off, and makes its onward journey along congested roads.

Gross value added, as we know, measures the value of the goods and services per head of population produced in an economy. Economic development has been devolved, in the hands of the Welsh Government, since 1999. According to the latest published figures, west Wales and the Valleys, including four north Wales counties—Anglesey, Gwynedd, Conwy and Denbighshire—has the lowest GVA of all UK sub-regions, at 64 per cent of the UK average. Anglesey has the lowest GVA amongst all UK local areas, at just 53.5 per cent of the UK average. Even GVA per head in Wrexham and Flintshire, which stood at 99.3 per cent of the UK average in 1999, has now fallen to just 86 per cent of the UK average. So, it is in this context that the North Wales Economic Ambition Board states:

‘The Vision complements the developing strategy for the Northern Powerhouse, is fully integrated with the Strategy Growth Bid submission of the Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership, and has the Growth Track 360 plan for rail investment at its core. By building an investment strategy around this outward-looking vision we can succeed in capitalising on the opportunities within the North Wales region whilst adding value to a connected and cumulative set of regional plans for Northern England and the wider UK economy.’

So, our motion calls on the Welsh Government to publish a plan to improve and upgrade the A55 trunk road. In respect of the A55, the ‘Growth Vision’ document calls for strategic projects, including the long-awaited Aston Hill improvement, the Flintshire bridge alternative route, congestion issues at Halkyn and Abergele, the A483/A55 junction at Chester business park, Holyhead port access and Menai crossing. A third Menai crossing has been on the agenda for more than a decade. A consultation commissioned by the Welsh Government in 2007 came up with eight options to ease traffic backlog on the Britannia bridge, yet no action has been taken since. So, guess what, jump forward to August 2016 and the Welsh Government announce that consultants are to be hired later this year to look at routes for a proposed new crossing to Anglesey. A cynic might say that it’s groundhog day all over again. North Wales cannot afford yet more apparent action as a smokescreen for doing nothing over nine years.

Our motion calls upon the Welsh Government to work with the UK Government on the North Wales Economic Ambition Board to deliver upgrades to the north Wales rail line. Alongside electrification, the ‘Growth Vision’ document calls for service frequency and speed improvements, network capacity improvements, rolling stock improvements and improved stations at Deeside, much of which is in the gift of the Welsh Government, rather than the UK Government.

About 30 per cent of the Welsh economy is in north-east Wales alone, and it cannot be acceptable that rail’s share for travel to work is just 1 per cent in Flintshire and 0.9 per cent in Wrexham, or that one in five applicants for work on the Deeside industrial park subsequently turned down interviews or job offers due to inaccessibility—now including my own son.

Following £10.7 million of UK Government investment, the Liverpool city region combined authority approved the full business case and release of additional funding for the delivery of the Halton curve scheme in April, offering new connections between Liverpool, Liverpool John Lennon Airport, Runcorn, Frodsham, Helsby and Chester, but connections with north Wales are only ‘in future’ because the Welsh Government is dragging its feet, as usual.

The Presiding Officer took the Chair.

Our motion calls on the Welsh Government to publish a detailed business plan for the development of the north Wales metro, while the Welsh Government’s proposals remain vague and disconnected from the collaborative approach sought in the growth vision, which doesn’t even mention a north Wales metro. As the ‘Growth Vision’ document concludes, north Wales is well placed to receive a range of new responsibilities, and is confident that the negotiated powers that will be devolved to the region will have a positive impact, boosting productivity levels and improving the employment prospects of our residents—a vision supported by Plaid Cymru leaders, Labour leaders, independent leaders, cabinets with members of all parties, including my own, and the whole of the business community and third sector. So, it’s now over to the Welsh Government to deliver.

I have selected the two amendments to the motion, and I call on Dai Lloyd to move amendments 1 and 2 tabled in the name of Simon Thomas.

Amendment 1—Simon Thomas

Delete point 1 and replace with:

Recognises the importance of transport connections within Wales, and between Wales and the rest of the UK and Europe.

Amendment 2—Simon Thomas

Delete sub-point 3(c) and replace with:

‘introduce a Welsh transport smart card for the whole of Wales to connect all communities through an integrated transport system.’

