Plaid Cymru calls on the UK Government to ‘cough up billions’ in relation to HS2
The party’s Westminster leader Liz Saville Roberts argued that Labour is failing to address the ‘chronic underfunding’ of railways in Wales.
Plaid Cymru has urged the UK Government to “cough up”, as it claimed Wales is owed “billions” as a result of HS2.
The party’s Westminster leader Liz Saville Roberts argued that Labour is failing to address the “chronic underfunding” of railways in Wales.
Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens said the Government “can’t go back in time and change the way that project was commissioned”.
In the Commons on Wednesday, Ms Saville Roberts said: “The railways are broken and Labour’s plan fails to address the chronic underfunding that has caused it, particularly in Wales.
“Now, in 2022, the then-shadow secretary of state said that it was ‘utterly illogical to designate HS2 as an England and Wales project’, and she called on the Conservatives to cough up the billions owed to Wales. Will she cough up now?”
During Wales questions, Ms Stevens replied: “We can’t go back in time and change the way that project was commissioned, was managed, and classified by the previous Conservative government. They need to accept responsibility for the chaos, delay and waste under their watch.
“But what we can do is work closely with our Senedd and local authority colleagues to develop and invest in transport projects that improve services for passengers right across Wales.”
Because rail infrastructure is devolved to the Scottish Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly respectively, both Scotland and Northern Ireland received proportional funding for rail projects.
Plaid Cymru has previously argued that Wales should also receive additional funding for railways because no Welsh territory was included in the HS2 proposal.
National rail infrastructure in England and Wales is under the remit of the UK Parliament.
Following the cancellation of the line beyond the London to Birmingham leg, the then-Conservative government announced £36 billion of funding for a project called Network North, of which, £1 billion was set aside for a project to electrify the North Wales main line.
