Parties clash over Wales’ share of £80bn HS2 cash
AHUGE new row has erupted over the funding of the HS2 London to the north of England rail project, with Plaid Cymru claiming Wales will miss out on a share of £80bn.
According to Plaid Treasury spokesman Jonathan Edwards, the Welsh Government has done nothing over the last three years to secure cash for Wales from the Treasury, following spending on the project in England.
But a spokesman for First Minister Carwyn Jones said Plaid was badly mistaken, and that Wales would benefit from extra overall funding allocated to the Depart- ment for Transport. Earlier this year Mr Edwards wrote to the First Ministers of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland asking them to consider opposing the HS2 project if the devolved nations did not all receive financial compensation.
In his letter of response on June 2, 2015, Mr Jones said the Welsh Government had “made representations to the UK Treasury previously about High Speed Rail funding.”
The First Minister concluded that his government would “continue to press Wales’ case on this issue of High Speed Rail... aiming to ensure that all parts of the UK receive full consequentials arising from decisions about High Speed Rail.”
But Mr Edwards claimed a series of Parliamentary questions and a Freedom of Information response revealed that the Welsh Government had made no formal representations to any UK Government Minister or Department over the last three years.
The Plaid MP said: “In the Assembly chamber, in television interviews and in newspaper articles Labour’s elected members and spokespeople from Wales are mis- leading the public over their support for our nation getting a fair share of this enormous rail investment project in England.
“It’s bad enough that Labour MPs from Wales supported the project despite being fully aware that it will suck hundreds of millions of pounds out of the Welsh economy each and every year. Now, however, the First Minister and his party have been exposed as having done nothing to back up their rhetoric.
“Indeed, I would say that the First Minister, including in his letter to me, has tried to pull the wool over our
eyes. With every week that passes more and more people recognise that there will be a huge injustice unless Wales gets fairness from HS2.
“The reality is that the Labour Party supports HS2 and the Welsh branch office will always put the interests of the Labour party before the interests of Wales.”
Last week Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin told Mr Edwards that Wales would benefit from HS2, but avoided answering a direct question from the Plaid MP, who wanted to know why Wales was being unfairly treated in relation to HS2 expenditure.
According to the UK Government’s statement of funding policy, Scotland and Northern Ireland will receive 100% ‘Barnett consequentials’ as a result of the cash being spent on HS2, while Wales will receive 0%.
Under the Barnett Formula, which determines how much Treasury money is allocated to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ire- land, the three smaller nations are meant to get compensated for cash spent on England-only projects.
However, since spending on rail projects is not devolved to Wales, the Welsh Government is not entitled to ‘Barnett consequential’ funding in the same way as Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Mr McLoughlin told Mr Edwards: “I believe that Wales will benefit from what I have announced today, because it will be very important to the North Wales economy.”
Speaking after his question, Mr Edwards said: “The way HS2 has been handled stinks. An independent report says the Welsh economy will lose over £200m a year, yet Labour and Tory politicians are blissfully content to see a generation’s worth of transport investment swallowed up, with our nation paying for transport improvements in English cities, and then have the audacity to tell us we should be grateful.
“The First Minister, his government and the Labour Party in Wales have done nothing more to secure funds from HS2 than issue a press release over three years ago.”
A spokesman for First Minister Carwyn Jones responded: “Plaid Cymru have fallen asleep on this issue – they are way behind the curve.
“Their propensity for getting things wrong on funding just shows they can’t be trusted with the Welsh economy. These particular claims are, again, nonsense.
“Welsh Ministers have made representations to the UK Government to ensure Wales gets its fair share of additional funding as a result of HS2. As a result, Wales will receive a Barnett consequential of more than £755m over the next five years because of increased UK Department for Transport budgets.
“However, we have long been of the view that the Barnett Formula does Wales no favours and have repeatedly called for fair funding.
“We welcome the UK Government’s commitment to a ‘funding floor’ to deliver fair funding for Wales as part of the Spending Review, and await the details.”