TIMELY CALL TO UNITE ON HS2

The Welsh, Scottish and Northern Ireland governments need to join forces to campaign for full Barnett consequentials resulting from the England-only High Speed Rail 2 project. 

Only a few weeks after HS2 Ltd, the planners behind the multi-billion pound development, stated that there is "no business case" for Scotland and that the project would now not be extended north of the border

Plaid Cymru parliamentary leader Jonathan Edwards MP speaking on June 11^th at a Transport Questions session in the Commons to press the UK Government on securing a fair share of HS2 spending for Wales, said:

"I was disappointed to hear the Transport Secretary replying to my question by maintaining his position that there will be no fair funding from HS2 to Wales, despite the admission of HS2 Ltd.

"Any claims of a business case for HS2 that would benefit Wales has long been demolished by official KPMG figures showing that the project would wipe over £200m from the Welsh economy each year.

"Because HS2 will be funded from general taxation, taxpayers in Wales will pay for HS2 despite it undermining the Welsh economy.

"It is clear that the Westminster government has no intention of extending HS2 to Scotland. This means that it is clearly an England-only railway, and if the UK's funding mechanisms are to be applied correctly, this must result in a full and equitable share for the governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to invest in their own countries' transport infrastructure.

"The moral case to me seems clear. If the Westminster government maintains its current position then I urge the national governments of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to work together to demand fairness for our nations.

"The UK government needs to make a clear statement that this injustice will be rectified when the Comprehensive Spending Review is published, or face sustained pressure from Plaid Cymru and others who will continue to fight for a fair deal from this development."

WALES IS NOT A WESTMINSTER PRIORITY

The news that the £50 billion pound HS2 rail link will not be extended to Scotland, as the team behind the project has found there is “no business case” for the undertaking, does not surprise me. For sometime HS2 has been focused on reducing journey times from London to Birmingham to 49 minutes, before it splits into lines to Manchester and Leeds over two phases.

However, it was always hinted that HS2 would still ultimately reach Scotland, so commuters could travel from Glasgow and Edinburgh to London in three hours, against about four-and-a-half hours today. Back in 2009, when the then New Labour Transport secretary Lord Adonis launched, he claimed it would be “the union railway, uniting England and Scotland, north and south, richer and poorer parts of our country, sharing wealth and opportunity”.

Clearly these dreams and aspirations are no more. The announcement by the team behind the project means that HS2 will now not be extended to Scotland is of some importance, as it leaves leaves England as the only part of the UK set to benefit from the multi-billion pound development.

Any claim of a business case for HS2 that would benefit Wales have long been demolished by official KPMG figures which showed that the project would wipe millions from the Welsh economy each year. As HS2 is to be an England-only project then Welsh taxpayers should not be forced to foot the bill for a development set to be built entirely in England and to the detriment of the Welsh economy.

Plaid Cymru has led the campaign for Wales to receive a faire share of funding from HS2. Estimates show that this would bring in a vital £2-4bn that could be spent on revolutionising Welsh roads and railways, which are crying out for investment. HS2 must not be allowed to entrench inequality throughout the UK by concentrating investment on projects to benefit London and the South East while Scotland and Wales are ignored.

AT THE END OF THE LINE…

The proposals for a High Speed Rail 3 (HS3) link between Manchester and Leeds should be welcomed. The announcement could be taken to suggest that finally (if somewhat belatedly) Westminster has realised that non-road related transport infrastructure needs to be seriously invested in. While I recognise the importance of the proposed HS3 link in the north of England, however it is spun, it is yet another example of a large scale all England infrastructure project, once more our country runs the risk of being left behind. 

HS3 will take any alleged benefits for Wales from HS2 even further out of reach. Our railways are in desperate need of electrification and have been for decades, yet the UK government happy to force Welsh taxpayers to foot part of the bill for the England-only HS2 project which is expected to cost anywhere between £40-80 billion pounds. Rather than relying on cross-border links to get from one end of our country to another, Plaid Cymru wants to see a country-wide approach to transport investment where people can travel all around Wales with ease. 

Plaid has actively campaigned for the electrification of the Great Western mainline, the North Wales Main Line, and the valley lines, yet both Labour and Tory governments have made minimally slow progress. Our country needs a transport infrastructure that is fit-for-purpose - this is vital to create jobs and to help our economy grow. It is ludicrous that the HS3 project, if goes ahead, is being labeled as an UK-wide project when it will clearly not benefit Wales. Wales should receive its fair share of investment in our own transport system so we get Wales moving again.

FOR THE UK SEE ENGLAND

For UK see England?

Representatives from five cities in the North of England have called for a £ 15 billon pound 15-year plan to be adopted to improve transport. The plan is outlined in the One North report which calls for a  125 mph trans-Pennine rail link, a faster link to Newcastle and better access to Manchester Airport are needed. It has been developed by an alliance of five cities - Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield and has been previously backed by George Osborne has who pledged support to this Crossrail of the North. The proposals are yet incidentally another all-England infrastructure project to add to the questionably beneficial massive HS2 rail project, the much delayed London Crossrail project and the proposed Crossrail extension to Hertfordshire. No don’t get me wrong much of this infrastructure is necessary and very much long overdue. However, I cannot help but wonder if Westminster is contemplating on some subliminal level the end of the Union and is concentrating resources in England, or perhaps this merely be a case of for the UK see England.

A FAIR SHARE FOR WALES

Plaid Cymru's Jonathan Edwards MP has launched a campaign to secure a fair share for Wales from spending on the England-only High Speed Rail (HS2) project. Welsh taxpayers should not be forced to fund an England-only project and that Wales is entitled to a sum of around £2 -4 billon pounds of the HS2 expenditure. The HS2 project runs the risk of dominating infrastructure investment for at least a generation and that there will be little money left to spend on other projects, despite the Welsh transport network being in dire need of investment.

To sign the petition, click here: http://www.getwalesontrack.org/

Plaid Cymru has fought for four years fought for a fair share for Wales from spending on the England-only HS2 project. The HS2 project is estimated to cost £ 50 - 80 billion pounds, improving rail links between London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds with little benefit to Wales. The Westminster Government has branded this an UK-wide scheme despite the fact that it sits entirely in England. Wales is home to 5% of the UK population, so we should receive £2-4bn for our fair share.

Our fair share could revolutionise our transport system and deliver much-needed projects such as the electrification of the North Wales Main Line, the Valleys Lines, a South Wales Metro, and countless road projects up and down Wales. Plaid Cymru is the party for all of Wales. Unlike the Labour Welsh Government who have taken the reckless decision to spend nearly £1bn on a 9 mile stretch of the M4, Plaid recognises that roads and railways in all corners of our nation are in need of investment.

Independent research shows that HS2 will have a devastating impact on the South Wales economy, Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs from Wales have voted in favour of this project. This is unacceptable; we need to send the so-called Westminster elite a message. Wales is not longer prepared to settle for crumbs from the Westminster table. 

The financial decisions on HS2 will be made in the next Comprehensive Spending Review, which will take place in the early years of the next Westminster Parliament. The run-up to the General Election is the only opportunity the people of Wales have to ensure that those allegedly elected to serve our communities after next May will not support public spending on HS2 unless our nation receives a fair share.