High Speed 2 Line: Finance
The question
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the delay to HS2 on devolved capital budgets.
Answered by Darren Jones
The UK Government is responsible for heavy rail infrastructure across England and Wales so spends money on this in Wales rather than funding the Welsh Government to do so. There is therefore no direct link between HS2 and the Welsh Government’s capital budgets.
Conversely, heavy rail infrastructure is devolved in Scotland and Northern Ireland, so the Scottish Government and Northern Ireland Executive receive Barnett consequentials for HS2 funding. Delays in delivery have no direct impact on the capital budgets of devolved governments as the Barnett formula applies only when department budgets formally change, not when departments announce how they are spending their budgets.
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