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00:00Can I begin by just welcoming the Secretary of State's acknowledgement of the historic underfunding
00:05because it, as she rightly referred to, is a topic that the predecessor committee of ours has looked into
00:10and it is refreshing to have that acknowledgement now that there has been that historic underfunding.
00:16Another thing that the Secretary of State will know that this committee has looked at in the past
00:20is the whole matter of HS2 classification
00:23and with what she just said about ensuring that there is more funding for rail in Wales
00:29would you not agree that reclassifying HS2 as an England only project
00:34would unlock a lot of that extra funding that could help progress some of the schemes that she mentioned
00:39and indeed go further?
00:41Well, as I said earlier, I want us to have a sustainable pot of rail infrastructure funding for Wales
00:48and I think we need to stop deriving the future of rail in Wales from HS2 alone.
00:56What's gone on in the past, I can't change what's gone on in the past but I can change what happens in the future.
01:02We need sustainable funding of our own, that's what I'm aiming for
01:07and that is what both governments are working towards with that list of priority investments from the Wales Rail Board.
01:16I want to see investment into rail in Wales, that's what I'm going to fight for, that's what I want to get
01:22and it's what people in Wales want, they want to look to the future, they want to see stations being built
01:27they want improvements in services, they want to be able to get to see family, they want to get to jobs
01:33and I want to see that pot of sustainable long-term funding in Wales
01:39so that we can start to deliver for passengers right across the country in a way that we have not been able to in previous years.
01:46I take what the Secretary of State is saying, of course the classification of HS2 as an England and Wales project
01:52does have long-term consequences as far as the Statement of Funding Policy, the Treasury is concerned
01:59it does have an added weighting and the comparability factor for DFT spending now including rail for Wales
02:05does have an impact and sadly a negative impact because of HS2's classification.
02:10So looking to the future, does she think there is a case of, very nicely, requesting the Treasury to look again at this
02:18even if it is the case that they only apply it to future spending on HS2
02:22because at the moment estimates are I think up to £80 billion worth now for HS2
02:27there's a real risk that because of its classification it'll squeeze Wales' ability to get rail funding in the future.
02:33For the sake of repeating myself, I don't think we should derive our future based solely on what has happened with HS2 in the past.
02:41No, I appreciate that and that's not what I'm trying to say, forgive me.
02:45Phase 1 is being completed, the latest Welsh Government estimate of the money that's been spent would have, had it been classified differently
02:56attracted a consequential of £350 million.
03:00There are lots of figures that have been talked about over previous years
03:05but what we do know is that only Phase 1 of HS2 is being built.
03:11Phase 2 has been abandoned by the last Government, it's not going to happen.
03:15So I think what I can say to you Ben is what we do agree on is that there's been historic underfunding of rail infrastructure in Wales
03:24and that's very clear in what I've said today and it's very clear in the exchange of letters between the Transport Secretary and myself with Welsh Government
03:35and that's why I'm going to do something about it.
03:38So as I say, I can't change the past, I will absolutely be trying to change the future.