North Wales MSs press Finance Minister on rail investment gap at Senedd
Wales is losing £850 million in rail funding during the current UK spending review period because the UK Treasury has classified HS2 as an England and Wales project, the Senedd heard on Tuesday — money that the Finance Minister said could have been spent on rail investment in Flint and Wrexham.
The figure came up during Finance questions at the Senedd in Cardiff on 24 June, when Nigel Williams MS, who represents Fflint Wrecsam for Reform UK, challenged Cabinet Minister for Finance Elin Jones on whether securing a fairer funding formula would make any practical difference to communities in the north-east of Wales.
Mr Williams told the Senedd: “People in areas such as my constituency of Fflint Wrecsam will be wondering what difference that actually makes to their daily lives. After more than a quarter of a century of Labour-led government in Wales, often sustained by Plaid Cymru, many communities in the north-east of Wales still feel they have been left behind, with underinvestment in transport links, infrastructure and economic regeneration.”
Ms Jones responded directly, pointing to the HS2 classification as the source of the shortfall.
She said: “The difference for people in Flint and Wrexham that would be made by a fair funding settlement, by having that £850 million short-changed currently from the current spending review that I spoke of because of the classification, the wrong classification, of HS2 by the UK Treasury, that would actually have allowed the previous Government, as well as this Government, to be spending on that exact rail investment that you asked for in Flint and Wrexham.”
Ms Jones confirmed she had raised the issue with the UK Chief Secretary to the Treasury the previous week. She said Wales needed an end to what the Wales Governance Centre has called the Treasury acting as “judge, jury and executioner” when funding disputes arise, adding that there is no independent mechanism to resolve such disagreements.
Ms Jones noted that HS2 does not include a single piece of track in Wales, despite the Treasury’s classification of it as an England and Wales project.
Becca Martin MS, who represents Clwyd for Plaid Cymru, also raised the issue in the same session, specifically linking the funding shortfall to rail disruption caused by flooding and severe weather across north Wales this week. Ms Martin asked Ms Jones to commit to intensifying discussions with the UK Government.
Ms Jones said: “I can certainly commit to intensifying those discussions. I hope that the UK Government can also commit to that level of intensity of discussions that we need to have. We need to reach a place between the UK Government and the Welsh Government where we are not constantly having to discuss whether a funding allocation is fair or not.”
She added that at least four or five parties in the Senedd agree the current position represents an underfunding of Wales, and said that cross-party leverage should be used to press the UK Government.
Marc Jones MS, Plaid Cymru’s MS for Fflint Wrecsam, also raised the Barnett formula in the session, citing a Wales Governance Centre report which found that Wales’s relative spending is higher for devolved services such as health and education than for reserved services such as rail infrastructure and justice, where spending falls below a population-based share.
Ms Jones did not set out a timetable for resolving the classification dispute or confirm what additional rail funding Wales expects to receive as a result of the discussions.
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