WALES is set to lose out on over £1 billion more in transport funding after confirmation today that Northern Powerhouse Rail will go ahead as an “England and Wales” project.

Despite Northern Powerhouse Rail improving connections between cities in the north of England, such as Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds, not a single centimetre of the project will be based in Wales.

Scotland is set to receive £2.7bn as a result of the rail project, while Northern Ireland is set to receive just under £1bn.

This follows the funding issue of High Speed Rail 2 (HS2), which was similarly designated as England and Wales, meaning Wales missed out on billions of pounds, despite the project not having any track in Wales.

The latest decision is set to deprive Wales of around £1.59bn in funding, on top of the £4bn Wales lost out on from HS2.

The Welsh Liberal Democrats highlighted that the Westminster government could simply classify the projects as “England only” projects to trigger consequential funding.

Welsh Liberal Democrat MP David Chadwick said: “This Labour government is deliberately depriving Welsh communities of billions of pounds in transport funding.

“Labour has the power to change the system and stop these funding scandals, but has made its position clear.

“They are happy for Wales to be left behind, paying for mega-projects in England while our own rail and transport infrastructure collapses.

“The Welsh Liberal Democrats will continue to fight for fair transport funding that delivers for our communities and businesses.”

A Welsh government spokesperson said: “Despite securing nearly £6bn extra funding in our settlement from the UK government this year, we have been clear that Wales has been underfunded in rail infrastructure investment.

“This historic underfunding has now been recognised by the UK government, and we will continue to work with them on ambitious projects to deliver further rail improvements across Wales.”

The Welsh government did not answer the Star’s question on whether it had made representations to Westminster over the Northern Powerhouse rail project to be designated as England only, so Wales would get the consequential funding.

It also declined to answer what representations it had made to get additional rail funding for Wales.