Perhaps Labour realises Wales is a lost cause, politically, and are focusing on retaining votes in England? The polls in Wales suggest Labour is less popular than Plaid and Reform.
Outrageous and fragrantly fraudulent. At least with HS2, there was an argument that if the track was built to completion, it would benefit some residents of North Wales. I never agreed with that justification and always found it to be a cop out, but at least there was an argument to be made. What possible justification is there for a train to Oxford and Cambridge to benefit Wales? I hope the HS2 bootlickers who swore up and down that it was valid for Wales to foot that bill see this and finally understand what they’re doing.
Utterly ridiculous .
Imagine if the tables were turned .
Or imagine if it was Scotland , they’d be screaming from here to high heaven .
For a slightly more rational take: these are just the categories under which investment is allocated- ie England and wales, Scotland, NI. Or in other words any investment in either of England or wales is categorized as England and wales.
So for example any infra that just benefits wales would count as England and Wales, even if it doesn’t benefit England.
This is clearly very different to saying that people are claiming that the Oxford and Cambridge line benefits Wales.
which way around are they going?
There’s also a new Manchester – Liverpool line expected to be announced and you know they’ll classify that as England and Wales too
This article is just deliberately misleading. Heavy rail infrastructure isn’t devolved to Wales so spending on rail in both England and Wales comes out of the same pot with no Barnett consequentials. Projects which only take place in Wales like north coast electrification, Cardiff Central station etc. follow the exact same principles. There’s a fair case that the Tories underinvested in Welsh rail and UK Labour need to rectify that, but that’s a separate point
P.S. Most of Reeves’ transport announcements today count as “local transport” so will create consequentials for the Senedd to spend, in the same way the Elizabeth Line did. The rumours are also that there will be significant investment in Welsh heavy rail announced next week.
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Perhaps Labour realises Wales is a lost cause, politically, and are focusing on retaining votes in England? The polls in Wales suggest Labour is less popular than Plaid and Reform.
Outrageous and fragrantly fraudulent. At least with HS2, there was an argument that if the track was built to completion, it would benefit some residents of North Wales. I never agreed with that justification and always found it to be a cop out, but at least there was an argument to be made. What possible justification is there for a train to Oxford and Cambridge to benefit Wales? I hope the HS2 bootlickers who swore up and down that it was valid for Wales to foot that bill see this and finally understand what they’re doing.
Utterly ridiculous .
Imagine if the tables were turned .
Or imagine if it was Scotland , they’d be screaming from here to high heaven .
For a slightly more rational take: these are just the categories under which investment is allocated- ie England and wales, Scotland, NI. Or in other words any investment in either of England or wales is categorized as England and wales.
So for example any infra that just benefits wales would count as England and Wales, even if it doesn’t benefit England.
This is clearly very different to saying that people are claiming that the Oxford and Cambridge line benefits Wales.
which way around are they going?
There’s also a new Manchester – Liverpool line expected to be announced and you know they’ll classify that as England and Wales too
This article is just deliberately misleading. Heavy rail infrastructure isn’t devolved to Wales so spending on rail in both England and Wales comes out of the same pot with no Barnett consequentials. Projects which only take place in Wales like north coast electrification, Cardiff Central station etc. follow the exact same principles. There’s a fair case that the Tories underinvested in Welsh rail and UK Labour need to rectify that, but that’s a separate point
P.S. Most of Reeves’ transport announcements today count as “local transport” so will create consequentials for the Senedd to spend, in the same way the Elizabeth Line did. The rumours are also that there will be significant investment in Welsh heavy rail announced next week.
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