Extract from Wales Assembly questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Transport - Oct 24

Rhun ap Iorwerth AM: Thank you for the kind words, and in reference to north Wales and what's in it for north Wales from HS2, you say it's provided the right connections are made at Crewe. We haven't got the assurances that we need on the connections at Crewe.

To give some perspective about the costs we're talking about here, the first 6.6 miles north out of London is projected to cost £8.25 billion. That's £1.25 billion per mile. You could fully fund the reopening of Carmarthen to Aberystwyth railway line, electrify Cardiff to Swansea, reopen the Gaerwen to Amlwch rail line in my constituency for the cost of a single mile there of HS2, and still have enough change left for a lifetime of sandwiches, no doubt, on a new Transport for Wales buffet trolley.

Now, the Welsh Government has supported the project in the past, despite you yourself quoting the UK Government study that shows a loss of economic activity, in the south, in particular, but that's for the whole of Wales, remember. Can you name another Government that would willingly support a project, knowing that it's costing its own economy and that it'll damage that economy for the long term?