East West Rail Line

Treasury written question – answered at on 17 June 2025.

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Photo of Lord Hain Lord Hain Labour

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Barnett consequential that would have been allocated to Wales if the new Oxford–Cambridge railway line had been classified as an England project, rather than an England and Wales project.

Photo of Lord Hain Lord Hain Labour

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Barnett consequential as a result of funding allocated to the new Oxford–Cambridge railway line for (1) Scotland and (2) Northern Ireland.

Photo of Lord Livermore Lord Livermore The Financial Secretary to the Treasury

At the Spending Review 2025, the Barnett formula was applied at department level using departmental comparability factors. This means that Barnett consequentials generated in relation to specific programmes cannot be determined.

The UK Government is responsible for heavy rail infrastructure across England and Wales and so directly spends money on this in Wales rather than funding the Welsh Government to do so through the Barnett formula.

This approach applies to our investment in rail in England and is consistent with the funding arrangements for all other policy areas reserved in Wales as set out in the Statement of Funding Policy.

As part of the Spending Review, the Chancellor announced at least £445m for railways in Wales over ten years, including new funding for Burns Review stations, North Wales Level Crossing, Padeswood Sidings and Cardiff West Junction.

The UK Government continues to work closely with the Welsh Government, including open discussions with HM Treasury to provide clarity on changes that have an impact on their funding, and to ensure the smooth delivery of funding arrangements.

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Barnett formula

An economic mechanism used by the Treasury to adjust automatically the amounts of public expenditure allocated to Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, to reflect changes in spending levels allocated to public services in England, England and Wales or Great Britain as a whole.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnett_formula

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