I gave Welsh government what it wanted, says chancellor
Rachel Reeves has defended the UK government's spending plans for Wales, telling BBC Wales she delivered what the Welsh government had asked for.
Opposition parties have been critical of the chancellor's spending review, calling the money earmarked for the railways a "drop in the ocean" compared to what the country needs.
The chancellor said the plan to spend £445m on Welsh railways was a "significant package" and defended the £118m earmarked for coal tips, which is short of estimates previously made by the Welsh government.
Reeves denied the spending review had left Wales short changed and said Wales was getting a "record" amount of cash.
New stations in £445m 10-year Wales rail plan
Spending review sets scene for Senedd election
Spending review could mean cuts in Wales - experts
Rachel Reeves made the comments on a visit to the Taff's Well Transport for Wales depot on Friday.
The Treasury is providing £300m for five new stations around Cardiff and Newport between 2026 and 2030, and a series of improvement works including measures to improve capacity in north Wales.
Another £48m is going on the South Wales Metro, while £90m is being allocated over 10 years to work on future schemes.
Speaking to BBC Wales, Reeves said: "This investment delivers the five train stations from the Burns review in south Wales, improvements to the core valley network as well as the level crossing improvements in north Wales to link people to the jobs that are available.
"This is significant investment that the Welsh government asked for. A Labour government in Westminster working with the Labour government here in Wales to deliver for people in Wales.
"At the same time there's the record devolution settlement for the Welsh government and, on top of that as well, the £118m for coal tips to keep those safe in Wales."
When it was put to her that it was far short of the up to £600m previously estimated to be needed for coaltips, Reeves said: "No, the £118m is what the Welsh government asked for from the UK government and we've delivered that in full.
"And we are also delivering in full the requests for investments for the Burns review stations for example."
Asked if Wales was being short changed by the 0.9% cut to Welsh government capital spending, she said: "No, we're investing in the transport infrastructure, in the coal tips and a record devolution settlement."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
The ‘experts' you've never heard of inspiring Rachel Reeves's disastrous economic policy
A little like the Chagos Islands giveaway and, more recently, the apparent Gibraltar sell out, it's almost impossible to work out the motivations behind each and every idiotic decision this Labour Government takes. There's a palpable sense of incredulity spreading across Britain as the Prime Minister and Chancellor continue to insist that everything is going swimmingly despite most key markers showing precisely the opposite is true. Take the economy. In Wednesday's Spending Review, Rachel Reeves boasted that she had 'wasted no time' removing the barriers to growth. Less than 24 hours later, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that UK GDP had shrunk by 0.3 per cent in April. Labour continues to splurge taxpayers' hard-earned cash despite the national debt sitting at around 96 per cent of GDP, the budget deficit more doubling in the past seven years, and public spending being on a par with the profligate Labour government of the 1970s, which almost bankrupted the country. Back then, taxes as a share of GDP were around 33 per cent. Forecasts suggest that, by 2027, they could reach 37.7 per cent. Unemployment is at its highest level in four years, UK payrolls have lost 276,000 employees since the autumn Budget, and a millionaire is reportedly leaving the UK every 45 minutes under Labour. Still, no one in the Cabinet appears able to rule out further tax rises, with Paul Johnson, the outgoing chief of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) concluding that 'council tax bills look set to rise at their fastest rate over any parliament since 2001-05.' Who is advising Reeves on tax policy, and her relentless assault on our wallets? Readers may not have heard of Arun Advani and Andy Summers, but these little known academics may have been the inspiration for Labour's seemingly never-ending tax grab. They run the Centre for the Analysis of Taxation (CenTax), which some credit for Labour's farm tax. Advani, who is associate professor in the economics department at the University of Warwick, called for inheritance tax 'loopholes' on farms to be scrapped in two reports for the Institute for Fiscal Studies, as well as writing a further report for CenTax making the same arguments for changes to both Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR) last October. After Advani boasted at the Labour Party Conference that he was 'optimistic' because the Labour government is 'genuinely listening' to his ideas, Reeves announced in the Budget that the availability of 100 per cent relief for agricultural and business property would be capped at £1 million. So far, so predictable, you may argue. What's the harm in tapping up