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Wales is getting a rough deal again in the UK government’s new rail bill(Image: Transport for Wales)<\/p>\nThe UK Government is seeking bids from mayoral strategic authorities in England to take control of rail in their areasWales is getting a rough deal again in the UK government’s new rail bill(Image: Transport for Wales)<\/p>\n
The UK Government is seeking to devolve rail powers to mayoral regions in England while steadfastly rejecting calls for rail infrastructure to be devolved to Wales.<\/p>\n
Following the English Devolution White Paper, the Westminster Government is now inviting mayoral strategic authorities (MSAs) to apply for full statutory and financial responsibility for local rail services, infrastructure and\/or control of stations (full devolution).<\/p>\n
The UK Government said that MSAs can seek full devolution of rail responsibilities under existing legislation such as the Railways Act 1993. Where proposals involve services that extend beyond the boundaries of an MSA, they will be carefully assessed, as changes within one area can have significant impacts elsewhere.<\/p>\n
The proposed new publicly owned body that will oversee both rail services and infrastructure, Great British Railways (GBR), will retain overarching responsibility for delivery but will work in close collaboration with MSAs to \u201cenable local input within an integrated railway system.\u201d<\/p>\n
In its guidance for a planned major expansion of devolving rail powers in England, the the Department for Transport (DfT) adds: \u201cDevolution is a positive feature of the railway landscape in England, with significant responsibilities already fully devolved to the mayors of London and the Liverpool City Region.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Welsh Government<\/a>, prior to last year\u2019s General Election, while continuing to call for the devolution of rail, adopted a longer-term view by describing the aim as a \u201cprocess rather than an event\u201d.<\/p>\n In the summer, Rachel Reeves, in her spending review covering the period up to 2029\/30, announced \u00a334bn for rail enhancement projects in England. For Wales, the Chancellor announced \u00a3455m.<\/p>\n However, when stripping out \u00a390m to develop new projects, \u00a377m towards the upgrade of Cardiff<\/a> Central station \u2014 which had already been announced subject to business case sign-off, confirmed earlier this month – and funding for upgrading the relief lines in south Wales, this leaves around \u00a3300m for rail enhancement projects in Wales over the period.<\/p>\n This represents a ratio of roughly \u00a31 being spent in Wales compared to \u00a3100 in England when Wales has a population of 5 people for every 100 in England and 10 miles of rail track for every 100 miles in England.<\/p>\n Under the proposed legislation for GBR, unlike the arrangements in Scotland, there is no statutory underpinning for Wales, only a memorandum of understanding with UK government ministers.<\/p>\n Both Plaid Cymru<\/a> and the Liberal Democrats<\/a> have said they cannot support the legislation as it stands, arguing that the only way to address rail underfunding in Wales is through full devolution.<\/p>\n Plaid Cymru\u2019s transport spokesperson at Westminster, Ann Davies, said that while the Bill may simplify rail operations in England, it fails to address Wales\u2019s lack of control over its own rail infrastructure and the billions in funding the nation loses as a result.<\/p>\n She added: \u201cThis Bill makes sense for England. However, it does not work for Wales. It fails to address our lack of control over the Welsh rail track, where two governments manage different parts of what should be a single network. This split makes planning railways in the best interests of the people of Wales almost impossible.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can see this in the broken promise to electrify the South Wales Main Line beyond Cardiff, or even to begin work on the equivalent line in the north. Scotland, by contrast, controls its rail network and sets its own strategy, giving Scottish ministers real influence over Great British Railways. Under this Bill, Welsh ministers can only ask to be consulted \u2014 Wales does not want consultation, we deserve control. It is time to devolve rail to Wales.\u201d<\/p>\n Professor Mark Barry<\/a> of Cardiff University<\/a>, who has submitted evidence on the legislation, said: \u201cThe Bill is in reality limited to requiring the UK Government and DfT ministers to consult Wales (we have had 30 years of that to little effect). Without substantive statutory underpinning, this is empty and leaves Wales short-changed and without sufficient levers to fund and implement its own transport policy.<\/p>\n \u201cWhereas Scottish ministers can prepare their own version of a long-term rail strategy (LTRS) and produce a statutory High Level Output Specification (HLOS) for Network Rail – as they have done since rail powers were devolved to Scotland in 2005 – Welsh ministers can only \u2018have a chat\u2019 with the UK transport secretary to request that Wales\u2019s requirements are considered within an \u2018England and Wales\u2019 LTRS and HLOS.