Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:55 pm on 22 October 2019.
Well, first of all, Llywydd, the Member is quite wrong if he thinks that the legacy of Arriva, and the years of neglect that were inflicted on Wales by that franchise and by the failure to account for any growth in passenger numbers during it—if he thinks there isn't a legacy issue there that has to be dealt with, then I'm afraid he needs to read up a bit on the history of that.
I don't accept that the technology doesn't work. I've said that I will investigate his questions. That doesn't mean for a minute that I accept that there is a problem simply because he asserts that there may be one. And the Welsh Government is investing enormous sums of money to complete the Heads of the Valleys road so that there is a link across east-west in that part of Wales. That demonstrates completely this Government's commitment to Valleys communities and to connectivity between them.