HS2: Wales should get windfall cash, says Senedd

Senedd members have said Wales should get a funding windfall from HS2.

All parties - including the Conservatives - backed a Plaid Cymru motion calling on the UK government to reclassify the railway.

The high-speed route is officially categorised as an England and Wales project, even though it does not cross the border.

Plaid said redesignating it as an England-only project would deliver £5bn of funding to Wales.

Opening a Senedd debate, Plaid MS Luke Fletcher said the UK government should "recognise its unjust neglect of Wales and provide us with the consequential funding owed to us".

When the UK government spends money on things in England that are devolved to Wales, such as health and education, it normally triggers extra funding for Wales.

But most rail infrastructure is not devolved and HS2's England-and-Wales label means there is no extra funding for the Welsh government.

The Welsh Conservatives supported Plaid's motion, but said the funding should go directly to Network Rail instead of the Welsh government.

Conservative MS Natasha Asghar said: "Labour in Wales have a horrendous track record of frittering away hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers' cash on their vanity projects."

The UK government has argued that HS2 will boost reliability, connectivity and capacity on routes across the UK, including services into Wales.

The Welsh government also says the scheme should be reclassified.

Deputy Climate Change Minister Lee Waters welcomed the cross-party consensus on the issue.

"This is a very simple thing really. This is an England-only project and we should be getting a devolved consequential from that," he said.

"It's a scandal that we are not."

At the Welsh Labour conference in March, Keir Starmer said he would not make a commitment on HS2 funding for Wales.