Amendments 1 and 2 moved.

Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I am very pleased to take part in this debate as the shadow Minister for infrastructure. As Mark has already mentioned, there are a number of things that we can all agree on. Fundamentally, this discussion is on transport and the importance of that and the influence that it has on the local economy. I wouldn’t disagree with that. Of course, it gives me an opportunity, as you will note from the way that I pronounce in Welsh, to tell you that I originally come from Merionethshire, and so these matters are very close to my heart.

But, there are a number of opportunities to promote cross-border activities between north Wales and England. In a nation that is a mature one, we don’t mind talking about cross-border working and even promoting that cross-border activity to promote the regional economy in north Wales. But, all of that talk about promoting cross-border activity between Wales and England should not impair on constructing an independent economy in Wales, in and of itself, and improving links within Wales between our different communities, and developing our own internal transport infrastructure. That’s the basis of the amendments that are before you. Because one Government after another in London, and here in Wales, have focused too much, I believe, on using large cities to drive economic growth in the hope for a cascade effect on areas such as north Wales, with the hope that things trickle down. That hasn’t happened, and the attitude is an incorrect one.

So, there is mention made in the motion of the report of the North Wales Economic Ambition Board, which believes that working on a regional basis is a crucial part of unlocking the potential of the north Wales area. I would agree with that 100 per cent. That’s why we as a party, in agreeing with that concept, have launched our policy in our opposition programme, which would establish regional development agencies to unlock economic potential, with economic policies on a regional basis. I agree very much with that.

In the time that I have remaining, I wish to talk specifically about transport and about our amendments. The first recognises the importance of transport connections within Wales and between Wales and the rest of the UK and Europe, as well as talking about the need to introduce one transport smartcard for the whole of Wales to connect all of our communities in an integrated transport system. I’m very pleased with the support for that ambition. Across the nation, we have all been campaigning for a number of years, and one of the fundamental questions that we are always asked is: why does it take so long to go from south to north Wales or from north to south Wales? The question remains unanswered. It takes three to four hours. You know that, when you have a meeting in north Wales—or when I visit family in north Wales—it is going to take the whole day, and you have to plan ahead. It always feels very far away. That’s not the way to develop a nation, and the unity of a nation. We have to come closer together—

Would the Member give way?

Nick.

Thank you for giving way, Dai. I fully agree with you on the benefits of developing a smartcard-integrated system. Would you agree with me it would be a start to get reliable, fully-integrated timetabling, so that, at the touch of a button, you’d be able to see exactly where those services are going to and from?

I agree with that 100 per cent, and when there is a bus or train that says it’s going turn up at a particular time, that it does turn up at that time. We do have to have a dependable service as well.

But, of course, we have to do something about this distance between the north and south, when it shouldn’t really exist. In other nations facing a more significant challenge than we face in drawing together the north and south parts of our nation they have done that in terms of transport, and yet we have failed to do so. Yes, it is important for our unity as a nation, and it’s important for the growth of the economy, regionally and nationally, that we can improve our transport links. In terms of being in this Senedd and in talking about any region of Wales, we are talking about the need to grow this place as a place to lead a united Welsh nation here in Wales. That starts with simple things such as us being able to reach north Wales relatively quickly, so that it doesn’t seem far away, and so that people living in north Wales don’t feel that the south is far away, and might not want to come here, and that it’s much easier for them to cross the border and miss out on what the rest of the nation can offer.

In the end, we are talking about transport, but we are also talking about the genuine need to grow as a nation, because, ultimately, we had a nation to keep and maintain—a piece of land that bore witness to the fact that we insisted on living.

Thank you.

As Chair of the newly elected cross-party group on cross-border issues I would like to focus my contribution and remarks today on the challenges and opportunities of cross-border collaboration and the necessity for improved connectivity between north Wales and the emerging Northern Powerhouse in north England. Through cementing north Wales as an important part of this new economic region, we have, I think, the potential for seeing significant growth in north Wales and rebalancing the Welsh economy away from an over-reliance on Cardiff and south Wales.

