Plaid slams UK Govt and Labour for ‘robbing Wales of £5bn’ HS2 funding
Plaid Cymru have slammed the UK Government for denying Wales of £5bn in rail funding and criticised Labour leader Kier Starmer for refusing to commit to rectifying the situation.
Plaid Cymru’s Westminster leader Liz Saville Roberts, said in the House of Commons that if Wales were to receive consequential funding through the Barnett formula for England’s HS2 project, as is the case for Scotland and Northern Ireland, Wales would have already received £1 billion.
She urged the UK Government to release the £1 billion in tomorrow’s Budget and to commit to delivering the £5 billion Wales is entitled to over the project’s lifetime.
In the Senedd, Plaid Cymru leader, Adam Price, criticised the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, for refusing to commit to rectifying the Tories’ decision were he elected as Prime Minister.
The First Minister Mark Drakeford has supported Plaid Cymru calls for the high-speed rail project to be reclassified an ‘England-only’ project.
However, Keir Starmer has refused to agree with the First Minister, telling WalesOnline last weekend that that he “is not going to make a commitment like that this side of the election”.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Liz Saville Roberts MP said: “Not a single inch of HS2 track will be laid in Wales, yet it’s considered an ‘England-and Wales’ project. This denies Wales any investment in return.
“The £20 billion already spent on the biggest white elephant in the Tory circus should have resulted in a £1 billion investment in Wales’s gutted railways.
“Will the UK Government therefore guarantee that Wales receives that £1bn now and the £5 billion we are owed over the project’s lifetime?”
Investment
Huw Merriman responded that he represents the “good people of East Sussex, and not a single mile of track is being laid in East Sussex either”.
During First Minister’s Questions in the Senedd, Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price asked the First Minister whether a future Labour administration would rectify the Tories’ decision.
The First Minister reiterated that his position is to reclassify HS2 as England-only but failed to confirm the position of a future Labour Government in Westminster.
Speaking after First Minister’s Questions, Adam Price MS said: “UK Labour and Keir Starmer have not committed to reclassify HS2 as an England only project, robbing Wales of £5 billion that could transform our crumbling public transport infrastructure.
“Labour in Wales need to be honest about the fact that, even in the event of a Labour administration in Westminster, Wales will continue to be denied our fair share.
“This is part of a wider pattern emerging. Under Starmer’s Labour, Wales is not going to be better offer whether it comes to transport, infrastructure investment not in terms of having more powers to enable us to determine our own destiny.
“That the Labour Welsh Government refuse to commit to calling on a future Labour administration to rectify that disgraceful decision is disappointing to say the least.”
Support our Nation today
For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.
I still can’t understand why we are not outraged that only Wales is denied HS2 consequential where both Scotland & Northern Ireland will receive billions over the project’s lifetime? England as usual gets the three lionshare of infrastructure build where we are forever the poor relation in this false United Kingdom.
That’s because most Welsh people can’t be bothered with what’s going on. Shame on them. No balls, no fight.
Some of the thickest people in the country have law degrees! I should know…
Liz don’t give up, you are our ‘trump’ card…
Mr Drakeford tell me honestly who do you side with Clark Kent or L S R ?
So denying Cymru money for HS2 to me and giving money to Scotland and Northern Ireland is in my mind a racist move and its like they are trying to say is not a country for saying the lie its for England and Wales when it does not come at its nearest 50 miles there are people who are Welsh who would like to see Cymru as a county of England what i would call Traitors and Quisling
Mick Antoniw, a few words from you would not go amiss…
Conclusive proof that Keir Starmer”s Labour Party is no better than the Tories. Neither party gives two hoots about Wales.
Sadly, the majority of the Welsh electorate are – to a large extent – responsible for this sad state of affairs, as they continue to insist on voting for the two main Unionist parties. What incentive is there for Labour and the Tories to work hard to win your vote when most people are happy to do so irrespective of how poorly they treat us!!??
I hope that Liz was able to explain it to Huw Merriman that East Sussex was in fact in England and not a separate country. I realise that a law degree contains no useful information for navigating one through life or indeed through one’s own country. As I’m sure Mr Raab would testify…
A little taster for the morning, the No 10 directions to the ‘Boris’ Broadcasting Corporation over Covid via the BBC’s Millbank studio is where the beeb’s on/off, volume and tone controls are kept. I wrote some time ago about how Fat Shank’s reading up on Churchill for the book no one I know has ever seen, exposed the doings of Chamberlain’s secret back room where his resident ex spook performed his dirty tricks. Fat Shanks took notes, consulted with Steve Bannon and others, created his own sofa government as Blair did and Stalin before them, (the book about Stalin’s sofa… Read more »