Thursday, July 03, 2025
No investment west of Cardiff
Nation Cymru reports that the critcism came from Plaid Cymru’s Cefin Campbell during a scrutiny session on the work of Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Ken Skates:
Last month, the Chancellor Rachel Reeves said she had delivered what the Welsh Government had asked for in her spending review.
The package of funding included £445m for Welsh railways over the next 10 years.
Opposition parties in the Senedd have argued that this is less than what Wales is owed.
In the Senedd on on Wednesday (July 2), Campbell referred to a number of examples where investment was needed in mid and west Wales – including alleviating “chronic delays” on the Heart of Wales line, ensuring more regular services on the Cambrian Line and building a new railway station in St Clears.
Quizzing the Transport Secretary, the Mid and West Wales MS said: “Rachel Reeves said that the Welsh Government had got everything it asked for, including when it comes to rail investment.
“My question to you today is simple: is this true? And if it is true, why did you ask for nothing, literally nothing at all, to invest in the railways west of Cardiff?
“Because the truth is that not only did the spending review deliver painfully little for Welsh rail, it delivered literally nothing for the railways in the region that I represent.”
Skates described the comments as “wholly unfair” adding that he would not “play regions off against each other”.
He said: “It’s absolutely right that we take forward the projects that are most advanced, that we can draw down the funding for, otherwise we could be promised the money, it would never be spent. We will spend that money.
The fact remains that most of the schemes that are 'advanced' are concentrated in the South East of Wales. It is the same old story.
