SHORTCHANGED AGAIN

Westminster is shortchanging Wales by £4bn from the HS2 project Plaid Cymru have said. The party pledged to fight for the funding Wales is owed.

High speed rail project HS2 has been designated an ‘England and Wales project’ despite not an inch of track being in Wales.

Plaid Cymru’s candidate for Ynys Mon in the general election Llinos Medi argued that Wales should receive its fair share of Barnett consequentials – estimated at around £4bn – if the project were designated as ‘England only’.

Plaid Cymru candidate for Ynys Môn, Llinos Medi, said:

“For Wales, HS2 is a scandal. A scandal that shows just how much Westminster disregards the needs and voice of Wales.

“Not an inch of HS2 track will be in Wales and yet Welsh taxpayers are having to pay for it. This is unjust and unfair.

“If the project were to be reclassified as an England-only project, as Plaid Cymru has been campaigning for, Wales would get £4bn in consequential funding. But neither Labour nor the Tories have pledged to put this right.

“These are billions of pounds that could be used to connect our communities, north to south, and restore Labour imposed cuts to bus services.

“Only Plaid Cymru has the ambition to deliver a Welsh transport system that our communities deserve. We are the only party that is demanding the billions we deserve in rail funds and the full transfer of power over our railways to put this right once and for all.

“And only by voting for Plaid Cymru on 4 July will Wales get a strong group of MPs who will shout for Wales in Westminster and demand the fairness our communities deserve. 

ENDS 

 

EDITOR’S NOTES / NODIADAU I’R GOLYGYDD

On Wednesday 4 June, the Senedd led a debate calling simply for the fair share of funding to Wales from HS2 funding. The motion passed unopposed, but Plaid Cymru has called out the hypocrisy of Labour and the Conservatives, who despite supporting calls in the Senedd have failed to persuade the leaders of their parties in Westminster to treat Wales fairly.

If Wales were treated the same as Scotland and NI, we would be owed at least £3.9m from HS2 consequentials, even after the second phase being cancelled HS2 classed as an England and Wales project, and, while transport is devolved, rail infrastructure isn’t. If it was reclassified as England only, Wales would receive its fair share, as not a single metre of track laid in Wales.

·   Up to a quarter of Wales’s bus routes are at risk of being cut or facing significant amendments in the coming year

·  Cost of reopening Carmarthen-Aberystwyth line, and Afon Wen to Bangor would be £2bn, only half of the money we are owed from HS2

·   In October 2023, Sunak promised to electrify the North Wales mainline, at a cost of £1bn

·   WG has refused to pursue a legal challenge against the UK government to withhold the HS2 money - labelled “A worrying sign of things to come should Keir Starmer become the next PM” (Rhun 17 April)