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.