I don’t attempt to take away or disagree with the comments made by Dai Lloyd at all in regard to better north-south links, but, Presiding Officer, cross-border movement is a routine fact, I think, for people living in many parts of Wales. In north Wales it’s absolutely crucial to the north Wales economy; a combined economy along the M56 and A55 corridor is worth £31 billion—that’s according to a Hansard report. The fact of the matter is that, rather than looking south to Cardiff, the people and businesses of mid and north Wales tend to look towards Liverpool, Manchester and the midlands, and, as a result, the border should not be an economic barrier. I know the Minister will surely agree with me on that point, living in the part of Wales that he does as well.

But the north Wales economy will undoubtedly continue to benefit heavily from the prosperity and growth in the north of England, offering employment and business opportunities for people in the north Wales region. This close economic alignment makes it increasingly important to ensure that cross-border collaboration takes place on the delivery of infrastructure projects. Now, many people living near the north of the border commute across the border each day. I note from some research that 85 per cent of these routes going across the border take place by road. So, I think this can partly be attributed to our poor and slow and often unreliable train services, so transport infrastructure must be able to adequately facilitate the cross-border flow of people, and goods for that matter as well, if people in north Wales are to alter their transport habits.

Now, it’s right, I think, that the Welsh Government works to strengthen the transport infrastructure surrounding the A55 corridor to ensure that communities can connect with the industry and investment opportunities in the north of England, which will, in turn, boost the social and economic prosperity and growth in north Wales. Furthermore, the transport network in northern England is currently benefitting from a series of UK Government investments, and these improvements in the English transport network will have considerable benefits, I think, for people living in north Wales. So, the Welsh Government has to, of course, engage effectively with those developments.

In my view and experience, as somebody who lives and represents a cross-border constituency myself, or a constituency on the border, the Welsh Government and UK Government must go further in building stronger relationships with each other. I would be interested to hear the Cabinet Secretary’s views on how he’s strengthened this relationship following concerns raised by the previous Enterprise and Business Committee that the Welsh Government’s relationship with Transport for the North does not resemble the close working relationship that Transport Scotland has with the body as well. I hope the Minister would comment on that.

I would say as well that I have recently written, Cabinet Secretary, to two of your officials to ask them whether they would attend the cross-party group on cross-border issues to understand some of the challenges of working cross-border. I haven’t had a reply yet; it’s only been a week or so. But I’d be grateful if you could indicate your willingness for them to attend that cross-party group, if that’s acceptable, Cabinet Secretary.

In conclusion, Presiding Officer, north Wales has an ambitious business community and infrastructure improvements are needed to help achieve the ambition set out by the north Wales economic ambition board. The programme for government, yesterday outlined by the First Minister, had very little meat on the bones beyond a loose commitment to developing a north Wales metro system. But I hope that the Cabinet Secretary will use the opportunity in his response to our debate today to flesh out some of his plans.

As a proud north Walian—I’m not sure I’ve ever mentioned that here before—I welcome today’s debate and the chance to be able to contribute. As others have said, north Wales is not simply, literally, physically connected to our near neighbours in the north-west of England, we’re also economically connected, too. Upgrades and investment in our region’s transport infrastructure is a key part of any strategy to grow and enhance our economy and ultimately to unlock the economic potential of north Wales.

The Welsh Labour north Wales manifesto outlined a vision to link our region in a more strategic way and to assist in delivering stronger economic growth for the area. The manifesto said—don’t worry, I’m not going to read it out verbatim now—that within 100 days of a new Welsh Labour Government, we would convene a summit of leaders from the Mersey Dee area and the Northern Powerhouse to establish a route map on how best to create a dynamic economy that benefits both sides of the border. And I look forward to seeing the progression of the route map to our economic prosperity.

And on the topic of routes—or roads, more to the point—as he said, and as other speakers before me have said, upgrades to roads like the A55 and the A494 are a crucial part of enabling this dynamic economy. We know that the east-west link, and vice versa, is a key route for travel to and from work in the area. Looking more to public transport, I understand that a rail taskforce was established to seek solutions to those well-known and well-rehearsed problems and challenges we face in north Wales, whether that be with regard to infrastructure or to the services themselves. I’d ask the Cabinet Secretary today, if this taskforce is fully operational, if we could have an update on its progress.

