The Welsh Government has only received 3% of what they have requested from the Budget towards improving their railway.
Chancellor John Healey announced a £30 million rail funding pledge towards the Cardiff Parkway project, but Welsh politician and Deputy Minister for Transport, Mark Hooper, claims this is "an insult to the people of Wales”.
The Plaid Cymru-led Welsh government had called on Healey to bring forward £1bn of the £14bn the UK Labour government had promised for long-term rail funding in Wales.
Last Wednesday the chancellor's Budget announcement confirmed funding for three projects in Wales: £2.5 million for a science park in Ynys Mon; £11 million for a bridge in Port Talbot; £30m for Cardiff Parkway. UK ministers said that rail funding was part of a £445 million package that had been announced at the last Spending Review.
The proposed Cardiff Parkway in the capital's eastern St Mellons area would link passengers on the South Wales Metro network to north Wales, Bristol, Manchester and London. The parkway could serve 800,000 passengers every year and support around 6,000 jobs.
Deputy Minister for Transport, Mark Hooper said, in a press release on the Welsh Government’s website, that the “tiny fraction” allocated in the Budget to the Welsh rail vision is a “missed opportunity for economic growth and tackling climate change”. He revealed that, despite making up 10% of the rail network across Great Britain, only 1% of Network Rail's spending goes to Wales.
Developers had hoped Cardiff Parkway would be operational by 2024, with plans approved by Cardiff council in April 2022, but the broader national interest in the project led the Welsh government under Labour to review the application, before former First Minister Eluned Morgan granted planning permission in January 2025.
The UK government has already backed plans for five new stations in Cardiff, Newport and Monmouthshire, as well as upgrades in north Wales.