POLITICAL reaction in Wales has urged the First Minister to press for full rail funding from the Westminster government.

Welsh Tory leader Andrew Davies told Eluned Morgan to stop putting her party first in his response to her interview with the Press Association.

Ms Morgan said in the interview that she had raised with Chancellor Rachel Reeves consequential funding for Wales under the Barnett formula for the HS2 high-speed rail project linking the north of England and London.

The Scottish government received £8 billion while the then Conservative government refused money to Wales, claiming the project benefited both England and Wales — despite no track being laid in Wales.

“HS2 consequentials for Wales are a no-brainer, but now that it’s a Labour government that has to shell out the funding, Welsh Labour has gone soft on the issue,” Mr Davies claimed.

Welsh Labour had called on Tory prime minister Rishi Sunak to pay £4 billion but since then has downgraded the demand to £350 million.

Plaid Cymru has consistently said Wales should receive fair funding — and its share of the HS2 project, as Scotland and Northern Ireland have.

Wales has been short-changed with funding for railways, the First Minister said. Ms Morgan said she had discussed consequential funding for the HS2 project with the Chancellor at the recent Labour Party conference, saying Ms Reeve was in “listening mode.”

But the First Minister, in a sign of backtracking on the issue, said the UK government had made massive commitments to better rail developments in north Wales.