Starmer sick of me asking for HS2 cash, says FM

"Poor" Prime Minister Keir Starmer is "sick" of being asked about HS2 funding for Wales every time First Minister Eluned Morgan sees him, she has said.

Despite getting an extra £1.7bn from the UK government budget, Morgan admitted there were areas where she has asked Starmer for more.

High Speed Rail is designated as an England and Wales project despite not running through Wales, meaning no extra money comes to Cardiff Bay to compensate for spending in England.

While the UK government has ruled out extra funding, Starmer previously said he wanted to improve rail infrastructure in Wales.

Speaking to BBC Politics Wales, Morgan said: "I will make sure that he knows that I'm not backing off.

"Every time I see him, the poor prime minister is sick of me asking him about money for HS2.

"But let's not complain that we've just had an extra billion pounds after we've been waiting through years of austerity."

Welsh Labour not only wants £350m of funding to come to Wales for HS2, it also supports calls to transfer responsibility for the Crown Estate to Wales and reform the formula used to fund Wales.

In the UK Labour government's budget in October, none of these issues were addressed.

"People are sick of the doom and gloom," said Morgan, adding that people want a bit of hope, and she is certain the budget is going to give them that.

In the Welsh government's draft budget it was announced there would be an extra £437m for day-to-day spending on the NHS and £175m for one-off spending such as maintaining buildings and new equipment.

Morgan said her "ruthless focus" was on bringing down waiting lists and repeated her target of reducing the number of people waiting more than two years from 23,000 to 8,000 by April.

She would not be drawn on when that number would be eradicated entirely.

• You can watch BBC Politics Wales on BBC One Wales on Sunday at 10:00 GMT then later on iPlayer