Eluned Morgan responds to UK Labour comments that Wales should be 'grateful' for what it gets from Westminster
Eluned Morgan responds to UK Labour comments that Wales should be 'grateful' for what it gets from Westminster
It was during a row over rail funding
Wales' First Minister Eluned Morgan has said comments by a senior UK Government minister saying Wales should be "grateful" for what it is has had in terms of rail funding were "unfortunate".
Mrs Morgan was speaking in an interview with BBC Radio Wales' Sunday Supplement programme. The row started after the spring statement, when the UK Government announced a £445m funding package for rail in Wales.
A number of questions were outstanding after that announcement including exactly what it would be spent on, and how much of it will go to the five new, promised stations in Cardiff, Newport and Monmouthshire.
While the announcement was much lauded by Welsh Labour figures, it is far short of the total amount Wales needs, and does not address historic underfunding of rail in Wales, something now formally acknowledged by both UK and Welsh Governments.
There were big questions remaining after the announcement, many of which we have been unable to get any clarity over since. You can read those here.
Ten days ago, Darren Jones, chief secretary to the Treasury, was asked in the Commons by Wales' sole Liberal Democrat MP David Chadwick about the funding. "I hope the minister appreciates just how insulting it is for Welsh ears to been told that we're getting a fair deal when it comes to railway funding, when we've been cheated out of billions of pounds due to the classification of several projects as England [and] Wales projects.
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He said five new stations in south Wales was "hardly national renewal".
Mr Jones responded: "There's a huge difference. Under the last government you didn't get a penny."
He said the UK Government was providing the "largest real terms increase in spending in Wales since devolution began".
He added: "You might want to be a little more grateful in future."
Mr Chadwick said in a statement: "This was a gobsmackingly arrogant response from the minister that just shows how out of touch Labour are with Wales." While at the time, Plaid Cymru's Liz Saville Roberts said it was "arrogant and insulting".
Mrs Morgan was asked by radio host Vaughan Roderick if that was how Westminster sees Wales. "That ws an unfortunate turn of phase," she said.
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Asked if it made her wince, she replied: "I've said it was an unfortunate turn of phrase".
She continued: "If you compare what we were given before with relation to rail compared to what we were getting before that's a substantial increase. Is it enough? No.
"Has there been a commitment to give further? Yes. This is just the beginning".
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