David Chadwick has accused the UK Government of “cheating” Wales out of billions in rail funding, during a heated exchange in the House of Commons.

The Liberal Democrat MP for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe challenged Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones in the House of Commons over what he described as Wales being denied its fair share of funding due to misclassified projects and limited investment outside South East Wales.

“I hope the Minister appreciates just how insulting it is to Welsh ears for us to be told that we are getting a fair deal on railway funding, when we know that we have been denied billions of pounds due to the classification of several projects as England and Wales projects,” Mr Chadwick said.

“Wales is getting only five railway stations between Newport and Cardiff. That is hardly national renewal, is it?

“Will he bet on Wales and commit to projects outside that belt, such as projects across mid-Wales and west Wales or the electrification of the north and south lines?”

In response to Mr Chadwick’s questions, Mr Jones said that a “key difference” since the change of government was the scale of investment being delivered through cooperation between Westminster and the Welsh Government.

“Under the last Government, Wales did not get a penny,” he said.

“But under this Labour Government, working with the Labour Government in Wales, it has had not only the largest real-terms increase in spending since devolution began, but £455 million for rail infrastructure, nearly £130 million for coal tip safety and many other things.

“That is the benefit of two Labour Governments working together to deliver for the people of Wales, and the hon. Gentleman may want to be a little bit more grateful in future.”

Mr Chadwick later described Mr Jones’ response as “gobsmackingly arrogant”, and accused Labour of failing to tackle long-standing inequalities in infrastructure funding.

Under the current Spending Review, Wales has been allocated £455 million in rail funding - less than a fifth of the £2.5 billion allocated to Greater Manchester.

Critics argue that the classification of HS2 and other large-scale infrastructure schemes as “England and Wales” projects has denied Wales its fair share of Barnett formula consequentials, unlike arrangements in place for Scotland and Northern Ireland.

“This was a gobsmackingly arrogant response from the Minister that just shows how out of touch Labour are with Wales,” said Mr Chadwick.

“Labour has given Wales absolute crumbs when it comes to rail funding in this Spending Review and failed to address the structural problems leading to this injustice, yet the Minister says we should be grateful for the scraps they’ve offered us. It’s simply unbelievable.

"Wales is in dire need of economic investment, given our high poverty levels and the legacy of deindustrialisation.

“The Welsh Liberal Democrats will continue to fight for fair infrastructure funding for Wales so we can build an economy that supports our communities, even in the face of fierce opposition from Labour.”