In addition, as a consequence of the ongoing long-term fragmentation of bus services, bus connections can often be challenging, to say the least. Constituents I speak to—many constituents don’t necessarily have a problem with having to take two buses, what they do have a problem with is when the bus that they’re arriving on arrives 10 minutes after the next bus they wanted to get on. So, we also need to look at better connections, not between bus services, but also links to those train services in the region as well. So, I’d urge that this is also addressed as part of an overarching transport and economic strategy for north Wales. Diolch.

Of course, many of the promises prior to devolution and one of the core tenets of devolution was to shorten the divide between north and south Wales. Indeed, the 1999 Welsh Labour manifesto stated:

‘We believe that improved north/south links essential to the future economic, social and cultural cohesion of Wales.’

And it promised to address the need, then, for improved road links and to introduce a new, faster rail service. Their coalition partners, the Lib Dems, promised the improvement of the quality of the strategic north-south road network. And the Plaid Cymru manifesto of the same year featured as a key objective the improvement of links within Wales and between north and south, promising a fast rail service from the north-west to Cardiff as an urgent priority, along with

‘a decent “figure-of-eight” road network giving north-south links to the four corners of Wales and connections with the main east-west routes such as the A40, the A55 and the M4.’

Here we are, 17 years on—17 years of broken promises from Labour, Plaid Cymru and the Lib Dems. The Wales Audit Office has recently criticised the Welsh Government for not doing enough to evaluate the benefits of its investment in Welsh railways. Arriva Trains Wales has the oldest rolling stock in the UK, with each train on average 27 years old, and the Cardiff-Anglesey air-link subsidy has now risen 27 per cent again in a year, costing taxpayers over £1 million annually. And whilst the Welsh Government has reduced spending on motorways, trunk roads, rail and air combined in its 2016-17 budget by 1.7 per cent, the UK Government has increased its transport budget by 3.6 per cent, and the Scottish Government has increased spending on motorways, trunk roads and rail services by 4.6 per cent.

Now, in 2016, Labour promised to unlock the potential for north Wales through the development of a north Wales metro system, and to deliver upgrades of the A55, yet there remains no detail, no plan and no vision whatsoever in the current programme for government for this. Meanwhile, the UK Conservative Government are actively exploring the electrification of the north Wales line, whilst continuing their £70 billion investment into UK transport to include the £10.7 million investment for the Halton Curve, trebling the annual investment in roads, and committing £300 million earlier this year for major projects, such as high speed 3 and the Trans-Pennine tunnel. Furthermore, they have also awarded the Welsh Government £900 million in borrowing powers, to be used over five years, to deliver much-needed improvements to infrastructure, including the A55. Yet, so far, the Welsh Labour Government has failed to utilise these powers to bring about any improvements in the North Wales region.

Llywydd, BBC Wales recently ran an article about north to south Wales travel, entitled ‘A jigsaw piece missing’. For those of us—and I mean myself as an Assembly Member travelling weekly, people wanting to do business here in the capital, and visitors to the home of devolution, here in Cardiff Bay—who undertake, or try to, this journey on a regular basis, we might just argue that there is more than one piece missing.

North Wales has the assets, it has the people and it has the entrepreneurship, businesses and ideas. It’s the Welsh Government that must recognise now that it does hold responsibility far wider than the Cardiff Bay bubble, and that it must take real action, using the borrowing powers from the UK Government to improve and upgrade transport links within, to and from our glorious north Wales.

Some years ago, it was decided that there should be an additional junction at Broughton off the A55 to serve Airbus and the newly built retail park. The new junction, in conjunction with the old one, results in the traffic being taken off the A55 at the top of Broughton village and then through the village. There’s no way to travel west from the retail park at Broughton and Airbus without going through the village. The poor planning of that junction is now causing real congestion in and around Broughton. Looking along the A55, you’ll see other examples of very, very poor planning: placing roundabouts at Penmaenmawr and other places was, as far as I’m concerned, just daft. It resulted in creating a point at which there’s an increased risk of accidents and congestion, which is now necessitating their removal.

