Mark Drakeford withdraws claim rail staff moved to England

The first minister has withdrawn a claim he made in the Senedd that rail staff were moved from Wales during last week's rail strikes.

Last week Mr Drakeford accused Network Rail of moving staff to help services in England.

But, at the start of proceedings on Tuesday, Mr Drakeford said Network Rail had confirmed it did not happen.

The Tories had accused him of misleading the Senedd over the point.

Mr Drakeford said he was happy for the Senedd's record to reflect the information.

Last week Mr Drakeford told the Welsh Parliament: "Network Rail have removed some of the staff, who could have been available to make trains run in Wales, in order to keep trains running in England."

Opening Tuesday's session, Mr Drakeford told the Senedd chamber that "Network Rail has since shared further details about their actions during the strike. They confirmed that no staff had been relocated from Wales".

Despite a Network Rail denial the Welsh government initially stuck by the claim, saying contingent signallers had been prioritised for England.

But Michelle Handforth, managing director of Network Wales in the Wales and Western region, told Mr Drakeford in a letter that no one in the "Wales route team" had been redeployed during the recent industrial action, "and this will remain the case".

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Earlier this year the first minister corrected the Senedd's record following Tory complaints that he referred to a "food poverty round table" as a "food summit", although he said the case for the correction was "marginal".

A spokesman for Welsh Tory Senedd leader Andrew RT Davies said: "Sorry did seem to be the hardest word today for a first minister who told the Senedd something that wasn't true for the purpose of stoking division. "We hope the first minister won't make a habit of seriously misspeaking in the Senedd, having now done it on more than one occasion in recent weeks."