Wales must oppose rail-funds outrage
WELL they have done it again. The UK Government has designated yet another major rail development that is based solely in England as an “England and Wales” project.
This administrative sleight of hand is likely to rob Wales of at least £1bn – though it could be more – and comes alongside the billions of pounds that we should have received, but didn’t, from the HS2 project.
We should never forget how transformative that money could be for Wales, which has comfortably the worst and least-developed rail network out of any of the UK nations.
We could fund all of the South Wales Metro, the Swansea Metro, connect Aberystwyth with Swansea – without having to travel around the houses via England – and revolutionise trains in north Wales and perhaps even have a bit of cash left over if we were to receive what we are owed.
At least in the case of HS2 there was a small, well, minuscule, argument that it did improve travel times for people travelling from north Wales to London via Crewe (though it actually hurt the south Wales economy).
But in the case of Northern Powerhouse Rail there is simply no justification. How does it benefit people in Wales to have more connected cities in the north of England? Of course, people from north Wales do travel to cities like Leeds, but to suggest the benefits to Wales will offset the £1bn of funding it should have received beggars belief.
All the more scandalous is that the Treasury could not cite any actual benefits to Wales from the scheme. Can you imagine them pulling such a stunt against Scotland? (Yes, rail is devolved there but we are talking hypothetically here.) Of course you can’t.
The scandal and outrage it would prompt (let alone the fact it would be red meat to nationalists) would prevent this happening in Scotland.
Make no mistake, Wales is being really cheated when it comes to rail funding.
We must not take it lying down. Better transport is a key way to improve Wales’ economic prospects and tackle the issues that blight our great nation, such as poverty.
We must not allow ourselves to fall further behind on this because it is expedient for the Treasury to pretend that getting from Manchester to Leeds quicker helps Wales. It does not.