Fact check: North Wales main line will receive £1 billion of former HS2 funding

HS2 project

In a post on X, Plaid Cymru shared a clip of leader Rhun ap Iorwerth on Good Morning Britain talking about the cancellation of HS2. The accompanying text of the post read: “HS2 was classified as ‘England and Wales’. Because of that, Scotland gets extra cash. Northern Ireland gets extra cash. Wales gets nothing.”

Evaluation

Under the original plans for HS2, no money was allocated specifically to Wales, because rail infrastructure in England and Wales is an issue controlled by the UK government, a point that Mr ap Iorwerth makes in the clip.

In Scotland and Northern Ireland, it is devolved to the Scottish Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly respectively. As a result, both Scotland and Northern Ireland receive proportional funding for rail projects in England and Wales, like HS2, under the Barnett Formula.

However, since the parts of HS2 which would have extended beyond the London to Birmingham leg were scrapped, remaining funds for the project have been redistributed. This includes £1 billion designated for electrifying the North Wales main line.

The facts

High Speed Rail 2 was first planned in 2010, to improve rail connections between London and Birmingham, Manchester, East Midlands Parkway, Leeds and York. Welsh territory was not part of the proposal.

In October 2023, Rishi Sunak announced that parts of the plan would be shelved, and HS2 would only run from London to the West Midlands, due to overrunning costs, delays and post-Covid travel patterns.

National rail infrastructure in England and Wales is under the remit of the UK Parliament, unlike in Scotland and Northern Ireland, where it is a devolved issue.

This means that, under the Barnett formula, which allocates funds for devolved areas of government, Wales was not eligible for funding alongside HS2, while Scotland and Northern Ireland were.

When the Prime Minister announced that HS2 would be cancelled beyond the London to Birmingham leg, he revealed he would instead put the £36 billion of funding into a project called Network North.

As part of this, £1 billion was set aside for a project to electrify the North Wales main line, which runs from Holyhead in Anglesey, across north Wales, through to Manchester and Liverpool.

Plaid Cymru has previously recognised this funding allocation in the election campaign, but argued that this amount is not sufficient to fund the entire project. The party is instead calling for £4 billion of HS2 funds to be allocated to Wales.

Links

X: Plaid Cymru – “Wales gets nothing.” (archived)

Gov.uk – £1 billion to improve transport connectivity in Wales (archived)

Gov.uk – What the plan to launch Network North means for you (archived)

Gov.uk – £1 billion to improve transport connectivity in Wales (archived)

gov.wales – North Wales main line: rail network map (archived)

HM Treasury – Statement of funding policy: Funding the Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive (archived)

House of Commons Library – High Speed Rail 2 – an overview [website] (archived)

House of Commons Library – High Speed Rail 2 – an overview [PDF report] (archived)

House of Commons Library – Railway infrastructure in Wales (archived)

Plaid Cymru: North Wales rail electrification: ‘Where Labour and Tories align to keep Wales in the slow lane’ (archived)

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