The motion mentions that there’s a lack of hard shoulder in places. I struggle to think, actually, of a stretch along the A55 that does actually have a proper hard shoulder. Most of it doesn’t, meaning that broken-down vehicles have nowhere to go. The volume of wagons on the A55 essentially reduces the A55 to a single carriageway. The lack of forward planning at the Britannia bridge at Anglesey resulted in a dual carriageway either side of the bridge, but the bridge has a single carriageway, causing congestion on both sides. These and many other issues have been well known to the people of north Wales and those who visit there for many, many years. It’s high time that we heard some solid plans and concrete proposals from the Welsh Government as to precisely what improvements are going to be made to the A55 and when they’re going to be actually made. Thank you.

I’m pleased to contribute to this Welsh Conservatives debate on transport connections within north Wales today. Many of the points I was going to make have been made, so I won’t go over old ground. I would say, unlike Hannah Blythyn, I have the disadvantage of not being a proud north Wales Member—I’m a proud south Wales Member—and nor do I have some of the more detailed local knowledge that Michelle Brown just expressed. So, I will be a little more general in my comments.

I would say, however, that I do think that, having been in this Chamber now for nine getting on 10 years, we’ve had many debates about north Wales and I do feel that too often the people of the north do feel left out, left behind, excluded, however you want to put it—isolated maybe—from this Assembly and the decisions that are often taken here. That may be a question of perception and it may not be the right view, but it is too often the view of people in the north, and we have to do what we can to bridge that gap. As I say, I say that as a south Wales AM, who lives just up the road and finds it pretty straightforward to get home, whether that be by road, rail, bus, car—whatever the means of transport might be.

So, too often north Wales feels left out. We need to make sure that they feel that the Welsh Government is looking out for them, and that’s why bringing on major projects such as the A55 improvements that have been mentioned and future electrification of the north Wales main line are so important.

You cannot deny that a large chunk of the population do live in the south-west and the south-east, and south Wales AMs will always—I see David Rowlands nodding—make the case for infrastructure spend to be spent here, and of course we need improvements to the M4, of course we need electrification of the south Wales main line, but the north needs to feel included and needs to feel that projects are being advanced there. As Mark Isherwood said, we need to capitalise on the opportunities of the north, and there are opportunities there and growing opportunities. We need to link the north into the north of England powerhouse as that develops, and perhaps develop our own north Wales powerhouse as well.

Transport improvements are, of course, key to this, and I completely agree with the comments made by Dr Dai Lloyd earlier, and the concept, as I said in intervention, of a single integrated ticketing system across north Wales is a great one. It’s one that we’ve got in our motion, and it’s one that Plaid Cymru and other parties clearly agree with. The problem is, to coin a phrase from the previous report of the Enterprise and Business Committee from the last Assembly, it is a devilishly difficult thing to achieve. So, yes, let’s have it as an ambition, but let’s not put all our eggs in that basket in the short term. Let’s work on developing things that are immediately easier to do, such as better timetabling and better reliability of the services we have. But, yes, you’re quite right, Dai: let’s make sure that over the medium and longer term, we do have it as an ambition to connect the north and the south and mid Wales, and to make it easy to go online and book your ticket from here to Ynys Môn—as easy as we can make it.

A north Wales metro: well, that’s part of this. It’s still clearly some way off and it’s understandable at the moment that the focus of the Welsh Government is on the south Wales metro. I understand that the transport infrastructure Cabinet Secretary—let’s get the terminology right—can’t do everything at once—you’re not Superman yet, Ken, so you have to prioritise—but that does not mean that we can’t start developing a business plan at this point for a north Wales metro. I think that the people of the north would look to that as a sign that this Assembly does have the interests of the north at heart.

