Diolch yn fawr, Ddirprwy Lywydd. Can I begin by thanking Nick Ramsay for taking the opportunity of a short debate to highlight the current state of progress in relation to the Cardiff capital city deal? His contribution, I thought, was thoughtful, wide ranging, optimistic but realistic about the challenges that we face. City deals have the potential to make a lasting impact, and that’s why commitment to making the Cardiff capital city deal a success is so important.

Now, one of the defining features of the deal in this Chamber has been the strong cross-party support that there has been for it. We’ve seen some of that again today. The partners involved have shown ambition, vision and hard work in getting this far forward, but it’s only with continuing support, and continuing political support, that we can be confident that the deal can deliver on its promise.

Dirprwy Lywydd, the promise is substantial, because the deal has an investment fund for the region of £1.2 billion over a 20-year period. It is the biggest per-capita city deal of any of those agreed by the UK Government to date. It’s bigger than the Glasgow deal and it’s bigger than the six main English city region deals as well. It aims to provide local partners with the powers and the resources to unlock significant economic growth across the Cardiff capital region, and that’s a theme in what we’ve heard this afternoon. It’s absolutely important that that growth happens right across the region, through developing stronger and more effective leadership and enabling 10 local authorities to unify decision making, pool resources and work more effectively with local businesses. It’s a deal that seeks to build on the region’s sectoral strengths, its high skill base, its three successful universities, and to provide an opportunity to continue to tackle the area’s barriers to economic growth by improving transport connectivity, increasing skill levels, supporting people into work and giving businesses the support they need to innovate and to grow.

Over its lifetime, the Cardiff capital region city deal is expected to deliver up to 25,000 new jobs and leverage an additional £4 billion worth of private sector investment. As we’ve heard loud and clear this afternoon, a key priority for that investment will be the delivery of the south-east Wales metro, including Valleys lines electrification. The deal sees the metro at the centre of a significant programme of infrastructure development with £734 million ring-fenced for its delivery. That’s made up of £503 million from the Welsh Government, £125 million from the UK Government and, of course, £106 million from the European Union, through ERDF.

Beyond the metro, the deal sees a further £495 million, made up of £375 million from the UK Government and £120 million from local authorities themselves, available to prioritise in line with the goals of the deal.

All this has been made possible by the ambition of local authorities themselves and a step change in their willingness and ability to come together for regional collaboration, but also by the strong collaboration with and between the Welsh Government and the UK Government coming together to make all this possible. All parties are working to put in place the necessary governance arrangements early in this year to enable project activity to commence. That is why, of course, as you’ve heard this afternoon, the local authorities across the city deal are voting to make those governance arrangements a reality, and I congratulate Hefin on the part that he played in making that happen just yesterday.

A great deal has happened, Dirprwy Lywydd, since the 10 months that have elapsed from the time that the First Minister and others signed the deal. The partnerships are working, as you know, on the procurement of the metro and it’s absolutely right, as others have said, that the metro will play this key part in moving people right across the region and moving people to Cardiff, but not just that—moving people from Cardiff to other parts of the region and between parts of the region as well.

As Nick Ramsay said, we have to take a more imaginative idea of what the metro will be like than is sometimes described in public debate. And David Melding was right too when he pointed to the fact that transport challenges in the Cardiff capital region will need solutions beyond the metro. That’s why it is so important that, as well as establishing a joint Cabinet in shadow form, that a shadow regional transport authority has already been established as part of this deal and has been working actively, meeting together, in order to plan for the future.

Now, while the ratification of the deal is extremely important in terms of its governance arrangements, it’s important because it marks the move to the next stage and that next stage is about delivering, through the authorities and their partners, on the projects that will make a difference right across south Wales.

The deal has always been driven by the clear ambition for economic growth through investing in infrastructure, innovation, skills and business. The competitive commission set up by the deal, led by Greg Clark—or the other Greg Clark, as I suppose we should refer to him—published its report in December last and it identified as a strength of the deal that there are so many people, organisations and businesses that want to make sustainable economic growth across the south of Wales a reality and that want to play a part in making that happen.

It’s vitally important, therefore, that the capital region works closely with its partners and stakeholders in developing the programme of projects. The governance arrangements support the specific involvement of business representatives, but I expect the city deal to engage widely in making sure that all those who have a part to play feel that they have a genuine opportunity to make that contribution.

Much has been made this afternoon, Dirprwy Lywydd, of the economic opportunities of the city deal, particularly the financial boost to the region. There’s real importance as well, in my mind, in the important step of giving local authorities the opportunity to make this happen and in developing that cross-border working between the 10 local authorities coming together for the benefit of the wider region that they represent. As was said in the Chamber yesterday when we debated the White Paper on local government reform, the achievements of the Cardiff capital deal have been very influential in designing that wider regional working for the future.

Today’s debate has focused on the Cardiff capital city deal. I don’t want to end my comments without recognising the work that is being undertaken elsewhere in Wales. Discussions in the Swansea bay city region are well advanced, and I’m confident that we have the makings of a deal that can be supported by all partners. The North Wales Economic Ambition Board’s work is at an earlier stage of development, but it has real commitment from the partners around that table, and we continue to work with them to explore how a growth deal could help to deliver their ambitions for that part of north Wales and maximise links with regions across the border in England.

The path that the Cardiff capital city deal is treading today sets the example for what we want to see delivered across the whole of Wales. We will work with local partners and we will work with the UK Government, so long as we have that shared agenda of maximising our combined interest and unlocking further economic growth for all parts of our nation. Thank you.