Nick Smith
Main Page: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)Department Debates - View all Nick Smith's debates with the Wales Office
(9 years, 5 months ago)
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Alun Cairns
The shadow Secretary of State has clearly got his facts wrong. The long-term economic plan is working for Wales. If there has been a reduction in tax receipts from Wales, it is because of our increase in the personal allowance, under which next year the average worker will pay less than £800 as a result, taking 155,000 people in Wales out of income tax altogether by next April.
Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)
8. What discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Transport on when the electrification of the valleys railway line will be completed.
The Secretary of State for Wales (Stephen Crabb)
When I became Secretary of State, I made resolving the dispute over funding for the electrification project my No. 1 priority. I have had many discussions with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport in recent weeks, and I am delighted that we have settled a deal between the Department for Transport and the Welsh Government to deliver that important project.
Nick Smith
Has the Secretary of State considered improving the frequency of trains after electrification? Two or three trains an hour on the valleys line to Cardiff would be a massive boost to my constituents in Ebbw Vale, Llanhillith and the surrounding valley towns.
Stephen Crabb
The hon. Gentleman makes an important point. There are frequency issues on those lines, but he must recognise that decisions on the frequency of services will need to be taken by Welsh Ministers, because we are devolving the franchise to the Welsh Government as part of the electrification deal.