Finally, Presiding Officer, it is important that we develop those east-west links and the Cabinet Secretary for transport and infrastructure has made these points over the summer. Yes, we all want to develop the links between the north and the south, but being realistic, many of those vital economic links are, and for the immediate future will be, east-west. In the south, they’ll be across to Bristol and London. In the north, they’re going to be to the major cities of the north, particularly as that Northern Powerhouse develops. So, let’s not take our eye off the ball on this. I ask you, Cabinet Secretary, to take this motion in the spirit that it was meant. As I said, you can’t do everything at once, but can we have a little bit more focus on the economy of north Wales, on developing those vital transport links, capitalising on the opportunities that north Wales does provide us? Let’s look to a future Wales where the north and the south can play an equal part in developing the Welsh economy, and the population of the whole of Wales feels included.

I call on the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure to respond to the debate. Ken Skates.

Thank you, Presiding Officer. I’d like to thank all Members for their contributions today. I realise that, from some opposition Members, there was a little cynicism; I will forgive them for that and say that, generally, I think we are all on the same page insofar as the need to grow our economy in north Wales is concerned.

Creating a strong internal economy within Wales and growing the cross-border economy from north Wales across into the north-west of England is not mutually exclusive, but in my view, complementary. I made it clear that I see north Wales playing a full and active role in the Northern Powerhouse and creating an arc of economic activity that stretches from Holyhead to Manchester and beyond.

In answer to Hannah Blythyn’s question, I did indeed start the summer within the first 100 days of this Government with a summit in north Wales, with key cross-border stakeholders. That took place, as I say, within the first 100 days and it resulted in an agreement on a coherent regional vision, which aligns with the flagship Northern Powerhouse plan, and which will also contribute towards the potential growth deal, as it is developed.

But there is already a great deal happening here. We’re taking forward major road improvements, including a business case for the Menai third crossing; for the construction of the Caernarfon bypass; for the river Dee bridge; and, of course, we’re also assessing options to tackle congestion on the A494-A55 Deeside corridor. While funding of investment in rail infrastructure is reserved, we have used our powers to invest in rail enhancements on the Cambrian line and the network between Saltney and Wrexham.

The Member referred in his motion to ‘A Growth Vision for the Economy of North Wales’. This document was submitted to both Welsh and UK Ministers in August by local authorities and it outlines an agreed strategic direction for the north Wales economy. I received the document, as did the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury. It’s an important document, and, allied to other good pieces of work, such as the Growth Track 360 report, it gives us a strong basis on which to work with the UK Government and stakeholders in north Wales to take forward economic priorities for the region.

But to progress discussion on a specific jointly funded growth deal, we await a formal announcement from the UK Government that they will open negotiations, and I sincerely hope that they do so. It’s an exciting piece of work that could—could—dovetail perfectly with a potential growth deal for the Cheshire and Warrington local enterprise partnership, as the Member identified.

I’d like to put on record my thanks to AMs across the Chamber and to MPs, including the Secretary of State and other Ministers in the Wales Office, for supporting a dynamic, cross-border growth bid and the creation of a stronger economy in north Wales.

Russell George and Nick Ramsay both made very compelling cases for pursuing investment in cross-border infrastructure, and it would be hard to disagree with either. Russell George also talked about rebalancing the economy across Wales. I fully concur and for that reason, I decided that the headquarters for Transport for Wales should be based in the Valleys, and it’s the same reason why I believe that the headquarters for the development bank in Wales should be headquartered in north Wales.

It’s also my view that we have to build a stronger relationship, as the Member rightly identified, with Transport for the North. In answer to Hannah Blythyn, I attended the latest meeting of the rail taskforce, earlier this week, brilliantly chaired by the leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council, Samantha Dixon, where we spoke about the need to ensure that there is better communication between partners and across borders. I would gladly attend the cross-party group on cross-border activity, and I’d say that, in terms of making sure that we create strong, economic ties across borders, it’s my vision that we create three arcs of prosperity and economic activity: one, as I say, that stems from Holyhead across to Manchester; another that crosses from the coast of Wales through mid Wales and into the midlands; and a third that goes from south-west Wales right along the M4 and into the south-west—

Mark Isherwood rose—

Yes, I’ll accept.

How do you respond—maybe you’re going to get to this, but you haven’t mentioned it yet—to the central tenet of the north Wales growth vision document, which is the call for responsibility for some economic and growth levers to be internally devolved to the board?

