3. Has the Welsh Government specified the provision of electric trains between Cardiff and Swansea in its invitation to tender for the Wales and Borders franchise? (OAQ51220)

Well, as a result of the UK Government announcement in July that it wouldn’t electrify to Swansea, bidders for our rail services will be unable to provide and operate electric trains between Cardiff and Swansea in any event.

The original business case in 2012 that was the basis for the electrification decision included four electric trains per hour between Swansea and Cardiff, including local services, as I understand. Now, had the Welsh Government inserted a requirement for electric local services in the detailed franchise specification, as per this original business case, the Department for Transport would have found it nigh on impossible to reject electrification. So, hasn’t the Welsh Government missed an opportunity here? What are you going to now do, given the situation that we’re now in, to rectify the fact that Swansea’s not going to have the electrification that it was promised?

The blame for the failure to electrify is at the feet of the UK Government. It was they who made the promise to electrify the line; it was they who withdrew, who reneged, on that promise to electrify that line. We know that the cost is about £500 million to electrify between Cardiff and Swansea. We want to make sure, as our plans have shown, whether it’s via the metro or whether it’s more widely through the franchise—we want to run better trains more frequently on our railway lines. I don’t think it would have made a blind bit of difference, to be honest with you, if we’d specified it in the franchise; they would still have withdrawn their funding.

I would like to stress the importance of the electrification of the main London to Swansea rail line in going through Bridgend, First Minister. I think it’s incredibly important. The message it sends out to potential investors about how important you think an area is when you stop the electrification 40 miles away I think is seriously disadvantageous to those of us who live west of Cardiff. Will the First Minister continue to support electrification of the railway line from Cardiff to Swansea?

‘Yes’ is the simple answer. But, of course, this is not a devolved area. The budget is held by the UK Government; it’s for the UK Government to make good on its promise. I share his concern that, in time, as we see different trains being introduced over the years, the fact there’s no electrification will mean, in time, that the inter-city trains will stop in Cardiff because there is no mode of traction able to take them further west. Yes, we do have bimodal trains now. Yesterday’s launch was perhaps not the most auspicious launch, as the first train broke down. The second one seemed to be cascading water over people because of a fault with the air-conditioning system. But we hope that those issues, clearly, are resolved for the good of the economy of south Wales. But a promise was made to the people of Wales; that promise was broken by the same party. What worth now is any promise from any Conservative Government if they’re breaking a promise that was so publicly made?

Will the First Minister update Members on whether any progress has been made on the UK Tory Government’s devolving of all the powers required to the Welsh Government to ensure a successful tendering process of the new Wales and borders franchise? The people of Wales want to see the First Minister of Wales and the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure fully in charge of this process without any interference from Chris Grayling, Alun Cairns and their officials. And, yesterday, these two boarded a state-of-the-art new train that left 25 minutes late owing to technical issues, and it was further delayed en route, water leaked from air-conditioning units, and commuters were forced to stand with the air-conditioning units turned off. Can the First Minister do all in his powers to keep the calamity Conservatives away from decision making on the Welsh railway networks?

I think that’s best. With regard to the franchise agreement, progress is being made in that regard now. There were some blockages that needed to be cleared; they have been cleared. The sad thing is that the UK Government refuses to allow the people of Wales any kind of control over their own rail network. We don’t even have the power to direct Network Rail—the Scots do; we can’t even direct Network Rail. The reality is that only 1.5 per cent of rail investment comes to Wales. Now, that share should be 6 per cent or 6.2 per cent based on a Barnett share; we get 1.5 per cent. It’s ludicrous. On top of that, of course, we know the Scots are able to look at an arm’s-length, not-for-profit public sector body as an option for running their railways. We were specifically forbidden from doing it, presumably on the basis that we would, in some way, contaminate English stations with strange notions about not-for-profit, well-run railway services. But that is the difference between the treatment of Wales and England and Scotland by this Conservative Government. When it comes to rail, we get no fair play at all; we get broken promises. But we, as a Welsh Government, make up for their deficiencies.