Left-wing think tanks for radical tax ideas? Do Conservative governments not rely on the research of free market institutes? Well, some have alleged the Treasury relied solely on CenTax's projection that the changes would raise £520 million, without doing its own calculations. As it conceded in response to a Freedom of Information request: 'H M Treasury does not hold a disaggregated cost projection for the revenue raised from the measure announced at Autumn Budget 2024 to restrict these reliefs. This is a combined policy across the reliefs, rather than separate policies for each relief.' Even more problematically, the £520 million figure has been challenged. The OBR itself said it was uncertain how much would be raised as a result of behavioural responses, whilst CBI Economics calculates that the new tax on both family firms and farms will actually cost the Treasury £1.9 billion over the next five years. Advani claimed that only around 500 farms would be affected by the tax. As the Adam Smith Institute points out, however, 'the government's much-quoted '500' a year is really 15,000 a generation.' The true number of farms could be more than 40,000. Separate research, commissioned by Ashbridge Partners, found that one in 10 farmers surveyed said they will face an IHT bill of more than £1 million due to the inheritance tax hike, with 31 per cent expecting to pay more than £500,000. Why didn't Labour listen? Treasury minister James Murray, who referenced back in 2022 how many Zoom meetings he'd held with Dr Summers, even hosted CenTax's official launch in Parliament last November when he declared his desire 'to make sure that collaboration between CenTax, Treasury and HMRC continues for many years into the future.' Advani and Summers also influenced Labour's pledge to scrap non dom status with Treasury ministers again seeming to unquestioningly swallow their claim that it would raise £3.2 billion, a figure repeatedly cited by the Government. The trouble is, that number was also based on some misguided premises, perhaps including Advani and Summers' quite ludicrous prediction that out of 70,000 non-doms, only 77 would leave. As other economists later pointed out, the projection did not take into account the impact of abolishing non-dom inheritance tax protections. Even the OBR assumed that the changes would likely lead to a loss of 25 per cent of non-doms with trusts, which could cost the UK more than £12 billion during the course of the parliament. Still the Government swallowed the £3.2 billion figure hook line and sinker despite some now estimating that 10 per cent of non-doms may have already left the UK. A report by the CEBR predicts the ongoing exodus could reach 40 per cent – costing the Treasury a self-defeating £7.1 billion over this parliament. This combined with the £1.9 billion revenue lost as a result of the farm and family firm tax could mean the Government is down £9 billion thanks to listening to these nitwits. CenTax also wrongly predicted that increasing the tax rate on carried interest to 45 per cent would raise additional revenue of £0.8 billion per year. Labour settled on 32 per cent – but a January 2025 estimate by the OBR suggests that only £100 million will be raised and since then Reeves has watered it down. Labour claim to be a 'party of business'. So why are they seemingly listening to two economists who are laying the intellectual groundwork for an expansion in taxation that could come to look like Corbynism on steroids. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Yahoo
Corbyn and McDonnell to face no action after rally
MPs Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell will face no further action after being interviewed by police following a pro-Palestinian rally. McDonnell said the pair had been questioned by officers after taking part in the demonstration in central London in January. He told MPs: "It was alleged that we failed to follow police restrictions on the protest. This is untrue, and at all times we followed police instructions". Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn accused the Metropolitan Police of "picking on us two as members of Parliament". A rally involving several thousand people took place in Whitehall in January after police blocked plans to hold a march from Portland Place, near the headquarters of the BBC. Police had imposed a condition on the organisers of the rally under the Public Order Act that prevented them gathering outside the corporation's headquarters because of its close proximity to a synagogue and a risk there could be "serious disruption" as congregants attended services. A further condition required the rally to be confined to Whitehall. Speaking in the Commons on Friday, McDonnell said: "We can now report that the police have dropped the case against us, and there will be no charges". He added that in correspondence with their solicitor, the Met had "informed us that our case was referred to the Crown Prosecution Service because as MPs we were to be held to have, and I quote, a 'greater culpability'". "This is an unacceptable practice that flies in the face of the principle that we are all equal before the law," he added. "I wish to place on record my concern about this