Tory councillor calls for end to rail ‘injustice’
A WELSH Conservative councillor has broken ranks with his party and called for Wales to get extra rail funding because of the multi-billions investment on the HS2 project in England.
Despite the route not entering Wales, HS2 has been classified as an “England and Wales” scheme, meaning that Wales is not entitled to UK Government funding that could amount to £5bn.
Joel Williams, a Cardiff Tory councillor who is a former runner-up on Big Brother and who last month qualified as a barrister, tweeted: “Whatever your views on HS2 the project will see £10’s billions of UK taxpayer money spent on rail improvements in England. It’s vital (and only fair) Wales receives its fair share of funding to improve our outdated railways.”
We asked the Senedd Conservative group, which is the official opposition, where it stood on the issue.
A Welsh Conservative spokesman in the Senedd responded: “Last month, the Chancellor delivered a budget that included the largest block grant for Wales since the start of devolution, which comes after delivering billions and billions of pounds of support for Welsh families and businesses during the pandemic.
“Moving forward, Rishi Sunak has announced an extra £2.5bn per year on average for Wales through the Welsh Government via the Barnett formula over the Spending Review period, on top of its annual baseline funding of £15.9bn.
“The Welsh Government’s budget is also benefiting from Department for Transport (DfT) spending on HS2 as at Spending Reviews and Spending Rounds the Barnett Formula is applied at departmental level rather than programme level.
“For example, at Spending Review 15, the UK Government applied a Wales comparability factor of 81% to all changes in DfT spending, rather than 100% changes in devolved areas and 0% changes in reserved areas like HS2.
“As a result, over £750m of the £900m increase in the Welsh Government’s capital budgets at Spending Review 15 (for 16-17 to 20-21) was generated by increases in DfT capital spending (and over 60% of the £750m was due to HS2).
“Rail passengers in North Wales will benefit from HS2 connections at Crewe, providing shorter journey times to London as well as improved cross-country journey times to cities such as Cardiff and Leeds.
“South Wales’ passengers are already experiencing real improvement thanks to our new Intercity Express trains, which provided additional weekday seats between South Wales and London, and SuperFast services that have brought the journey time between Cardiff and Paddington down to 1 hour 42 minutes.
“HS2 is a vital infrastructure investment that will deliver growth across the UK and into North Wales and support businesses, promote regeneration, boost skills and generate new jobs for people across the region.
“The fiscal framework also agreed between the UK Government and Welsh Government ensures that for every £1 spent in areas such as health and education in England, Wales receives £1.20, as the Conservative Government continues to deliver for people and communities across Wales.
“It’s now time the Labour-Plaid Cymru coalition [sic] in Cardiff Bay used this substantial funding to improve the Welsh economy, infrastructure and public services after 22 years of managed decline by parties of the left in Cardiff Bay.”
A UK Government spokesperson said: “HS2 will provide faster and more frequent train services to North Wales.
“The HS2 Interchange at Crewe will bring many parts of North Wales within two and a quarter hours of London, faster than the current West Coast Main Line services to Holyhead.”