Welsh rail funding: ‘Only Plaid Cymru will hold Labour to account on behalf of Welsh communities’
‘For Labour, the H in HS2 stands for hypocrisy’ – Plaid Cymru criticise Labour spokesperson on Wales for backtracking on previous comments on Welsh rail funding
Plaid Cymru leader, Rhun ap Iorwerth, has accused Labour of “hypocrisy” after unearthing comments from 2022 in which Shadow Secretary of State for Wales Jo Stevens called on the UK Government to deliver Welsh rail funding for Wales.
During the General Election campaign, Ms Stevens has repeatedly refused to commit to delivering the funds Wales would receive from HS2, which would amount to around £4 billion based on the most recent estimates of the project’s total cost. She has also claimed that the sum of money owed to Wales is only £350 million. Mr ap Iorwerth pointed out that Ms Stevens has herself called on the UK Government to deliver the “missing £4.6 billion of rail funding for Wales” in 2022.
Plaid Cymru has argued for over a decade that spending on HS2 in England should lead to additional funds to Wales through the Barnett formula - the mechanism through which the Welsh Government is funded by Westminster.
In 2022, Shadow Secretary of State for Wales, Jo Stevens, said that it was “utterly illogical” to designate HS2 as an ‘England and Wales project’ – a Treasury classification that means Wales, unlike Scotland and Northern Ireland, does not receive additional funding from money spent on the project. Ms Stevens told the House of Commons in 2022 that “Crossrail has an England-only classification; HS2 should as well”.
Crossrail, the completed railway project centred on London, led to compensatory funding to all the devolved nations due to it being classified as a project that benefited England only. The UK Treasury argues that HS2, the rail link between London and Birmingham currently under construction, benefits both England and Wales, and should therefore not lead to funding for Wales.
During an S4C interview on 17 June, Ms Stevens justified Labour’s u-turn by claiming that “HS2 is no longer in existence”. HS2 is currently being built between London and Birmingham – with the project itself saying it is at “peak construction”.
When the Birmingham to Manchester leg was scrapped in 2023, the Labour Welsh Government said that “If HS2 becomes only a London to Birmingham railway, it makes the case even clearer that HS2 is an England only project.”
Rhun ap Iorwerth said:
“Plaid Cymru is the only party fighting for Wales in this election. While Labour once agreed with us that the UK Government should provide Wales with billions of pounds in owed rail funds, they are now set to continue sitting on that money in Westminster.
“Labour’s spokesperson on Wales argued strongly in 2022 that the UK Government should ‘cough up’ and deliver the ‘missing £4.6 billion of rail funding for Wales’. She compared it to London’s Crossrail project, which led to compensation for Wales due to the Treasury correctly designating it as a project that benefits England only. After the Manchester leg of HS2 was scrapped in 2023, HS2 became even more clearly a project that benefits England only – an argument made by the Labour Welsh Government at the time.
“Now, moments from power, Jo Stevens has reversed her position, denying Wales the owed funding by claiming that 'HS2 is no longer in existence', despite the ongoing construction of the London to Birmingham railway line.
“For Labour, it seems the 'H' in HS2 stands for hypocrisy. Let’s ensure they’re held to account.
“We know what will happen in this election. The Conservatives will be decisively kicked out next Thursday, Keir Starmer will become Prime Minister, and Jo Stevens will be Secretary of State for Wales. But without strong voices to hold them accountable, Labour will continue to take Wales for granted.
“To hold that incoming UK Government to account on behalf of Wales, and on behalf of our communities, vote for Plaid Cymru on 4 July.”