5. Will the First Minister make a statement on investment in transport infrastructure in Blaenau Gwent? OQ57256

I thank the Member for that question, Llywydd. Completion of the £1 billion dualling of the A465 and major investment in rail infrastructure in Blaenau Gwent demonstrate the strength of the Welsh Government’s commitment to the Member’s constituents, even as the UK Government refuses to fund its own responsibilities.

First Minister, the people of northern England discovered last week what we in Wales have known for some years—that you can't trust Tory promises when it comes to investment in infrastructure and trains and the future of connectivity in our communities. The people of England discovered last night in the House of Commons that this is a Government in London for London, that doesn't care about any part of the UK outside of London. First Minister, will the Welsh Government continue to support the investment in the Ebbw valley line? We know it is the responsibility of the UK Government, but they have refused, time and time again, to invest a single penny in their responsibilities to develop that line. It is the Welsh Government that's reopened that line, it is the Welsh Government that's invested in developing the line, it's the Welsh Government that's invested in the infrastructure of that line, it's the Welsh Government that's invested in the rolling stock on that line, because we have learnt in Blaenau Gwent that you can't trust a word that Boris Johnson and the Tories tell us.

That is a view, Llywydd, shared by Robbie Moore, the Conservative MP for Keighley since 2019, who said that as a result of the announcement, his constituents had been completely short-changed. The announcement as far as the north of England is concerned, Llywydd, not only strips money away from that part of England, far away from London, as Alun Davies said, but it strips powers away from them as well. We are very used to this way of the current Conservative Government behaving. Andy Burnham said:

'Not only did we lose out on infrastructure, we got silenced as well' and that the only formal structure in the British mechanism of Government that allows the north to come together with one voice has now been removed. Here in Wales we do go on doing things very differently, Llywydd. I'm very glad to see that there will be a new service on the Ebbw Vale line from Monday 13 December, an hourly service between Crosskeys and Newport, and the £70 million that the Welsh Government was able to provide to Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council will mean that the physical infrastructure will be put in place to make sure that those additional rail services run between Ebbw Vale and Newport as well.

Despite the cuts to people in the north of England announced last week, Llywydd, there is still a commitment of £98 billion to an England-only project, a shameless refusal by the Conservative Government in London to provide any consequential to us in Wales, a nonsensical claim that a hub in Crewe—[Interruption.] I made the mistake, Llywydd, of pausing for a moment in case the Member was saying something sensible. I should have known better, and I'll remember that next time. Listen to this, Llywydd; listen to it again: £98 billion—billion—being spent in England and not a penny in a consequential for Wales, and a nonsensical—a nonsensical—claim by his colleagues that a hub at Crewe and a hub in the midlands is somehow being put together for the benefit of Wales.

Members here will be familiar with these figures, because we've had to remind our colleagues there of them before: 40 per cent of the rail network in England is electrified, 25 per cent of the network in Scotland is electrified, and as a result of the actions of that Member's Government, 2 per cent of it is electrified in Wales. And as a result of this week's decisions, that figure in England will go up to 75 per cent—75 per cent for England and 2 per cent for Wales. That's what you get with a Conservative Government.

First Minister, in the summer it was announced that more than £3 million-worth of improvements were set to be made on the road network of Blaenau Gwent. Local government funding was to be combined with an additional sum of Welsh Government funding to bring the total investment to over £3 million to improve the conditions of the roads in Blaenau Gwent, improvements that were described, and I quote, as 'critical' for local communities, businesses and visitors to the borough.

I tabled a written question to the Deputy Minister for Climate Change asking for a list of the roads that are being reviewed as a result of the road-building freeze, but he said that he was unable to provide the information before the roads review panel makes its initial report. In view of the Deputy Minister's inability to respond, can you advise if these much-needed road improvements will indeed go ahead in my region of South Wales East, within Blaenau Gwent itself? Thank you, First Minister.

Llywydd, I was doing my best to follow the question. As I understand it, the Minister has said to the Member that if she wants to get a better answer, she needs to ask a better question. I'll read the record of what's been said this afternoon, Llywydd, and if there is anything further that I can provide to the answer, then, of course, I'm happy to do that.

Since my election, I've conducted many street surgeries, and a pattern that you often see at these surgeries, when my team are out in Blaenau Gwent, is transportation to the Grange hospital. I know it can take up to 45 minutes to travel from the Grange to Tredegar, for example, as I've done it myself, but if you rely on public transport, it can be a much harder and much more time-consuming journey. Depending on where you live in Blaenau Gwent and what time of day it is, it can take up to four different buses and more than two hours just to go one way. I know in other parts of South Wales East it can be even worse than this. First Minister, do you agree that connectivity to the Grange hospital is not what it should be, and if so, what plans do you have to make this hospital more accessible to the people it serves?

Well, Llywydd, I'm very well aware of the issue of bus links to the Grange hospital, having had extensive discussions about it with my colleague, Alun Davies and with my ministerial colleague, Lynne Neagle in the past as well. The Welsh Government is working actively with Transport for Wales and the local authorities to introduce a new bus link to the hospital that will go from Pontypool, Newbridge, Blackwood, Ystrad Mynach and Nelson. The plan is for it to be introduced early in 2022 and to operate it on a basis that will allow us to learn the lessons from that introduction and then to see what else might be necessary to make sure that there are good and reliable public transport links to the Grange.