Road and Rail Projects

Lord Wigley Excerpts

Monday 14th July 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill (Lab)]

I am grateful to my noble friend for his compliments. Of course, the real significance of this list is that it is a funded list, rather than one that is not funded—a list of aspiration and hope. I am not too sure about the phrase “green-lighting”; I am not too that it is in the dictionary and, if it is, it is a shame. What it means is that these are funded schemes to go ahead. One or two still need development consent orders, which is a process that has to be taken to a conclusion. Therefore, the start dates will be different across the huge list, but many are ready and have been waiting for funding for quite a long time.

On the pausing at Dawlish that I referred to in the discussion with the noble Baroness, Lady Pidgeon, monitoring will take place. It is not that it “should” take place. The monitoring of those cliffs needs to continue. My understanding of the situation, which I have to say is from the last job I did rather than this one, is that monitoring those cliffs is essential. The work needed to remedy all this is, at least partially, about what we see in the monitoring process, so it is sensible to look now and do something when agreed.

Will we publish a paper on the criteria that have been used? There are two things here. One is that the Government have decided to do these schemes and have taken a view, from the wreckage they inherited, to prioritise things that need to be done that will contribute to a better local economy. We will get on with doing that first. In the longer term, there is an intention to have both a 10-year infrastructure strategy and a long-term railway plan. In conjunction with the revision of the Green Book that the Chancellor talked about in the spending review—to look at aspects that allow projects in parts of the country with lower rates of economic activity to benefit—I think there will be a case to publish a long-term railway plan and talk about the criteria used. For now, we will get on with what has been announced.

[Lord Wigley (PC)]

My Lords, the Minister is familiar with the intricacies of the Barnett formula. I know that because he has quoted it to me in the past. Will he therefore confirm that the Barnett formula, as far as rail is concerned, will indeed generate money for Wales from those projects that are England-only, such as the Oxford to Cambridge line? Will he also confirm what the First Minister of Wales has called for—for Wales to get the Barnett consequential of that expenditure?

[Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill (Lab)]

The noble Lord is right: this subject has come up before. There is a real difference in the current circumstances. Rail projects are all classified as England and Wales in the way that this is done. The real difference in this list is that, for the first time, there is a significant commitment to funding rail enhancements in Wales: £300 million or so in the spending review period, and a total of over £450 million in 10 years.

The current Welsh Government, particularly Ken Skates—whom I happened to meet this morning on the subject—and the Secretary of State for Wales, agree that the schemes that have been announced for development and implementation are the right ones. There are schemes for the south Wales main line arising from the Burns report, and there are schemes for the north Wales main line to improve train frequency and connectivity. There is a scheme for Wrexham to Bidston—curiously, in these documents it is referred to as Padeswood sidings, about the most obscure title that you could imagine—which is designed to make some freight improvements to double the frequency from Wrexham to Bidston. There are also a number of other things. The significance of this announcement is that it commits money to Welsh railway schemes— schemes that the Welsh Government agree need to be taken forward as the most urgent—and I hope that the noble Lord welcomes that.