Welsh Government and Liberal Democrats say Wales is being ‘short-changed’ as high-speed rail bill could reach £102.7bn

THE WELSH GOVERNMENT has renewed calls for Wales to receive a fair share of rail funding after the latest figures showed the cost of HS2 could rise to as much as £102.7bn.

Deputy Minister for Transport Mark Hooper said the figures made it “clearer than ever” that Wales was being short-changed by the UK Government’s approach to the high-speed rail project.

HS2 has been classified by the Treasury as an “England and Wales” scheme, despite the line not entering Wales. The classification means Wales does not receive the same Barnett consequential funding that would normally follow spending on a transport project in England.

Mr Hooper said: “The latest figures showing HS2 will cost up to £102.7bn make it clearer than ever Wales is being short-changed by the UK Government’s approach.

“HS2 has been classified as an ‘England and Wales’ project – despite not a single centimetre of track being laid in Wales.

“This is not acceptable. Every pound denied to Wales is a pound that cannot be invested in the integrated, modern transport network that our communities deserve.”

The row over HS2 funding has become one of the longest-running disputes between Cardiff Bay and Westminster over infrastructure spending.

Rail infrastructure is not fully devolved in Wales, and the UK Government has previously argued that HS2 should be treated as a project benefiting both England and Wales. Welsh ministers, however, say that position is unfair because the line is being built entirely in England.

The latest cost estimate comes after UK Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander gave a statement to the House of Commons on the future of HS2, confirming that the project could now cost between £87.7bn and £102.7bn, with services between London and Birmingham not expected to begin until between 2036 and 2039.

The project has already been significantly scaled back, with previous plans for high-speed lines to Manchester and Leeds cancelled.

Welsh Liberal Democrat Westminster Spokesperson David Chadwick MP said HS2 had become “a textbook example of Government mismanagement”.

He said: “After years of delays, spiralling costs and broken promises under the previous Conservative Government, taxpayers across the UK are now being left to pick up the bill.

“At the very least, Wales must now receive the consequential funding it is owed so we can invest in desperately needed transport infrastructure here at home.

“The Labour Government can no longer hide behind accounting tricks to deny Wales funding that Scotland and Northern Ireland rightly receive as a matter of fairness.

“There is simply no justification for Wales continuing to be short-changed.”

Welsh ministers argue that if HS2 had been treated as an England-only project, Wales would have received billions of pounds in additional funding through the Barnett formula.

Mr Hooper said securing Wales’s share would now be a “central priority” in the Welsh Government’s relationship with Westminster.

He added: “We are committed to pressing the UK Government to right this wrong and ensure Wales receives the funding it is owed.”

The issue is likely to remain a major point of tension as the new Welsh Government seeks investment for rail, bus and integrated transport improvements across Wales.