\u201d<\/p>\n Welsh Liberal Democrat MP for Brecon<\/a>, Radnor and Cwm Tawe, David Chadwick, said: \u201cThis Bill fails Wales. It centralises power in Whitehall, ignores decades of underinvestment, and leaves rural communities like mine at the back of the queue yet again. Scotland gets real control over its railways; Wales gets nothing. Not a single new power. Not a single guarantee of fair investment. Wales deserves equality, not second-class status. That\u2019s why we won\u2019t support this Bill in its current form.\u201d<\/p>\n The UK Government was asked, as a matter of principle, why Wales has not been offered full devolution of rail in the same way as English regions – although this would not involve the same level of revenue transfer to MSAs as would be the case if rail were devolved to Wales.<\/p>\n A DfT spokesperson said: “Rail services operated by Transport for Wales are devolved to the Welsh Government, but rail infrastructure and the Network Rail network remain the responsibility of the UK Government.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have made \u00a3445m of rail infrastructure funding for Wales available through the Spending Review, and the Welsh Government is closely involved in decisions on how this funding is prioritised and spent.\u201d<\/p>\n The department said the Railways Bill requires a memorandum of understanding between the Secretary of State and Welsh ministers, committing both sides to the setting of shared objectives. It add that these objectives will underpin delivery of the railway network in Wales and the Borders.<\/p>\n The DfT insists that the legislation, which could come into effect next summer, does not remove any existing powers from the Welsh Government but formalises new processes for joint working on rail planning and investment.<\/p>\n It added that the strengthened statutory role for Welsh ministers would give Wales greater influence over long-term rail strategy while maintaining the benefits of an integrated Great Britain-wide network.<\/p>\n Giving evidence to the Westminster Transport Committee on the implications of UK Government rail reform for Wales, the Welsh Government\u2019s director of transport and connectivity, Peter McDonald, was asked by Labour<\/a> MP for Wrexham<\/a>, Andrew Ranger, how the Railways Bill, as drafted, advances the Cardiff Bay<\/a> administration\u2019s position on greater devolution of rail policy.<\/p>\n Mr McDonald responded: \u201cI would say that the Railways Bill, as drafted, is neutral with respect to the devolution settlement. It reflects the current settlement. It takes us further in terms of how the current settlement can operate efficiently and effectively, but it does not, in and of itself, move Wales and the Welsh Government further along the devolution spectrum.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked how Welsh ministers would influence or interact with GBR, he said: \u201cGBR will be a very large organisation in a highly regulated and structured industry, so we feel it is important to wire the system effectively within GBR, such that there is adequate respect for, and consideration of, issues affecting parts of the country where services may be fewer but matter greatly to my ministers. That is why the creation of the business unit within GBR is a really important intervention for us.\u201d<\/p>\n Through the Barnett Formula, the Welsh Government previously received a transfer based on changes to the Department for Transport (DfT) budget, using a comparability factor of around 90%, against a UK population share of about 5%.<\/p>\n That transfer was based on changes to the overall DfT budget. The comparability factor was high because non-devolved items made up a very small part of the department\u2019s spending and Network Rail expenditure was excluded. However, with HS2 and Network Rail spending now included \u2014 and representing a much larger share of the DfT budget – the comparability factor for Wales has fallen to 33.5%. This squeeze does not affect Scotland and Northern Ireland, where comparability remains close to 100% (95.6%).<\/p>\n The Welsh Government would not entertain taking on devolved responsibility for rail unless it were underpinned by a fair block grant adjustment, one that recognises years of underinvestment in the Welsh rail network. It would also require agreement that the UK Government, with its stronger fiscal position, retains liability for unforeseen events such as landslides damaging the railway.<\/p>\n Part of the rail network in Wales is already devolved and owned by the Welsh Government via Transport for Wales, through the Core Valley Lines, which are being transformed by a \u00a31.1bn electrification programme. The vast majority of services are operated by Transport for Wales. However, the comparability factor has not been adjusted in the Welsh Government\u2019s favour to reflect its ownership of the Core Valley Lines network.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UK Government is seeking bids from mayoral strategic authorities in England to take control of rail in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":656787,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[748,393,4884,1144,712,1263,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-656786","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"category-united-kingdom","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-northern-ireland","13":"tag-scotland","14":"tag-transport","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115788554503865898","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=656786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/656787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}