Oral Answers to Questions

Liz Saville Roberts Excerpts

Wednesday 11th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Jo Stevens]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. If we were to devolve the Crown Estate and introduce a new entity, that would risk market fragmentation, complicate existing processes, and delay further development offshore, jeopardising those jobs and that investment. Even if it could be done without risking the revenues, that would not automatically lead to more money for the Welsh Government, because any revenues they retained would likely be offset through reductions to the block grant, as is the case in Scotland. Meanwhile, Wales would no longer benefit from Crown Estate assets and profits in England.

[Liz Saville Roberts (Dwyfor Meirionnydd) (PC)]

There is no long-term vision. Torfaen council has voted unanimously to devolve the Crown Estate to Wales, which means that every local authority in Wales, including every Labour-run council, supports the policy. Does the Secretary of State really believe that the UK Labour Government know better than the entirety of Welsh local government? When Wales speaks with one voice, isn’t it time that Wales’s voice in the Cabinet says the same thing?

[Jo Stevens]

I refer the right hon. Lady to my previous answer.

[Liz Saville Roberts]

Was that the answer? It is hardly even looking at the question.

In opposition, the Secretary of State for Wales joined Plaid Cymru in condemning the Conservatives for denying Wales £4.6 billion in rail funding. Now in government, she is waxing lyrical about 10% of that, and she was recently content to move the goalposts and deny Wales a further £300 million by classifying the Oxford-Cambridge line as benefiting Wales. I don’t know how they make this up. Does she oppose that new injustice, or was she ignored? Or is it her mission to see Wales short-changed?

[Jo Stevens]

I listened carefully to the right hon. Lady’s question, and I am sure that she would not wish unintentionally to mislead the House. The situation regarding the Oxford-Cambridge line was an error made by the Conservative Government in the 2021 spending review, and as she knows, heavy rail infrastructure is reserved, not devolved, so for every heavy rail project in England, Barnett consequentials do not apply. The UK Government fund that is funding East West Rail is also directing funding projects in Wales, such as the redevelopment of Wales’s busiest station, Cardiff Central; improvements to level crossings in north Wales; and upgrades to the south Wales relief lines. I know that all 27 Welsh Labour MPs are looking forward to hearing what the Chancellor has to say today about rail investment, after all their excellent advocacy on behalf of people across Wales.