Yes, absolutely. The Member may or may not be aware that we put it our manifesto, the Welsh Labour manifesto. We actually said that we would be looking and ensuring that there is responsibility devolved to regions such as north Wales, but what we need to have is the clear go-ahead for the growth deal, because if there isn’t to be a growth deal, then we will have to look at other means of devolving responsibility and of generating economic growth in that area.

I can share with Members that I will be meeting, in the coming months, with Lord O’Neill to discuss the growth deal and to discuss other matters, and I will keep Members informed of progress. But I’ve also decided, because I think it would be valuable, to meet with the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, because I’ve said on a number of occasions my fear at his leaving the Treasury is that the Northern Powerhouse project could stall. For that reason, I think, in spite of the many differences that I may have with him over the economy and society in general, he could be an ally of north Wales in pursuing the Northern Powerhouse agenda.

Turning to point 3 of the motion, I would firstly like to clarify that we have already published our plans for improvements to the A55. They are in the form of the national transport finance plan, and it was published in July 2015. We’ve already invested significantly in key routes across north Wales, including, on the A55, a programme of improvements to increase resilience, including hardened verges as well as emergency crossovers and, of course, a £42 million programme of work to bring the A55 tunnels up to standard.

I note what the Member said about Broughton and the need to address concerns around the interchange and the junction, which currently means that traffic from the A55 in an eastern direction has to go through the village. It’s something that my officials are discussing with councillors and officials of Flintshire County Council. We are also investing around £32 million to upgrade junctions 15 and 16 on the A55 to improve safety and journey time reliability. An advanced drainage works contract is being accelerated now, and that will be operating between junctions 12 and 13 of the A55 to, again, help to reduce flood risk and improve, therefore, traffic flow.

I’ve already stated that the summit took place in July, well ahead of the 100-day deadline, that the rail taskforce met just this week and I published a five-point plan. In response to the question about the bus network, I published a five-point action plan just last week, which I think is being recognised around the UK as something that the UK Government should follow. I must say that when we do have regulation, I do not believe that we should use those powers to simply evolve a deregulated network, but we should have major change in the way that our bus network operates.

I’ll move on to rail, and I think it’s absolutely essential that the economic case for investment in electrification in control period 6 is acknowledged, and I would urge the UK Government to support this. The Member is right in saying that 12 million journeys take place across the north Wales and north-west border every year and only 1 per cent of those journeys is undertaken on a train. As we plan the next stages of the rail enhancement needs in north Wales and the Mersey-Dee area, we also need to push the UK Government to ensure that a fair share of its investment to improve connectivity within and between north Wales and other regions is realised, because, quite frankly, traditionally, Network Rail investment has been far below what we would have received had it been Barnettised for Wales.

Again, in response to the questions raised by Hannah Blythyn, the Member for Delyn, the integration of public transport services, including multimodal and multi-operator ticketing arrangements, will be the underlying principle of the north-east Wales metro. I’ll be pursuing that when better considering rail and bus services. We’re also developing proposals in the Conwy valley that will integrate bus and rail services with shared ticketing arrangements, better service coverage and reduced bus subsidy level.

To maximise the opportunities of cross-border connectivity, metro north-east will spread north and east into north England and the midlands to create a reliable, efficient and quality integrated transport network across the sub-region and beyond. Delivery of an outline business case for north Wales transport modernisation and metro north-east, setting out preferred solutions for modernising transport across the region, is an early priority. I look forward to being able to share details with Members before Christmas. The reason that that did not appear in Growth Track 360 is because Growth Track 360 was prepared ahead of the Welsh Labour manifesto where the metro was first published.

Mark Isherwood rightly identified many challenges for people who are trying to access work, but simply cannot get into work because of the lack of availability of buses or trains or because they cost too much. For that reason—and he identified Deeside Industrial Park—we are looking, as a priority project for metro north-east, at the availability of new stations within Deeside Industrial Park and upgrades to Shotton as well.

I hope that Members will join me in preparing the case for a stronger economy and a better transport network across north Wales that recognises the reality that many, many people on a daily basis cross the border but wish to live or work in north Wales.

I call on Darren Millar to reply to the debate.

