Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:34 pm on 7 December 2021.
Well, the part of the Member's contribution that I did agree was her endorsement of the Hendy review. It does indeed say, as she says, that devolution has been good for transport, and I think that is a solid basis from which we can now hope that the UK Government will go ahead and implement the proposals. Because let's be clear, Llywydd, what we have is a report that the UK Government commissioned, and which says to them that they need to invest, they need to invest properly, in the south Wales main line, the north Wales line, in order to improve connectivity. We're promised a reply from the UK Government in the new year. At that point, what we will need to see is genuine investment—genuine investment on their responsibilities, which the Hendy review, fairly and squarely, puts to them. And if at that point we see that investment coming through, then I'll be prepared to sign up to some of the Member's propositions about increased investment. We certainly haven't seen it up until now. I'm optimistic that we will, if the UK Government is prepared to act on it, see investment as a result of the review.