HS2The First Minister has welcomed the UK Government’s acknowledgment that spending to improve Wales’ railways has been at “low levels” in recent years.
Alonde Morgan said the statement, made in a letter from Transport Minister Heidi Alexander, was the first time UK ministers had admitted Welsh railways were underfunded.
No new money has been announced, but Morgan said discussions are underway that she expects to make a “significant” investment in the new stations.
It follows a long-running row over the lack of extra funding for Wales from the High Speed 2 (HS2) rail project.
The UK government’s Welsh secretary said the country’s rail settlement was “not good enough”, blaming his political rivals for “14 years of underfunding”.
But Joe Stevens said the future of Welsh rail cannot be derived from HS2 alone.
Plaid Cymru said the letter did not commit to righting the “wrongs” of HS2, while the Welsh Conservatives accused the First Minister of accepting “scraps”.
A UK government source said UK ministers “can’t fix the injustices inherited” but admitted Wales “suffers from chronic underinvestment”.
As HS2 was designated as an England and Wales project, Wales receives no additional funding as a result despite none of the planned tracks reaching the country.
Different figures have been given for how much politicians think Wales owes from HS2, from £4bn suggested by Plaid and the Welsh Government in the past to £350m in recent figures from Welsh ministers.
Since they won the 2024 general election, Labor UK ministers have been under pressure from their party counterparts in Cardiff to improve rail funding.
Addressing the Phone to BBC Radio WalesMorgan said money had been “poured into” HS2 which was classed as an England and Wales project, “even though not an inch of track had been laid in Wales”.
He said it was a “fundamental injustice”.
“For the first time, the UK government has recognized that we are underfunded,” he said.
Morgan said discussions had “already begun” on a “long list of projects” that could be invested in.
Morgan asked if there would be consequential funding from HS2, suggesting it would not.
“It will probably be in the form of new stations,” he said.
In a letter to the Welsh Government, the UK Government’s Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander and Welsh Secretary Joe Stevens said they recognized that “railways in Wales have made significant progress in recent years, particularly in the context of major investment such as HS2. Low levels of incremental spending have been observed”.
Joe Stevens, the Welsh secretary to the Welsh Affairs Select Committee, said that rail settlement in Wales had not been “good enough” for the past 14 years of the last Conservative-led governments.
But she said she could not fix the situation “overnight”.
She said: “I’ll be very clear on the first part of your question, which is that it’s not good enough, and that’s a direct result of what I’ve seen from previous governments over the last 14 years. I’m afraid of funding, and that’s why I’m so determined to change that I can’t change the past.”
Ms Stevens said she was working with Welsh Government Transport Minister Ken Skeats and the Department for Transport at Westminster, and had “agreed a direction of travel” which she hoped would be “new for Wales”. Rail will provide investment”.
When asked by Plaid Cymru’s Ben Lake whether HS2 should be reclassified as an England-only infrastructure project, Ms Stevens said: “I want us to have rail infrastructure for Wales. There should be a sustainable pot of funding, and I think we need to stop getting the future. Just of HS2 to rail in Wales.”
‘We Can’t Fix Inherent Injustice’
The letter praised the proposals of three transport reviews, focusing on the main lines in North and South Wales, and improvements to the Wrexham to Liverpool lines, saying they would “drive economic growth”. have the ability”.
In south-east Wales, a commission recommended five new stations – Cardiff East, Newport West, Somerton, Llanvorn and Magor & Indy – at an estimated cost of £335m and £50m to upgrade the main line.
A similar commission in North Wales proposed investment to allow more services along the region’s main line.
But the letter said decisions on extra cash would be up to the Treasury, saying the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, was “clear on the public finance position bequeathed by the previous government”.
The letter suggested the proposals would inform work with the Treasury ahead of a spending review in the spring.
A UK government source added: “We recognize that Wales has suffered chronic underinvestment under successive Conservative governments, including through HS2. We cannot fix this inherent injustice.
“But we can and will fight for a funded pipeline of future rail projects in Wales for the first time in decades.”
‘If Labor were serious we’d get £4bn’
Plaid Cymru’s Llyr Gruffydd said: “The First Minister is clearly reading a very different letter to the one we read.
“It does not refer to the unfairness of HS2 nor does it say that Labor will right the full £4bn owed to Wales.
“If Labor were serious about giving Wales fair play, they would give us the full £4 billion we are owed, as they said they would.”
The Welsh Conservatives’ Peter Fox said: “Before the election, the Welsh Labor government was calling for a fairer outcome for HS2 in Wales. Yet now, with a Labor government in Westminster, the First Minister is likely to accept any scrap. Looks ready for. Its counterparts in London throw our way.
“We were promised two governments working in a partnership that is best for Wales. Instead, we have broken promise after broken promise.”
Analysis
Gareth Lewis, Political Editor, BBC Wales News
There is a political risk in this for the first minister.
HS2 has become as symbolic as an economic issue in Welsh politics, but there are no guarantees in what we have heard today.
This is a suggestion, not a firm commitment. Significant rail investment is expected, but we don’t know how much, and in any case spending decisions are in the hands of the chancellor, Rachel Reeves.
The Welsh Government will hope that any funding is at least equal, preferably more, to what they wanted from HS2 – £350m.
Political opponents are demanding more, and would like new investment on top of the resulting HS2 funding.
And given that the First Minister has – in her own words – pushed Keir Starmer so much over HS2 funding that she is “sick” of it, will voters feel she has done enough and that the plans Are you following?