Call from Senedd for legal action over rail and NI funding
The former Plaid Cymru leader warned that a decision to reclassify an Oxford-to-Cambridge railway line as an 'England-and-Wales' project cost Wales £360m in consequential funding.
Mr Price asked Welsh ministers: 'If the change was made – as it ostensibly was – without consultation or adequate reasoning, what legal hurdles would the Welsh Government face in bringing a case and what remedies might be available?'
Julie James, who is counsel general, the Welsh Government's chief legal adviser, replied: 'I don't think that's something we want to particularly take to court.'
Ms James pointed to an extra £445m for rail in Wales in last week's UK Government spending review, welcoming a 'step change' in the level of investment in the past year.
But Mr Price suggested the decision to reclassify East West Rail after four years as an England-only project created a legitimate expectation in legal terms for budget planning.
During counsel general questions in the Senedd on June 17, he criticised the 'completely unexplained reversal' on the project which has 'no direct nor indirect benefit to Wales'.
The shadow justice secretary said: 'That seems to me to amount to a breach of procedural fairness, or potentially even cross the Wednesbury threshold of irrationality because it's a perverse decision – and that's why no real explanation has been proffered.'
He urged Welsh ministers to issue a pre-legal action letter compelling the UK Government to disclose the reasoning behind the reclassification.
Ms James, who could not explain the four-year delay, replied: 'I don't think that that would be a good use of the government's resources at all.'
The Labour politician told the Senedd national planning on heavy rail is done on a England-and-Wales basis, so any scheme in England would proceed as such.
Mr Price also suggested legal action over a £72m shortfall in funding from UK ministers to cover the increased cost of national insurance contributions in the Welsh public sector.
He told Senedd members the UK Government's statement of funding policy states devolved administrations should suffer no detriment from UK policy decisions.
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