Rail injustice runs deeper than HS2. Wales has been robbed of billions over decades
In the embers of the General Election campaign last year lie many a broken promise.
Few have proved to be more emblematic of Labour’s betrayal than its U-turn on HS2, the high-speed railway designated an ‘England and Wales’ project despite not an inch of track being in Wales.
The result? Scotland and Northern Ireland are compensated for it, Wales isn’t and so misses out on billions of pounds of rail investment.
Make no mistake, the Tories and Labour are as guilty as each other. The Tories are crying foul despite working against the Welsh national interest when in government at Westminster and now Labour are reneging on commitments made when they were in opposition.
Plaid Cymru spotted this injustice years ago, and we persuaded others to back our campaign to put it right. The Labour Secretary of State for Wales herself became a cheerleader for giving Wales HS2 justice. But post-election, the priority switched to backing Keir Starmer rather than doing what’s right for Wales.
Meanwhile, Labour in Wales have lost their backbone, talking a good game one minute but voting with the party whip the next.
What’s happened to the ‘partnership in power’ that Labour so often boast about? A partnership which seems more interested in staying the ‘power’ than doing what’s right for Wales, including addressing the great train robbery and its effect on our country.
But rail injustice in Wales runs much deeper than just HS2, and this week, Plaid Cymru held a debate in the Senedd on the historic underfunding of Welsh railways.
From HS2, all the way back to Beeching’s cuts back in the 1960, successive UK governments, both red and blue, have led Wales down a long track of financial neglect, leaving us billions of pounds worse off.
Despite Wales having 11% of the UK rail network, we’ve historically received just over 1% of rail enhancement investment. How can........
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