Welsh Government accused of ‘waving the white flag’ on missing HS2 billions

Plaid Cymru has accused the Welsh Government of abandoning the fight to secure billions of pounds for Wales from the UK Government’s HS2 rail project.

The accusation comes ahead of a Plaid Cymru debate in the Senedd next week which calls on Welsh ministers to support the re-designation of HS2 as an England-only project.

The party will also call on the government to write to UK ministers to demand the full consequential funding from the 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.

Refused to budge

The new Labour UK Government has also refused to budge from this position, while the Welsh Government has been accused of changing its expectation of HS2 consequential payments after Labour won the General Election.

The England and Wales classification means no consequential cash has been 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.

It was previously calculated that Wales has missed out on around £4bn of funding from the scheme.

Once Labour came to power in Westminster, the Welsh Government calculated that Wales was missing out on around £350m in funding.

But the Cabinet Secretary for Finance Mark Drakeford has recently produced detailed workings-out that show Wales has been robbed of £431m so far.

Mr Drakeford says it is “highly likely that the estimate will increase again once settlements are announced for the next few years in the UK Government’s Spending review on June 11 this year.”

Redesignated

Plaid Cymru’s motion on rail infrastructure, to be debated in the Senedd on Wednesday (12 March) calls for HS2 to be to re-designated as an England-only project and for Wales to get the funding it is owed.

A Labour amendment deleted this and instead welcomes “that the UK Government has acknowledged the historic low levels of spending on railways in Wales; and the endorsement by the UK Government of a pipeline of rail enhancement priorities identified by the Wales Rail Board.”

Plaid Cymru spokesperson for transport, Peredur Owen Griffiths MS said: “This is an amendment straight from UK Labour HQ if I’ve ever seen one. This Labour Welsh Government are now firmly in the pockets of their UK colleagues, willing to abandon any sense of justice for Wales to appease Kier Starmer.

“Our motion demanded that the Government ask for HS2 consequentials. Labour deleted that call, and what used to be the government and Welsh Labour’s policy. They are rowing back on Government policy, at the expense of what is owed to Wales, and waving the white flag on Wales’ missing £4BN.”