Thread by @WillHayCardiff

Today I approached the UK Government to ask them to explain how HS2 actually benefits Wales.

I have to say, the response was pathetic.

It just showed how they simply don't understand the sheer extent to which Wales is missing out.

Let me explain.

[Thread]

As background, yesterday @WalesOnline published this piece on how Wales was being shafted by the UK Government's decision to treat HS2 (and its £90bn+ of funding) as an England and Wales project.

walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-new…

It showed how Wales was losing out of over £5bn of rail funding. This money would be truly lifechanging for so many people in Wales.

Seriously, read it, it is crazy how much getting its fair share could help Wales' creaking infrastructure.

Following this piece I contacted the Department for Transport and asked them the following three questions (remember not a metre of high speed rail track will be laid in Wales):

- Please provide a list of all the ways in which HS2 will directly benefit to Wales?

- Will these benefits come close to the benefits that £5bn consequential could have provided 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿?

- Given HS2's primarily north/south travel why is this not treated as also benefiting Scotland?

This was an opportunity for the UK Government to explain to the people of Wales how the billions of pounds of our tax payers money going towards HS2 would benefit them.

It was giving them a fair hearing to explain to the people they govern why they were not short changing them.

Their response was 2 sentences:

"HS2 will provide faster & more frequent train services to North Wales. The HS2 Interchange at Crewe will bring many parts of North Wales within two and a quarter hours of London, faster than the current West Coast Main Line services to Holyhead."

Where to even begin with this?

Let's start with the length (2 SENTANCES?!)

It might be fair to assume that trying to justify why Wales shouldn't be entitled to an extra £5bn of funding would take more than two sentences, both of which are making broadly the same point anyway.

Wales getting its fair share of this money would be life-changing for millions of people across Wales.

The projects that could be funded wouldn't only make Wales more connected...

...they could also go a long way to relieving deeply entrenched issues in Wales such as congestion around the M4 at Newport and providing 21st century worthy public transport for many of our isolated communities to combat poverty.

It also speaks volumes for how much of an afterthought the decision was in the first place.

Rather than assessing the rail needs of Wales & funding them appropriately, defining HS2 as an Wales and Eng project was seen as useful cost-saving exercise for the UK Gov's pet project.

But nothing says the UK Government just doesn't get it like how they pointed to London travel times as the key benefit Wales would see.

WHAT THE HELL?

For the vast, vast, majority of rail users in Wales the issues they face isn't that they can't get to London quick enough.
The issue is that their trains are old, overcrowded, sporadic and late. When they turn up they are too slow because many of our lines aren't electrified.

If you live in the west of Wales you are faced with having to travel into England just to get to your own capital city.

In many places the issue is simply there is not railway at all!

Simply arguing that people in the north of Wales will now be able to get to London slightly quicker shows no understanding of the lived realities and challenges facing rail users in Wales.

The idea that being able tog get to London solves problems will do nothing but add to the perception that the UK Government is south-east England-centric.

But is also worth pointing out that their response totally ignored the question about why Scotland was not deemed to benefit from HS2 but Wales was.

The UK Government's own analysis states:

- Services to Glasgow and Edinburgh will be around an hourr faster than now via HS2 and the West Coast Main Line.
- Services to Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen will be up to 25 mins faster than now because of upgrades to the East Coast Main Line.

If Scotland is also seeing the benefits why is Wales being uniquely short-changed?

This is a real scandal.

One of the poorest areas of the UK is being condemned to another century of unfit rail travel and told to revel in the glory of being able to travel from Wales towards London at a slightly faster rate.

You can read the full story here.
walesonline.co.uk/news/politics/…