Transport Infrastructure Projects: Elizabeth Line

Ann Davies Excerpts

Tuesday 12th November 2024 Westminster Hall

[Ann Davies (Caerfyrddin) (PC)]

Diolch yn fawr, Mr Vickers. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship. Today is an important opportunity to highlight how Wales is losing out when it comes to transport, infrastructure projects and funding. To be blunt, we can only dream of having a £19 billion investment in Wales. We would love that money to come across the border. The unfair Barnett formula means that Wales is missing out on billions of pounds of transport funding. The autumn Budget announced that Wales’s Barnett comparability factor for transport had fallen yet again to 33.5%—it was 80.9% in 2015. That is due to HS2 and Network Rail being included in the calculations for Wales, which is eroding the funding available to us over time. That is not the case in other parts of the UK. Academics from Cardiff University note:

“At 95.6% Scotland and Northern Ireland continue to benefit from full Barnett population shares for transport funding that can be used for electrification, opening new lines, or to meet any other spending demand. This is a funding inequity that has long-term consequences yet continues to be ignored at the UK level”.

I remind hon. Members that the Barnett comparability factor for Wales is 33.5%, yet for Scotland and Northern Ireland it is 95.6%. Given that Wales receives roughly 5% of the spending that England does, the fall in our comparability factor means that we are now effectively receiving a third of a fifth of what is spent on transport in England. Does the Minister believe that is a fair way for Wales to be funded? The Government are set to renegotiate the fiscal framework with the Welsh Government. Will that include looking at improving Wales’s transport comparability factor?

While the erosion of Wales’s comparability factor may be new, the lack of investment is a historic problem. It is estimated that Wales has received approximately 1% to 2% of rail enhancement investment, despite the fact that the Welsh route makes up approximately 10% of the UK rail network. Professor Mark Barry of Cardiff University estimates:

“In terms of rail enhancement, in the period from 2001 through 2029…that the current constitutional arrangements have cost Wales a minimum of £3Bn in Barnett consequentials”.

Those sums could be transformational for our infrastructure in Wales. They could fund a programme of electrification and build new lines north to south, finally connecting our nation, rather than commuters having to travel hundreds of additional miles via Shrewsbury or Crewe. To add insult to injury, at the recent Budget the Chancellor announced several electrification and rail infrastructure projects across England, such as the trans-Pennine route upgrade and the Oxford-Cambridge rail, and she confirmed that High Speed 2 will end at Euston. Meanwhile, there was nothing for Wales, and no commitment of the £4 billion that we are owed for HS2.

The Welsh Labour Government have argued for the full devolution of rail; as has been noted here today, there is a strong financial case for rail infrastructure along the lines of the Scottish model, to address the broken funding for Welsh rail. What discussions have the UK Labour Government had with the Welsh Labour Government on the devolution of rail? Does the Minister agree with his Labour colleagues in Cardiff that rail should be devolved? The Government cannot continue to ignore this issue. As everyone knows, Plaid Cymru will continue to push for fair funding for our railways and the full devolution of rail for Wales. Diolch yn fawr, Cadeirydd.