Chancellor confirms £445 million investment in Welsh railways in spending review

Rachel Reeves has announced five new stations will be created in Cardiff, Newport and Monmouthshire - and there'll also be upgrades in North Wales

Chancellor confirms £445 million investment in Welsh railways in spending review

Welsh rail projects will receive £445m in additional funding - but cash will come over 10 years, the Chancellor has announced.

Announcing the additional funding for new stations and upgrading existing lines across north and south Wales during the spending review on Wednesday, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said it follows the Labour Government's acknowledgement of years of underinvestment in Welsh rail in January.

However, opposition politicians have criticised the 10-year timeline for the funding, with the Liberal Democrats saying it showed Labour's "contempt" for Wales.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Ms Reeves said: "For 14 years the Conservatives failed the people of Wales. Those days are over.

"Following representations from my Right Honourable Friend the Welsh Secretary, the First Minister for Wales and Welsh Labour MPs, I am pleased to announce today £445m for railways in Wales over 10 years, including new funding for Padeswood Sidings and Cardiff West Junction.

"That is the difference made by two Labour Governments working together to undo a generation of underfunding and neglect."

HS2 has been highly controversial in Wales, with Welsh Labour and opposition groups saying that the country was missing out on funding from the scheme.

They argue that because it was designated an "England and Wales project", Wales lost out on money it would have received through the Barnett formula.

Plaid argues this has left Wales £3.9 billion poorer, while Welsh Labour has suggested figures in the hundreds of millions.

None of the track for HS2 is in Wales.

Ms Saville Roberts said: "The announcement of £44.5 million a year for Welsh rail over the next decade is Labour's flimsy fig leaf to excuse the multibillion-pound, multi-decade scandal that is the Welsh rail injustice.

"Today's funding is only meaningful if it matches what Wales will continue to lose from HS2 and all other English rail projects in the future.

"Labour hopes a few token projects will distract from deep cuts to vital services that hit the most vulnerable hardest, all while shifting the goalposts on Welsh funding. The unfair Barnett formula remains open to manipulation."

Welsh Liberal Democrat Westminster spokesperson David Chadwick said: "Labour's contempt for Wales just gets worse and worse.

"The indefensible decision to spread this measly amount of rail funding over 10 years not only robs Wales of what it is owed for past projects, but also guarantees that we will continue to fall behind in infrastructure spending, as major transport projects in England get the green light.

"Labour clearly has no interest in growing the Welsh economy or giving us the tools we need to thrive and attract investment into our country."

Leader of the Welsh Conservatives Darren Millar branded the announcement an "insult to the people of Wales".

He said: "The previous UK Conservative Government invested over £1bn in rail infrastructure between 2014 and 2024 and promised over £1bn more to deliver the electrification in North Wales. Shameful."

A spokesman for Reform UK argued the funding "falls far short" of what Wales is owed.

He said: "After the financial disaster of HS2, a project that delivered nothing for the people of Wales, this gesture is little more than a token.

"It does not come close to addressing the decades of underinvestment our communities have