Is there a windfall coming down the line for Wales?

More pain than gain is expected for most departments from this year's spending review, but there are hopes of extra cash for rail projects in Wales. Ruth Mosalski reports...

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ON June 11, Chancellor Rachel Reeves will stand in the House of Commons and spell out the UK Government’s spending plans for the coming years.

While we are told the final details are still being worked out, there is now chatter within Welsh Labour ranks a sizeable amount of money will be allocated to spend in Wales on rail projects.

Rail isn’t fully devolved to the Welsh Government.

Managing the Wales and Borders franchise is devolved to ministers in Cardiff Bay, and the Core Valleys Lines are now owned and operated here.

But rail infrastructure planning and funding is still managed by Network Rail from Westminster and funding is not divided up fairly between England and Wales.

There is now a growing expectation that Rachel Reeves will announce some extra money to spend on rail projects in Wales over the period of this spending review. This has been brewing for some time.

There was an orchestrated release of letters in January, with an admission from the UK Government that rail in Wales had been historically underfunded.

The Welsh Government's transport minister then set out plans for developing services in North Wales, including for electrification of the mainline - the most ambitious of which need UK Government investment.

Then a report in Politico last week quoted “government figures” saying that Wales would receive “billions” of capital investment for rail in the spending review.

However, Labour sources in both governments have dampened expectations, saying the sum is unlikely to be as much as “billions”, but there is an acceptance that something is coming - and it will be sizeable.

Politically, the Welsh Government need a big gift from UK Labour given the Senedd election is less than a year away, and polls show Labour is in for a tough time here.

The most recent poll showed Labour slipping to third, way behind Plaid Cymru and Reform UK.