Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:10 pm on 15 October 2019.
Llywydd, of course Dawn Bowden is right that investment in infrastructure is fundamental to a modern and successful economy. That's why we are so committed to making sure that we get maximum value out of the current round of EU funding programmes, with everything that that will do for Merthyr and Rhymney. We are going to spend £21.1 million to improve the Merthyr railway line, we're going to spend £19.5 million to improve the Rhymney line, and all of that comes from the 2014-20 EU funding programme. Alongside transport infrastructure of that sort, we need a digital infrastructure, and that's why we're investing £7.6 million in the superfast broadband infrastructure for the constituency that the Member represents.
The economy is, of course, fundamental to the future of the constituency. We have mobilised all the help that we can for those companies that find themselves in difficulty, but as we've said on the floor of the Assembly before, every week in Wales thousands of jobs are lost but thousands of jobs are created, and Merthyr Tydfil particularly has been a place in recent years where the economy has been thriving and, with support from the Welsh Government, will go on doing so into the future.