To
say that our countries interests are often taken for granted by some our MP’s
is no understatement. There are more than enough MP’s who represent
geographically Welsh constituencies who do little to further the interests of
our country or even to call for far funding for Wales. Plaid Cymru Westminster
Transport and Treasury spokesperson Jonathan Edwards MP is spot on when he says that any MP
based in Wales voting for HS2 without fair funding for Wales will be
committing an act of political betrayal.
The
UK Westminster Government commissioned detailed economic analysis by
accountants KPMG which shows that hundreds of millions of pounds will be lost from
the Welsh economy each year as a result of the proposed HS2 rail link project
which plans to link the North of England to London. Yet the figures were only
released after a
Freedom of Information request by the BBC 2’s Newsnight. The report
indicates that Cardiff will lose £68m per annum; Swansea £16.5m; Bridgend £11m,
and Neath Port Talbot £6m and that Wrexham would only gain marginally
from HS2.
England-only
infrastructure developments should result in Wales receiving its fair
share even under the deeply flawed and outdated Barnet formula. Yet, as transport infrastructure remains not
devolved and the HS2 project has been designated by the UK Government
as a UK wide project this means that Wales won’t receive 5% of the total costs
of the project in compensation. Last summer the UK Government up-rated
the expected cost of the development by £10bn to over £40bn.
Plaid Cymru Westminster
Transport and Treasury spokesperson, Jonathan Edwards MP said:
“The
last time I looked on a map, London, Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield, and
Leeds were all in England. I find it difficult to see how the UK
Government can claim that this is a UK-wide project. In reality what we
are seeing once again is a UK Government using Welsh taxpayers’ money from the
general pool of taxation to fund an infrastructure project which will
disadvantage our economy.
“The
Budget for HS2 is spiralling out of control and construction
hasn’t yet begun. The budget for HS2 will inevitably
increase and it will be the only game in town for generations in terms of rail
infrastructure spend, meaning that there will be less money to invest in Welsh
transport infrastructure.
“Wales
historically only gets a fraction of infrastructure investment - far
less than what our population share would demand. We can ill afford to not
receive our fair share from HS2.
“Following
queries from the Financial Times as to why the
Labour Welsh Government was not supporting Plaid Cymru’s
position, it belatedly performed a U-turn. However it was
revealed in a recent Parliamentary question I tabled that the Welsh Government
had made no representations to the UK Government on securing a
fair deal for Wales. Wales cannot have a Labour
Government that is unwilling to stand up to Westminster on
this issue.
“Based
on UK Government projections, Wales should receive £2bn as a result
of HS2. However with predictions that the total bill
for HS2 could easily double, we could be looking at nearer
£4bn. Either way this is a huge sum of money which could revolutionise
transport infrastructure in Wales.
“Together
with the published negative impact on the South Wales economy in particular, it
would be an act of betrayal by MPs representing Welsh constituencies if they
didn’t oppose the HS2 Bill today without cast iron guarantees that we
were not going to be short changed again by the UK Government.”