behaviour by the Metropolitan Police". Speaking after him, Corbyn said: "I saw this whole effort as being a means to try and silence the democratic rights of everyone in our society by picking on us two as members of Parliament". Former Labour leader Corbyn was re-elected as an independent MP for Islington North after losing the Labour whip in 2020. Hayes and Harlington MP McDonnell currently sits as an independent, after Labour suspended the whip from him for in July 2024 for voting against the government over child benefit rules. In a statement on social media, the pair also called for charges to be dropped against Christopher Nineham, 63, of Tower Hamlets, and Benjamin Jamal, 61, who are facing trial next month on public order charges following the protest. A Met spokesperson said: "No further action will be taken against nine people who were interviewed as part of an investigation into alleged breaches of Public Order Act conditions during a protest on Saturday 18 January. "The decision in two cases was taken following a review of the evidence by the Crown Prosecution Service, while the remaining seven cases were decided on by police officers. "Two men have been charged with breaching the same conditions as well as inciting others to do so. They will stand trial next month. A further two individuals remain under investigation." A spokesperson for the Crown Prosecution Service said: "Following a thorough review of the evidence provided by the Metropolitan Police Service, we have decided not to bring criminal charges against two men, aged 76 and 73. "We have concluded that the case did not meet the evidential test to provide a realistic prospect of conviction against the two men."
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Yahoo
Labour minister admits he was wrong to claim most small boats migrants are 'babies, children and women'
A senior Labour minister has publicly corrected his claim that most people arriving in Britain in small boats are 'children, babies and women' after mounting criticism. Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones made the erroneous comments on the latest edition of BBC Question Time on Thursday night. He was challenged on the programme by Reform UK's Zia Yusuf, who claimed that more than 90 per cent of those on the vessels were men. But Home Office data indicates that adult men made up 73 per cent of small boat arrivals between January 2018 and March 2025. Labour's Darren Jones claims the majority of illegal migrants crossings at Dover are 'children, babies and women". This is simply not true. Another clueless Labour minister. — Nigel Farage MP (@Nigel_Farage) June 13, 2025 Just 9 per cent were adult women and 16 per cent were under 18, in cases where age and sex were recorded. In response to Mr Yusuf, Mr Jones said: 'When you're there on the site seeing these dinghies put together by these organised criminal gangs which are clearly not safe, and when you see that the majority of people in these boats are children, babies and women…' His claim was quickly seized upon by Reform leader Nigel Farage, who reposted the clip on X, formerly known as Twitter, saying: 'This is simply not true. Another clueless Labour minister.' Mr Jones was met with sharp backlash, including from former Reform MP Rupert Lowe, who wrote to the minister demanding a retraction. Last night on Question Time, Labour Minister @darrenpjones stated:"The majority of the people in these boats are children, babies and women."This is a lie.I have written to the Minister, requesting an urgent public correction. — Rupert Lowe MP (@RupertLowe10) June 13, 2025 Despite growing criticism, Downing Street stood by Mr Jones on Friday. A spokesman said the Government is 'absolutely focused on tackling these vile smuggling gangs that risk lives in the Channel' and confirmed Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has confidence in Mr Jones. But just hours later, Mr Jones published a retraction, saying: "Of course the overall majority of people arriving illegally on small boats are men, but not 'north of 90 per cent' as Reform claimed. "On BBC Question Time I shared a story from my visit to the Border Security Command about a dinghy that arrived mostly carrying women, children and babies who had suffered horrific burns. Of course the overall majority of people arriving illegally on small boats are men - but not 'north of 90%' as Reform claimed. On @bbcquestiontime I shared a story from my visit to the Border Security Command about a dinghy that arrived mostly carrying women, children and… — Darren Jones MP (@darrenpjones) June 13, 2025 "I'm happy to clarify this given how this is now being misrepresented.' However, Conservative MPs say Mr Jones' incorrect framing of the data undermines public trust in Labour's ability to secure Britain's borders. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: 'No wonder this is shaping up to be the worst year on record for small boat crossings. If this is what passes for reality inside the Labour Government, Britain is in serious trouble.' More than 15,000 people have already risked their lives to cross the Channel on small boats in 2025, with predictions that the total could reach 50,000 by the end of the year.
