Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders

Part of 3. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:49 pm on 12 November 2019.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:49, 12 November 2019

Well, Llywydd, I think we've heard the title of the Conservative Party manifesto in this election: 'on the road to nowhere' seems to me to be a fairly succinct summary of their campaign in Wales over the last few days. I notice that the Member began by admitting that it is somebody else who is to blame, and that is true; that is certainly true in relation to the budgets that this Government has had to deal with.

Let me take the first of his erroneous accusations. As far as the A465 section 2 is concerned, my colleague Ken Skates made a statement in April of this year to this Assembly and that position remains the position today. We said in that statement that it would now be into 2020 before the dualling of that section of the Heads of the Valleys road would be completed. A steep-sided environmentally sensitive Clydach gorge, where the company responsible for the work has reported that there have been environmental reasons why it has taken them longer to complete the £1,000 million that this Government will invest in the Heads of the Valleys road, and which would never ever—never ever—have been a priority for his Government. If they don't want to see it, they should say so. We are very proud indeed of the record that we have, and if I thought there were any lessons to be drawn from a Government responsible for the HS2 fiasco, I now know where I can go—on the road to nowhere—to find them.