A view from Sam Rowlands – Welsh Conservative North Wales Member of the Senedd
Wrexham.com has invited the four North Wales Members of the Senedd to write a monthly column with updates on their work. You can find their updates – along with contributions from the Wrexham and Clwyd South MPs and MSs – here.
In this month’s column, Welsh Conservative MS Sam Rowlands writes:
One of my favourite parts of being a Senedd Member is getting to see the various school and colleges from our area that are down in Cardiff visiting the Welsh Parliament.
Most recently, it was a group from Ysgol Morgan Llwyd. If my diary permits, I always make sure to pop down and have a chat with the young people, finding out what their interests are and if they have any questions to ask me – and some of them can be pretty tricky to answer!
This particular group were studying Law and Politics, which meant a visit to Cardiff Bay was probably useful for them in their studies.
Regardless of whether they are studying politics or not, it’s good for children and young people to learn about the democratic process across Wales and the United Kingdom. Visits to the Senedd, Westminster and elsewhere are a good way for them to develop knowledge and become more engaged when they get a bit older!
As the group from Morgan Llywyd will know, the journey from North to South Wales can be time consuming and not always fun! If possible, I catch the train down to Cardiff. Unfortunately, all too often these trains are unreliable – sometimes there aren’t enough carriages, sometimes you have to unexpectedly switch trains halfway along the journey and on occasion the train is cancelled completely!
It’s not good enough and the people of Wrexham and North Wales certainly deserve better.
Transport for Wales, the Labour Welsh Government-owned operator who run most trains in Wales, was recently voted as the worst rail operator in the whole of the United Kingdom. This is not a title to be proud of and the reality has a really negative impact on people’s lives.
You may remember when Arriva’s franchise came to an end and they were booted off the rail network, it was a time when many people celebrated.
Unfortunately, Labour’s trains are even worse, show little sign of getting better anytime soon and just last week have required a £125m bail-out to fill a funding black hole.
The Cardiff Labour Government’s transport policies don’t really make much sense to me.
They have imposed a ruinous blanket 20mph speed limit and virtually banned the building of new roads. They clearly have an anti-car agenda and are making it as difficult for motorists as they possibly can.
I have heard the argument that they want to encourage public transport usage, but how can people be expected to use public transport when it has such a terrible record? Around 1 in 10 TfW trains are cancelled – if you rely on the trains to get to work, then that scale of cancellations can make your life very difficult indeed.
First Minister Mark Drakeford and his Transport Minister Lee Waters need to tell us how they will increase reliability on the railways so people aren’t left stranded and in the lurch when they are trying to get to work, visit family or travel to the football at the Racecourse.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced a £1 billion investment in the North Wales mainline. This will make journeys across North Wales faster and improve links between our area and the North-West of England, which is vitally important for people here.
That is the difference a Conservative Government at Westminster makes – they have put their faith in North Wales when the Labour-run devolved Government in Cardiff systemically underfunds us when compared to South Wales.
It’s important to remember that when casting your ballot at a UK General Election or a Senedd election.
As ever, if you have any queries or issues, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. You can contact me by emailing [email protected] or calling on 0300 200 7267.
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