Work to establish a new railway line between Oxford and Cambridge is under way.
The East West Rail Project is set to deliver “much-needed transport connections”, according to Network Rail, by re-establishing a link between the two university towns.
But why has a row broken out about it – and what is the role of Wales?
The issue of England and Wales projects
The project is classed as an England and Wales one, meaning that Wales does not get a share of funding, unlike in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Previous rail projects, such as Crossrail have been classed as England-only, with Wales receiving a share of funding based on its population.
Opposition parties have called for the project to be changed to England-only.
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Rail infrastructure in Wales is a reserved matter, which means it is the responsibility of the UK government rather than the Welsh government.
The Liberal Democrats said Wales could get more than £300m if the government changed the project to England-only.
Wales would get that money through the Barnett Formula – the population-based method which decides how much money devolved governments have to spend.
The funding consequences for Wales
Politicians have similarly called on Wales to get “up to £5bn” of consequential funding from the HS2 project, which has also been classed as England and Wales.
Wales’s first minister, Eluned Morgan, told Sky News earlier this year she was expecting an “uplift” in money for Welsh railways and branded the HS2 funding “unfair”.
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In a landmark speech last month, Baroness Morgan called for a “fair deal” for Wales as she sought to reset the relationship between the Welsh and UK governments.
David Chadwick, Liberal Democrat MP for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe, said it was “HS2 all over again”.
“All we want is Wales to be treated fairly, to receive the same treatment as Scotland and Northern Ireland,” he said.
Ben Lake, Plaid Cymru‘s MP for Ceredigion Preseli, said neither the East West Rail Project or HS2 have been “designed to deliver benefits to communities in Wales”.
“The UK government has previously designated large rail projects in England, such as Cross Rail in London, as projects benefitting England alone, and if it were to reclassify HS2 and the Oxford to Cambridge projects in the same way, Wales could stand to gain billions in consequential funding,” he added.
Sam Rowlands, the Welsh Conservatives‘ shadow transport secretary, said the project highlighted “further unfairness in funding”.
“The Welsh Conservatives have consistently called for Wales’s fair share of HS2 funding and maintain that this new project must also deliver fair consequential funding,” he added.
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Sky News has asked the Treasury for its response.
