Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:34 pm on 20 October 2021.
Minister, like others, I very much welcome both the statement and the scale of the ambition from the Welsh Government today. The last question took you to Maesteg; I'm going to take you to Ebbw Vale and Abertillery, and that will be no surprise to you at all. Could you ensure that the Ebbw Valley line is treated with equality in terms of the services and investment? We have not seen the devolution of the Ebbw Valley line, and we've seen the UK Government starve the Ebbw Valley line of investment, and I'm grateful to the Welsh Government for stepping in and filling the responsibility that is held by the UK Government on that. But we need equality of services and a timeline for development of new services. We also need links to the Grange. We've debated and discussed many times in this place over the years. If the Welsh Government is serious about this ambition, it cannot be making investments as large as the Grange, and then not ensuring there are public transport links to the Grange from across the area served by it, including Blaenau Gwent.
And my final point is in terms of the bus strategy and the Bill. I understood that this Bill would be brought forward in the first year of this Senedd, and so, it would be useful, I think, for Members to understand why there appears to be something of a delay because we need bus services re-regulated today. We are seeing the impact of that misguided Thatcherite policy today in Blaenau Gwent. The people of Blaenau Gwent want control of their buses back. Thank you.