Welsh Government accused of rail devolution U-turn

These Labour in Wales politicians are allergic to responsibility. Labour UK is withholding rail investment money, declaring funding for projects as "England and Wales" so they can avoid investing it in Wales and handing fractions, contrary to the funding arrangements they have setup an agreed to under their idealistic one United Kingdom view. Labour in Wales are happy with this arrangement, not really justifying their jobs or their true allegiance.

Naive comments from Julie James. Can she please be replaced by someone who is more savvy?

As long as the south-east gets theirs they're cool with Wasteminster and the rest of us, bar Wrexham Junction, can go hang... Welsh Labour are tired and on the ropes, not long to go...

Another volte facé from Unionist labours Welsh branch! Why are we not surprised?

What a bizarre statement. There is no issue of 'seemlessness' between cross border rail services. Every country in Europe has them, including England. Incoming trains on Eurostar are designated and regulated as 'French' and outgoing trains are designated and regulated as 'English' all the way to Paris. Netherlands actually own and operate tracks and stations over the border in Germany too, and visa versa. Julie James MS bats for England and is issuing soundbite phantoms to Wales as an excuse to rob Wales of rail investment.

Groundhog Day. Despite all the windbaggery about HS2 etc. politicians in Cardiff Bay do not want to take responsibility as was the case 20 years ago. Let’s see if Plaid are really any different or whether they want the benefits without the risk too.

If they're not going to push to get control they need to push for better from Whitehall. Where's the commitment to upgrade all mainlines in Wales to UK norms - electrify to Swansea and Holyhead, modernise signalling to boost capacity and uprate line speeds.

Can Welsh Labour speak for Wales, just once? Shout, scream, throw toys out of prams, have a right old tantrum but, just once, speak as if you want the best for Wales and are angry at how we are constantly treated.

So Scotland, Northern Ireland, and even English regional mayors either already control, or are about to control, rail infrastructure, but when Wales asks for the same, it’s suddenly labelled “separatism”? Where is the logic in this double standard? And what evidence is there that rail devolution is somehow unwanted in Wales? What this really looks like is Welsh Labour retreating from a long-held position at precisely the moment they are about to lose control in Cardiff Bay. When Labour was in opposition, it was vocal about Wales being short-changed on rail funding. Now that they are in power in London, we’re offered vague assurances, partial reforms, and they expect us to be grateful for these crumbs. This pattern is not new. Time and again, parties at Westminster play the “standing up for Wales” card when it suits them in opposition, only to quietly drop it once they are in government. If current polling is even broadly accurate, it suggests people in Wales are starting to see through this. Wanting parity, accountability, and the powers needed to fix chronic underinvestment is not radical, its common sense. And it shouldn’t be controversial for Wales to demand what others already take for granted.

James' big gaffe is to let slip that Labour in Wales are just a bunch of feeble politicians who don't like responsibility, enjoy ducking issues and let someone else, ideally remote, carry the can. 2026 is a good time to the lot of them.

In an attempt to stitch up Labour David TC Davies posted this summary of Westminster's investment in Welsh railways since 2001. And it's absolutely shocking because apart from electrifying to Cardiff, chipping a bit in for the Cardiff metro (just because the EU was) and some cash towards upgrading Cardiff Central they've invested nothing in 23 years.

Maybe this is a conspiratorial view on my part, but I'm starting to think Labour want to lose Wales at this point... Hell, I think they secretly want Reform to win! If Farage's mob take hold of the Senedd, they can use that to their advantage come the Westminster elections in 2029... They'll have a solid three years to use Wales as a political football, highlighting how much of a rotten job Reform are doing in Cardiff and using some kind of "You don't want that for the rest of the country, do you?" rhetoric, hoping that it will pan out for then in the end. If Plaid do get the Senedd, it won't be such an effective spin for Labour, but I wouldn't put it past them to go out of their way to smear Plaid, by doing their best to compare them to Reform or even as some kind of "extreme isolationist group" (which they already have). It's the only bullet they have in the chamber at this point.

When the leader of a country trying for independence from an invading country is also a member of the house of Lords in the invading country and no-one screams conflict of interest something is wrong somewhere. And Wales wonders why nothing has been achieved over the last 26 years with members of the senedd making statements like that of ms james, and this group of officials wants an above inflation pay rise and for us the voters to pay for childcare costs for senedd members when is this madness going to stop and Wales can get some real politicians.

In case Julie James is unaware, trains run all the way "seamlessly" to Glasgow and Edinburgh from London but that doesn't stop Scotland from running its own rail infrastructure. Welsh Labour's blundering has cost Wales £6 billion so far. Roll on May and a Plaid Cymru government to stand up for Wales.