1. Will the First Minister outline what consideration the Welsh Government has given to improving infrastructure in north Wales? OAQ51601

Our recently published national transport finance plan sets out an ambitious programme of road, rail, bus and active travel improvements as part of a balanced and sustainable plan for transport investment across Wales.

Thank you for that answer, First Minister. One thing that many people in north Wales crow about is the disparity between the investment in south Wales in the transport infrastructure and that in the north. You're spending £1.4 billion on an M4 relief road, £400 million more than you were anticipating not that long ago. You announced £180 million for the metro central project in Cardiff, and that's within, of course, a £2 billion package for the south Wales metro system. Now, I don't decry those investments, but when is north Wales going to get its fair share? We've got cripplingly bad infrastructure on the A55, which regularly is congested, we've got problems with our flood defences, and broadband access, particularly in rural communities, is completely unacceptable.

Well, the A55 is of course a key strategic route in the north. Last year, we completed a £42 million programme to bring the tunnels of Conwy, Penmaenbach and Pen-y-clip up to current standards. We're also investing approximately £40 million to upgrade junctions 15 and 16, and another £200 million in the Deeside corridor. In addition, the Abergwyngregyn to Tai'r Meibion advanced drainage scheme was completed over the summer, and we published the draft orders and an environmental statement on the main A55 Abergwyngregyn to Tai'r Meibion improvement scheme. Now, other works in the north include the acceleration of the completion date for a third Menai crossing, which could now open in 2022, and progression of the proposed Caernarfon and Bontnewydd bypass, which represents further investment of over £125 million to the network—and that's just to the roads.

I’m looking at a map of the electric car charging points across Britain. We see, across north Wales, how poor the provision is in terms of swift charging. I look forward to the revolution in the use of electric vehicles, but that isn’t going to be able to happen unless the Government truly shows ambition and puts a strategy in place in order to ensure that we are preparing the infrastructure for that revolution. So, where are the signs from the Government you’re taking this seriously?

Well, of course we take it seriously, and we have to ensure that the structure is in place. One of the problems is there’s such a diversity as regards the way in which cars can be charged. There are at least three sockets that I can think of, as someone who drives a hybrid. What we need, of course, is for the manufacturers to consider how they could have one uniform charger, then it would be easier for the Government to ensure that we can facilitate having more charging points. And, of course, we can ask: what comes first—cars or the network? We want to ensure that we have a pan-Wales network, and this is something being considered by the Minister.