Wales robbed again: time to stand up or shut up
Owen Williams
Wales is not a priority in this so-called “United” Kingdom. It never has been, and it never will be.
The latest insult – another in a long, grinding list of betrayals – is the Oxford-Cambridge rail link being classed as an “England and Wales” project.
A £5 billion scheme, pouring investment into the economic engines of England, yet once again, it’s counted as if it benefits Wales. This is HS2 all over again. Remember that fiasco? Billions spent on a railway Wales wouldn’t see, wouldn’t use, and wouldn’t benefit from – yet it was classified as an “England and Wales” project, depriving Wales of its fair share of funding.
Consequentials
Here’s why that matters: Under the UK’s funding rules – known as Barnett consequentials – when the UK Government spends on projects in England, Wales gets a proportionate slice of the funding. But if a project is classified as “England and Wales,” Wales is locked out.
We get no extra funding, even if the project is entirely based in England. It’s a sleight of hand that robs Wales of billions. Now it’s happening again. And here’s the kicker: we’ve got Labour governments at both ends of the M4 – Cardiff Bay and Westminster. And yet, this still happens.
What does that tell us? It tells us that no matter which colour rosette they wear, no matter how many times they talk about “fairness” or “devolution” or “respect for Wales,” the machinery of the British state will never prioritise the interests of our people.
Footnote
We are a constitutional afterthought, a footnote on a spreadsheet in Whitehall. And here’s the question we must all confront: how much more of this do we take? How many more times do we let projects like HS2 and the Oxford-Cambridge line siphon resources from Wales while we struggle for basic infrastructure funding?
How many more times do we let decisions about our nation’s future be made in rooms where Wales doesn’t even have a seat, let alone a voice?
It’s not about trains. It’s not even just about money. It’s about the fundamental principle of self-determination.
If we are to be a nation, we must have the power to make decisions for our nation.
The time has long passed for asking politely. It’s time for Wales to take control of its own destiny – not as a junior partner in a failing union, but as an independent country, able to decide what is best for its people, its economy, and its future.
Because if we don’t, we’ll be having this conversation again. And again. And again.
How much more of this do we take?
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Thank you for picking up and featuring this.
Zero coverage in the London based media of the slight of hand in depriving Wales of fair funding yet again, plenty of coverage of how wonderful it will be for development of the so-called “silicon fen.”
Remember
this come the Assembly elections.It will be interesting watching the baroness squirm out of this one. She should be confronted and questioned at every opportunity until she resigns
V Gething and L Waters should take this brief on between them…
Where was Liz and Llinos?
I will be expecting Plaid Cymru to make the most of this. Now is their chance to let those wales voters who vote Labour because they always have done wake up and see how Labour really look after us here.
Posturing from all sides. Welsh Labour declined the devolution of rail infrastructure in 2005 and the then Deputy FM declared himself content with the arrangement in 2009 – one Ieuan Wyn Jones.
There’s most painful lesson from this sorry chapter of history is not for the devolutionists but for those trying to argue that everything would be better with Whitehall in charge.
The painful lesson for me is the necessity of a devolved administration taking responsibility and long term decisions in the interests of Wales by applying some foresight. They didn’t -and spending 15-20 years complaining about the outcome of your own choice is no substitute. This is however absurd the “England and Wales” definition may be.
If the argument is for more and better devolution rather than reinstating Whitehall control then I agree.
Yes, it’s about ambition and managed risk – not tinkering with the status quo. Rail is not the only area either, far from it.
It’s hard to believe that some still cling to an idea that life would be better with Westminster in charge. Indeed rail is but one example of how untrue that is. Who knows what motivates those who continue to take this line.
What motivates those is the lack of tangible improvements since 1999.
Here are two tangible improvements. Wales is no longer the poorest part of the UK and child poverty is now at the UK average.
https://www.business-live.co.uk/opinion-analysis/wales-no-longer-poorest-part-17465667
It’s baffling that some would prefer Wales to return to the bottom of the UK table in those metrics.
Sorry, I don’t regard being second bottom – rather than bottom – of a table as a tangible improvement. And I thought child poverty was to be eradicated in Wales by 2020?
I refer to the Tom Nairn thesis once more – economic inequality breaks up states. Successive UK governments appear cloth-eared on this matter. If you centralise wealth and power at the expense of the rest then you forment the so-called “seperatism” you decry. When will they wake up and realise what people want is a functional democracy and fair play? Plaid and SNP are a consequence of UK state failure. Keep it up and the break up of Britain will only accelerate.
Even UK Labour doesn’t take the Welsh Government or Welsh Labour seriously. If we had any political talent and nous in Wales then they simply wouldn’t dare to do something like this. They continue to laugh at us and who can blame them? Where is Eluned (or anyone) to actually call this out? Nowhere. As always. 25 years of ineptitude.
Why would central Labour Party in London want to be associated with Welsh Labour. It was clear leading up to the election Labour wanted NOTHING to do with Wales and Welsh Labour in parliament they would not comment on anything to do with Wales. During the election they did not mention wales in anything why ? It was because of the history of Welsh Labour Party and how poor wales was after 25 years
Well then why does UK Labour continue to endorse Welsh Labour in every Senedd election since devolution? Since Welsh Labour is subservient to UK Labour why doesn’t UK Labour intervene by sacking those in charge of Welsh Labour if they believe that they are so bad? You can’t punish Wales for the internal squabbling of the Labour Party.
If this Labour slur doesn’t open Welsh voters eyes I don’t know what will? Where are our so-called Wales Labour MPs at Westminster I ask? You know. The ones paid £91k for representing our local and national interests. I’ll tell you. Bloody knowhere! Too busy aiding England , self hating , and screwing the Welsh public purse. I find the only ones criticising this outrageous decision are Plaid Cymru , Lib Dems and Trade Unions. This decision as with HS2 is indefensible. All we hear is BS from the likes of self-serving Welsh Office Minister Jo Stevens, who along with… Read more »
What you say is probably right but we know that in reality we will wring our hands and feel hard done by but things will carry on because a lot of people are frightened of the thought of nationalism. We need a government that stands up for wales and becomes a pain in the backside for the uk government. There isn’t a real opposition to Starmer and his gang. Our MPs in Westminster should be making a noise and asking the right questions. Once people see that Wales have politicians worth their salary perhaps then independence will be acceptable to… Read more »
It was Drakeford who rejected the M4 relief road, and had Boris gone ahead with his pledge he would have undermined devolution settlement even more than he already had done. But yeah I agree neither party in Westminster give 2 sh*ts about Wales. When they are in opposition they play the ‘standing up for Wales card’ but change their tune when in power.
Yes, he rejected the money because the Senedd were being told it had to be for the M4 relief road.
The Senedd is responsible for road infrastructure so this demand would have been an undermining of the devolution agreement as you say Rob.
When, at least as originally envisaged, HS2 was to be constructed right up into England’s north-west, there was at least a vestige of justification for deeming it an ‘England and Wales scheme’, given that Crewe is a pretty short hop – always non-stop since Beeching – to Chester whence the north Wales coastal railway line heads westward.
But Oxford?! It’s far distant from and way outside Wales; indeed with no rail access into Wales without a change of trains at Hereford. This is a shameless and cynical ‘con’.