A recent spending review from the UK Government has not gone down well with some parts of the Senedd. £445 million for rail funding for Wales is ‘less than we’d get for HS2 alone’ according to Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth, but Eluned Morgan says there’s more to it than just that.
00:00The funding model for Wales is complicated. You could look at it one way that it comes from our taxes, which goes to Westminster, which comes back here to Cardiff Bay.
00:09But obviously it's far more intricate than that. It's not always based simply on what Wales offers or what Wales needs.
00:15And Plaid Cymru leader Serenap Yorworth says that Wales is being drastically underfunded compared to other devolved UK nations.
00:22The worst real terms growth in the capital budget of all devolved governments, a worse deal than Scotland and Northern Ireland, a capital block decreasing between 2026 and 2030, the risk of real terms cuts for some services, according to the IFS, the slowest growth in Welsh government day to day spending outside of the austerity years and the prospect of cuts to budgets beyond health looming large.
00:47Does the First Minister disagree with any of those facts I've laid out?
00:52What I know is that in the recent spending review, we have seen £5 billion in terms of public spending.
01:02That's money that we can spend on the things that matter to the people of Wales, including things like health, education and making sure that we can produce quality jobs.
01:13The fact is that when we do get money into Wales, it's really important that we are supported and that it's spent on those communities.
01:22It all seems to be about rail funding at the moment. It's complicated by what areas of rail are devolved and what parts aren't.
01:28But opposition parties here in Cardiff Bay and over in Westminster say that a recent spending review given Wales £445 million worth of funding simply isn't enough.
01:38And the Plaid Leader wants to make that clear.
01:40Leonard Morgan, though, says it's important to take note of other areas of funding that Wales received.
01:44£445 million in rail funding, roughly half of what we should be getting in HS2 consequentials alone over the spending review period,
01:54let alone make up for historic underfunding by both Labour and Conservative governments.
01:59Applying the First Minister's own calculations, Wales will lose more than £100 million in capital funding every year
02:07because of HS2's designation as an England and Wales project.
02:12Labour sources were putting it out there that the £445 million is more than Wales' share of rail funding had it been barnatised.
02:22It simply isn't true.
02:24It is important that we recognise that other things were delivered in this spending review.
02:30For years, we asked for support to remove the coal tips and to secure those coal tips.
02:41Now, we have had that additional money, £118 million, to support those communities
02:49while they see around them the instability in terms of those coal tips as a result of climate change.
