Welsh rail funding is low, UK government admits
HS2The first minister has welcomed an admission by the UK government that spending to improve Wales' railways has been at "low levels" in recent years.
Eluned Morgan said the comments, made in a letter from the Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander, was the first time UK ministers had admitted that the Welsh railways were underfunded.
The letter does not confirm new money, although Morgan said she hopes there would be "significant" investment on new stations to come.
It follows a long-standing row over the lack of extra funding for Wales from the High Speed 2 (HS2) rail project.
Plaid Cymru said the letter did not commit to righting "the wrong" of HS2, while the Welsh Conservatives accused the first minister of accepting "scraps".
A UK government source said UK ministers "cannot fix that inherited injustice" but recognised Wales "has suffered chronic underinvestment".
Because HS2 was designated as an England and Wales project, Wales gets no additional funding as a result despite none of the planned track reaching the country.
Differing figures have been given for how much politicians think Wales is owed from HS2, from £4bn suggested by Plaid and the Welsh government in the past to £350m in the most recent figures from Welsh ministers.
Speaking on The Phone-in on BBC Radio Wales, Morgan said money had been "poured" into HS2 which had been classed as a England and Wales project, "even though not one inch of track was laid in Wales".
That was a "fundamental injustice", she said.
"For the first time, the UK government has recognised that we have been underfunded," she said.
Morgan said conversations had "already started" on a "long list of projects" that could be invested in.
Morgan, asked if there would be consequential funding from HS2, suggested there would not.
"It would probably be in the shape of new stations," she said.
In a letter to the Welsh government, UK government Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander and Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens said they recognised "that railways in Wales have seen low levels of enhancement spending in recent years, particularly in the context of major investments such as HS2".
The letter stated that decisions on extra cash will be up to the Treasury, saying that the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, "has been clear on the position of the public finances bequeathed by the last government".
She said the prioritisation of rail service projects proposed by the Welsh Rail Board, which the two governments are a part of, will inform work with the Treasury ahead of the spending review, due in the spring.
'We cannot fix inherited injustice'
A UK government source added: "We recognise that Wales has suffered chronic underinvestment under successive Conservative governments, including through HS2. We cannot fix that inherited injustice.
"But we can and will fight for a funded pipeline of future rail projects across Wales for the first time in decades."
The letter said the ministers agreed that recommendations of transport commissions in north and south east Wales should be prioritised.
The commission in south Wales proposed five new stations - Cardiff East, Newport West, Somerton, Llanwern and Magor & Undy - at an estimated cost of £335m, plus £50m to improve the mainline itself.
Improvements have also been proposed to the Wrexham to Liverpool line. The UK government letter praised both sets of proposals, saying they "have the ability to drive economic growth".
'If Labour were serious, we would get £4bn'
Plaid Cymru's Llyr Gruffydd said: "The first minister has clearly been reading a very different letter to what we've read.
"It doesn't reference the unfairness of HS2 nor does it say Labour will right the wrong of the full £4bn consequential owed to Wales. Eluned Morgan is conflating two very different issues.
"If Labour were serious about giving Wales fair play, then they would give us the full £4bn we are owed, just as they said they would."
Welsh Conservatives' Peter Fox said: "Before the election, the Welsh Labour government was vocal in calling for fair HS2 consequentials to come to Wales. Yet now, with a Labour Government in Westminster, the first minister seems all too willing to accept whatever scraps her counterparts in London throw our way.
"We were promised two governments working in partnership to deliver what is best for Wales. Instead, we've had broken promise after broken promise."
Analysis
By Gareth Lewis, political editor, BBC Wales News
There is political risk in this for the first minister.
HS2 has become symbolic as much as an economic issue in Welsh politics, but there are no guarantees in anything we have heard today.
This is a proposal, not a concrete commitment. There is the hope for significant rail investment, but we do not know how much, and in any case spending decisions are in the hands of the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves.
The Welsh government will be hoping that any funding is at least equal, preferably more, to what they wanted from HS2 - £350m.
Political opponents are calling for more, and would like new investment on top of consequential HS2 funding.
And given that the first minister - in her own words - has pushed Keir Starmer so much on HS2 funding that he is "sick" of it, will voters feel she has done enough and be on board with the plans?