Tuesday, June 03, 2025
Deja Vu all over again
As a result there will be no barnett funding consequential for Wales, though Northern Ireland and Scotland will get a cut of the cash:
The designation was uncovered in response to questions put forward by Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe MP, David Chadwick.
The Liberal Democrat MP asked the Secretary of State for Transport, Heidi Alexander whether the £6.6 billion project – which will launch later this year – will be marked as an England and Wales scheme.
The rail link between Oxford, Milton Keynes, Bedford and Cambridge is set to be one of Britain’s largest transport projects.
It will provide easier and faster connectivity across the region, opening up better access to jobs and education opportunities, as well as regenerating town centres and supporting tens of thousands of new homes.
The proposals include an upgrade between Oxford and Bicester, the reintroduction of a section of railway between Bicester and Bletchley, line refurbishment between Bletchley and Bedford and brand new railway infrastructure between Bedford and Cambridge.
In a written response to Chadwick, the UK Government said: “East West Rail is set to cover the route from Oxford to Cambridge and is therefore part of the Rail network enhancements pipeline (RNEP) portfolio which covers funding for projects in England and Wales.
“The RNEP portfolio can be distributed to any scheme across England and Wales.”
The Welsh Liberal Democrats have branded the decision as “yet another example of Labour short-changing Wales on vital infrastructure funding.”
The party says that were Wales to be treated like Scotland, it could have received around £360 million in consequential funding to spend on transport projects in Wales.
It comes following the UK Government’s controversial handling of HS2 funding, where the £100 billion high-speed rail link was classified as an “England and Wales” scheme despite none of the track crossing the Welsh border.
The classification meant no consequential cash was released to Wales by the Treasury using the barnett formula.
This is usually determined based on whether the UK Government increases or decreases funding for departments that cover devolved areas.
In contrast, Scotland and Northern Ireland both received full funding uplifts.
The cash amount thought to be owed to Wales from HS2 spending has changed drastically over the last two years with Welsh Government estimates of billions dropping to millions – a fluctuation that has appeared to correlate with a new Labour government coming to power.
Independent experts, including the Senedd’s Finance Committee and academics at Cardiff University say Wales lost out on over £4 billion as a result of HS2 alone.
Until the General Election, Labour had publicly backed Wales receiving the HS2 money it should have been paid if the project had been correctly classified.
David Chadwick is absolutely right that this a failure that can be attributed directly to Labour, but not the current UK Labour government. Treasury rules state that funding under the Barnett formula is allocated when the UK government spends money in England on a policy area devolved to the respective nations.
A previous Welsh Government was given the opportunity to take charge of railways in Wales. It was the same time as Scotland took that respsonsibility on for their nation. However, the then Welsh First Minister declined the offer.
As a result, until that decision is reversed, all railway projects in England will be classified as England and Wales, and the Welsh Government will not see a penny.
Surely, it's time to sort this out once and for all.
