Senior Labour MS calls for UK Government to rectify HS2 injustices

Emily Price

A senior Labour MS has called for the UK Government to rectify injustices over HS2 funding for Wales and reclassify the rail scheme as an England only project.

The high speed rail line was classified as an England and Wales scheme by the previous Conservative UK government despite it not crossing the border.

The classification meant no consequential cash was released to Wales by the Treasury using the controversial Barnett formula.

This is usually determined based on whether the UK Government increases or decreases funding for departments that cover devolved areas.

‘Whim’

Former Counsel General Mick Antoniw told Nation.Cymru: “The reason HS2 funding is important is because it is part of that constitutional financial structure.

“It is not a whim, something the UK government can give or take at its discretion or fancy  – it is a constitutional commitment that needs to be formally recognised.

“There is a need to respond as a UK Government by rectifying the breach. I can fully understand an incoming UK Labour Government, which has undoubtedly inherited and appalling economic mess, saying we have to draw a line somewhere on past abuses in order to move forward. If so they should say this.”

Amount

With a Labour Governments now at both ends of the M4, fresh questions have been raised about whether Wales will ever receive the money it is owed.

It was previously calculated that Wales has missed out on around £4bn from HS2, but more recently the Welsh Government estimated the figure to be £350m.

We asked Mr Antoniw how much he thought Wales was owed for HS2 – but he said the question of the funding was about “much more” than just the amount.

He said: “Essentially it is about the integrity of the funding formula for the distribution of wealth around the UK.

“Barnett is clearly outdated, but it is still an important mechanism until such time as it is replaced with an updated needs based formula.

“It is also not an England to Wales formula but one for the regions of England also who benefit from it.”

Wales former chief legal advisor says the idea that England is subsidising Wales is a “rather cynical nuance” that shouldn’t be promoted “so heavily”.

He said: “We are part of the UK as a devolved government, as is Scotland and Northern Ireland but also as are the large regions of England which have their own forms of devolved local government which benefit from the formula also.

“It is part of the glue that keeps the United Kingdom together and gives purpose to its continuance.”

The Welsh Government has been accused of changing its expectation of HS2 consequential payments after Labour won the General Election.

Minister’s in Cardiff Bay say the new estimation – in the millions instead of billions – reflects the amount already “spent and committed” to the project.

‘Cheated’

Mr Antoniw says there is an urgent need for recognition that the previous Tory Government “cheated Wales” out of the funding it was entitled to.

He said: “This funding would make an enormous difference to the development of our Transport infrastructure in Wales.

“An infrastructure that the Tories starved of funding prior to its devolution prior and subsequent to the Wales Act 2017.

“What is really important for the future is that HS2 is formally recognised as and England project, and that there is a commitment to ensuring that Wales as with Scotland and Northern Ireland gets its fair share of funding.

“Of course I want the past to be compensated and hope UK Government will recognised its responsibilities here, but equally it is important that we restore constitutional integrity and honesty to the future funding arrangements as we go forward.”

‘Bigger prize’

In the Senedd on Wednesday (October 16), Cabinet Secretary for Transport Ken Skates said that focusing purely on the £350m figure for HS2 “risks losing the bigger prize”.

He promised a “pipeline of enhancements” that could amount to much more.

Speaking in the Chamber, Mr Skates said: “And I am absolutely focused on developing a mutually-agreed pipeline of enhancements through the Wales board, to ensure that we get improvements right across Wales in rail infrastructure.

“We’ll be meeting, I’m pleased to say, next month, as a Wales rail board. Ministers from UK Government, and I, will be agreeing on that pipeline of enhancements and then once we get legislation through at Westminster, we will see the creation of Great British Railways.

“And through Great British Railways, and the Wales unit that will be right at the heart of that organisation, we will have control over the funding of enhancements to the Wales network.”