Tories and Labour row over which has been more generous to Wales over rail funding
Martin Shipton
Shadow Welsh Secretary Mims Davies has claimed that figures released by the Department of Transport prove the last Tory government was more generous to Wales in terms of rail funding than the current UK Labour administration.
The claim is disputed by Secretary of State for Wales Jo Stevens.
Transport Minister Simon Lightwood told Ms Davies in response to a written question: “The table below shows the UK Government funded expenditure on operations, maintenance, renewal and enhancement of railways in Wales for each financial year, noting that we do not have data for the financial year 2010/2011. Spending on railways in Wales by the Welsh Government, including continuing subsidy for rail services operated by Transport for Wales is not included, nor is payment made by the Department in respect of services that Transport for Wales operates wholly within England.”
The total came to more than £5.4bn.
‘Reality check’
Addressing Ms Stevens during Welsh Questions, Ms Davies said: “Let us have another reality check. Information provided to us by the Department for Transport confirms that Conservative expenditure on Welsh rail exceeded £5bn over our time in office, underpinned by our plans to deliver the north Wales main line. Yet in a January sitting of the Welsh Affairs Committee, the Welsh Secretary roundly criticised Welsh rail before claiming: ‘That is a direct consequence, I am afraid, of the last 14 years of underfunding’.
“As usual, this government’s words and beliefs and the reality are poles apart. This Labour government is now offering peanuts – just a miserable £400m over an entire decade. Will the Secretary of State retract her past claims to the Welsh Affairs Committee and the similar ones that have been made on the Wales Office government social media accounts?”
We asked the Wales Office for a further explanation.
£445 million
A UK Government spokesperson said: “The UK Government has secured at least £445m investment into Welsh rail infrastructure upgrades, with the vast majority of this funding to be spent within the Spending Review period. This investment will mean new stations and more and faster trains on the key lines across North and South Wales.
“This figure is in addition to money spent on the routine operational management of rail in Wales. Since electrification was completed in 2020, there has been little investment in the enhancement of infrastructure in Wales.”
The spokesperson provided further background information:
The £445m investment does not include routine operational and management expenditure which is included in the figures provided i[to Ms Davies] in the written Parliamentary answer on July 8 2025.
Investment over the last decade was primarily focused on electrification of the Great Western Mainline, including the Severn Tunnel.
The government will address this with at least £445m of spending, front-loaded to support delivery of Wales’ priorities for rail infrastructure during this next spending review period.
We are delivering the maximum number of projects the sector can deliver in the next few years.
The vast majority of this investment will be spent in this SR period, with a small amount included in the Infrastructure Strategy to help development of the next set of projects.
Through the Wales Rail Board, we will work in collaboration with the Welsh Government to agree and develop future rail service improvements, delivering a sustainable pipeline of investment.
‘Re-write’
A Labour source said: “The Tories are desperately attempting to re-write their record before the Welsh public votes them out of existence next May.
“They short changed Welsh rail for years, barely spending a penny on enhancements in the last Parliament. Instead they made unfunded promises to electrify the North Wales Main Line despite knowing they had no intention to pay for it.”
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They are both sh*t. Neither gives a toss about Cymru and the quicker they are both evicted from power the better for our country.
So we got more money with a government where the PM hardly ever, maybe never, spoke to our FM than with a government where they both speak but hatdly any money is coming over. Weird. So good communication is not actually beneficial for Wales.
As there is indisputable evidence that the poorest home nation Wales gets peanuts for rail infrastructure compared to England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and even Manchester this Tory/Labour row is quite infantile. With regards to prosperity and well-being, there is a very clear pecking order amongst the UK nations with Wales always at the bottom by some distance and England way out on top. With England having a massive majority of MPs (84%) this is destined to continue in perpetuity. There is only one way out of this stranglehold is independence for Wales.
The Tories and Labour are every bit as bad as each other. Neither can give a toss about Wales. Vote Plaid Cymru in 2026.
“The table below shows the UK Government funded expenditure on operations, maintenance, renewal and enhancement of railways in Wales”
I’d like to know how they calculate this. Does it include spending on tracks and stations in England that TfW services use? Does it include any contribution to electrification between Bristol and London? Does it include any apportioned HS2 spending?
Our railways have been underfunded for decades, proven by Westminster government figures, and also by independent reports, and now this pair argue who has managed this failure the best. When London parties fight for recognition and ownership of this failure it says we must extricate our nation from this cycle asap. Only an independent state with control of our finances can solve this problem.
Typical behavior from both parties. Rather than working to show any kind of solution, they change it to a political football.
Time to put both labour and the Tories in the history books for good.
Which workhouse bailiffs were most generous with the crusts when Wales asked for more?