Diolch yn fawr i chi am yr ymateb yna. Yn naturiol, bu tipyn o gynnwrf ddoe yn sgil sylwadau’r Ysgrifennydd Gwladol dros Drafnidiaeth, Chris Grayling, a oedd yn gwbl glir na fyddai rheolaeth lwyr o’r fasnachfraint yn cael ei datganoli i Lywodraeth Cymru. Mae hyn yn gyfan gwbl groes i beth rydym wedi dod i ddeall oedd eich sefyllfa chi gan eich Llywodraeth chi, a hefyd gan Lywodraeth San Steffan cyn nawr. Nid ydym ni’n sôn am gyfrifoldeb cyfreithiol yn unig. Roedd e’n sôn am fwy na hynny. Roedd hefyd yn sôn am reolaeth dydd i ddydd ddoe. Dywedodd yr Ysgrifennydd Gwladol yn glir, ac rydw i’n dyfynnu,

‘we are not devolving responsibility for the whole Welsh franchise…we are doing so in part. I have said to the Welsh Government that I am happy with their taking control of the valleys lines, with a view to developing the metro system that they hope to put into service’.

Now, these comments clearly point to the partial devolution of responsibility of the Wales and borders franchise and not the full devolution, in direct contradiction to assurances given by the Secretary of State for Wales and the Welsh Government on previous occasion. It is worth emphasising the word ‘partial’ here as, if the Secretary of State’s comments are correct, this is a significantly smaller devolution deal than anyone had hitherto imagined. The Cabinet Secretary might care to elaborate further on the discussions his Government have had with the UK transport Secretary regarding the devolution of the franchise. For example, will the franchise map remain, as was promised, the same, or will the Welsh Government inherit a rump franchise? In an answer to a written question of mine of October 11, you stated that you expected, and I quote;

‘the next…franchise to be broadly unchanged.’

If, as the transport Secretary stated yesterday, and, again, I quote:

‘We cannot have a situation where we, the Government in Westminster, give up control over services in England to the Welsh Government’, what does that mean for current cross-border services? Who will be responsible for overseeing the operation of these services—the Welsh Government or the Department for Transport? Or will they be split at the border? What does this mean for rail services between north and south Wales that have to travel through England? Now, these are important questions that need to be answered if we are to have any clarity as to the future of the franchise. The Siambr will be aware, of course, that a procurement process for the next franchise is well under way, with four train operating companies having been shortlisted in October.

Cabinet Secretary, I hope that you will be able to convince me, in your response, that the Welsh Government knows what is happening. Do the train operating companies also know what they are bidding for now? Because, to be honest, whether it’s plain politics or plain incompetence, the current mismanagement of this process demonstrates that Wales is being failed once again by Governments at both ends of the M4. Your party in Westminster failed to secure the devolution of the responsibility over the rail network to Wales as part of the Wales Bill, and now your Government seem to be failing in securing the devolution of the full Wales and borders franchise. This is threatening to become somewhat of a shambles. So, I ask you: is this the product of incompetence on the part of the Westminster Government and Welsh Labour, or is this a serious roll-back on one of the key pillars of the next round of devolution to Wales?