People in Wales have reacted furiously to the decision of the UK Government to class a railway scheme based in the north of England as an England and Wales project.
Last week WalesOnline revealed that the UK Government had classed Northern Powerhouse Rail as an "England and Wales" project. Despite a significant proportion of the rail budget for England and Wales being set to go on the rail enhancements on both sides of the Pennines in the coming years, Wales will not get any extra money as a result.
As rail is devolved in Scotland and Norther Ireland those countries will receive a cut of money spent in England automatically. However rail infrastructure spending is not devolved to Wales meaning there will not be any extra spending here. There has been one instance in the past where the distorting effect of a major England-only rail infrastructure project in London, Crossrail, was recognised by giving Wales extra funds. However there will be no funding as a consequence of the project in the north of England.
The decision to class Northern Powerhouse Rail as an "England and Wales" project will likely cost Wales about £1bn and this is on top of the several billion pounds that Wales has lost because HS2 was also given the same classification. The response of people on social media to the revelations shows why this issue really matter to people in Wales.
Some people levelled their ire at the secretary of state for Wales David TC Davies. The MP for Monmouth is supposed to be the voice of Wales within the Cabinet. He has been very vocal in his defence of the decision to make HS2 an England and Wales project despite none of the track being laid in Wales.
Colin D wrote: "This is getting ridiculous David TC Davies, why are you not fighting for more money for rail infrastructure in Wales. I thought your job was to fight for fair treatment for Wales not just accept the scraps we are offered - in this case, zero. What happened to levelling up?
Others pointed to the large amount of Welsh Tory MPs who are currently at risk of loosing their seats according to the latest polls. WalesOnline's St David's Day poll suggested that the party faced almost total wipeout if an election was held tomorrow. Ann Bowman wrote: "Several seats in North Wales became Conservative at the last election. You all know what to do next time."
Other people said that it was "ridiculous" and said it should be legally challenged (this would be very hard to do under the system we currently have in place). Sam Leonard wrote: "This is ridiculous. Is there any sort of oversight or legal challenge possible on whether these decisions are valid? They are systematically underfunding Wales."
The Welsh Government has repeatedly called for Wales to be given its fair share of HS2 and reiterated these calls when approached about the classification of Northern Powerhouse Rail. However, in a recent interview with WalesOnline, UK Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said there was no guarantee that Labour Government in Westminster would match this funding. Several people pointed this out.
This needs to be made a general election issue. Labour need to be repeatedly pushed on it, because if they don’t reverse this and HS2 decision then it sends a very clear message what they really think of Wales. Richard Martin, who is a producer on the Welsh politics podcast Hiraeth said: "All eyes on that next Labour manifesto… if rail devolution isn’t included we will be rinsing and repeating for decades to comes."
Annie Eaves added that Labour needed to be "pushed" on making a commitment. She said: "This needs to be made a general election issue. Labour need to be repeatedly pushed on it, because if they don’t reverse this and HS2 decision then it sends a very clear message what they really think of Wales."
Another repeated line in the comments was about Welsh independence. A continuous refrain from advocates for an independent Wales is that the only way to guarantee that Wales will have the infrastructure it needs is for it to leave the UK. Mike Dibble wrote: "I've gone past the fuming phase to feeling physically sick. When will the people of Wales wake up to this. The old 'politics is boring trope' doesn't wash. It's what defines a huge part of our reality. It really is time to wake up at the ballot box Cymru. #Annibyniaeth."
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