Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:53 pm on 19 January 2021.
Thank you for that. Rhianon Passmore is right to draw attention to again the iniquitous decision on aviation by the UK Government, which is all the more reason why they need to step up to the plate on this package to show that they are as committed to levelling up in all parts of the UK as they say they are.
To answer Rhianon Passmore's question, as I say, certainly people within the boundaries of Newport itself, 80 per cent of them will be within a mile of a high-quality public transport installation as a result of these proposals, but there'll be benefits to the hinterland as well in the Gwent Valleys as part of that. The Ebbw Vale line, which I know is an issue that she is consistently pressurising the Welsh Government to do more on, is an important part of that. We are hoping that this year we will have a new timetable with services as far as Cross Keys. We're not able to go beyond Cross Keys without investment and intervention from Network Rail and the UK Government, so that's another example where they need to 'Siapia hi', as my grandmother would say, but we are hoping to see four trains an hour on that line, and that is definitely part of the wider Burns vision.