Members of the Senedd will today (Tuesday 6 October) be asked to back the Welsh Government’s calls on the UK Government to accelerate its commitment to investment in rail infrastructure in Wales and allow Welsh Ministers to have more flexibility over funding from Westminster.
The motion, which will be debated this afternoon and has cross-party backing, asks the Welsh and UK Governments to work together on three practical steps:
- the removal of all restrictions on the Wales Reserve, a fiscal mechanism that allows the Welsh Government to manage its funding from one financial year to the next, which would allow for greater flexibility to react to emerging and unknown pressures
- improvements to the operation of the Barnett formula, the decades-old system used to determine how much money Wales gets from the UK Government, to strengthen fairness and transparency in how funding decisions are made and understood
- reaffirmed support for the UK Government’s £14 billion rail infrastructure commitment for Wales, with sufficient funding for improvement projects during the current Spending Review period
Cabinet Minister for Finance Elin Jones said:
“This motion sets out a constructive and practical agenda so both Welsh and UK governments can work together ensuring decisions about Wales properly reflect the needs of people here.
“Removing restrictions on the Wales Reserve is a simple, practical step that would let us make better use of resources that already belong to Wales.
“While on rail, commitments alone don’t improve connectivity, what matters now is delivery, and we want to see that delivery accelerated.
“We are keen to build a broad consensus across the Senedd on these important issues. The more Wales speaks with one voice, the greater chance we have of being heard.”