Diolch, Lywydd, and thank you to everyone who has participated in this debate today. I’m very pleased to hear some of the announcements that have been made by the Cabinet Secretary this afternoon in terms of a little bit more information about some of the proposed improvements to the A55, and, indeed, an update on where things are at with the metro. We look forward to receiving further information, of course, before Christmas. We’ll hold you to account for that statement now. I’m a little bit disappointed, though, that he seems now to be tying the devolution of powers and responsibility to north Wales to funding coming with a growth deal. The reality is I’ve just checked your manifesto online and there’s absolutely nothing in there about having to wait for a growth deal before any further powers are devolved to those authorities in the north. I think it is incumbent upon you as a Government, collectively—all of you as Cabinet Ministers, and the First Minister—to think about where those levers are best placed. Because the people of north Wales have come together, the stakeholders have produced what is an exciting vision for the region, which I really do believe will lead to significant investment and significant growth in the economy if they are allowed to simply get on with it, but having sticky hands with powers in Cardiff Bay isn’t going to change that situation.

But surely the Member would also recognise that what businesses are telling us, what people are telling us, is that the UK and Welsh Governments should work together in the interests of the people of north Wales, and it would be far better to integrate our policies with UK Government policies where economic growth is concerned. That means that we should seek to dovetail our approach to devolution of any power with what a UK Government initiative, such as the growth deal, would seek to achieve.

Of course it’s important that Governments work together, from Cardiff Bay to Westminster and London, and indeed local government and town halls working with you too. But, at the end of the day, it’s those stakeholders in north Wales—the local authorities, the North Wales Economic Ambition Board, the universities, the further education sector, the third sector and everybody around that table—that’s produced a plan that they believe is achievable and can be implemented if more powers are devolved to the region. So, I do think that you need to give serious consideration to that, not just reject it and try and pass the buck to the UK Government. At the end of the day, the UK Government’s making significant progress in devolving powers to regions. We’ve all seen what’s been going on across England with the local enterprise partnerships, which, of course, are given significant economic powers over their local economies in order to bring improvements. I’m pleased that you recognise the importance of working with the Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership, in particular, in terms of bringing them on-board to subscribe to a vision for the north Wales economy. Their input, of course, is very, very important.

In terms of the rail infrastructure, of course we would all like to see electrification of that north Wales line. It’s important that the UK Government work with the Welsh Government and others to look at the business case for that and to work it up. But, of course, it’s also important that the local authorities and others in north Wales do everything that they can in order to shout up the cause and sing it from the rooftops, really, about the possibilities that that could create within the region. Those cross-border connectivities are extremely important to the region. We know that the east-west economy is far more important to north Wales than the north-south economy. I take on board what you’re saying, Dai. I know you’d love to draw a slate curtain across the border, but, at the end of the day, it’s incredibly important that north Wales has access to what is north Wales’s biggest market, which is the north-west of England. It’s exactly the same for mid Wales with parts of the Midlands, as Russell George quite rightly said. [Interruption.] So, you’ve heard from—

Lord Elis-Thomas rose—

I’ll happily—.

I’m sorry to intervene, because I haven’t followed all of the debate—I’m sure it’s out of order for me even to stand up—but why do we keep referring to borders? There hasn’t been a border between England and Wales for 1,500 years, to my knowledge.

And long may that situation continue—long may that situation continue. But, of course, there are administrative borders, and, of course, many members of your group would like those borders to be more important, shall we say, in economic terms than they currently are.

But it is important that we give north Wales the opportunity to grow, that we devolve the powers, that we make the finance available. I’m very pleased to hear that you’re going to ensure that the development bank is based in north Wales. As I said earlier on during questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government, there must be a fair share of investment from that development bank into the region. And I’d just ask, Minister, that you do consider the plan that’s on the table from the North Wales Economic Ambition Board, and the other stakeholders that have contributed to shape that, because that, I believe, holds the key to unlocking the potential of north Wales, and we, certainly on these benches, will be supporting that vision for the region every step of the way.

The proposal is to agree the motion without amendment. Does any Member object? No. Therefore, the motion without amendment is agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.

Motion agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.