Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:39 pm on 21 March 2023.
Do you agree with me, First Minister, that it's quite instructive that the Welsh Conservatives would prefer to support the UK Government than they would to stand up for Wales? I must have got my geography lessons terribly wrong at school, because I just discovered on the weekend that the Huddersfield to Leeds railway serves Wales, and that Crewe to Manchester serves Wales, but only if you're a Tory. Because at the end of the day, when I look my constituents in the eye, they see the Welsh Government searching for funds to invest in the Ebbw valley line, as they are in Maesteg as well, and they look across the valley at Rhymney, they look across at Merthyr, they look across at Aberdare, they look across at the Rhondda, where rail infrastructure is devolved, and they see the investment that the Welsh Government is making, investment that the UK Government is not prepared to make in Wales. First Minister, do you agree with me that if we're going to end the farce of the Tories telling us that Crewe, Manchester, Leeds and Huddersfield are actually in Wales, then we need to devolve the whole of the responsibility for investment in rail infrastructure to Wales and do it here ourselves?