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Welsh Government dismiss ‘glossy brochure’ produced by UK Government claiming better working relations

02 Apr 2022 2 minute read
Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Picture by Chatham House (CC BY 2.0) Mark Drakeford picture by the Welsh Government.

The Welsh Government have dismissed the significance of what they called a “glossy brochure” published by the UK Government claiming that they were working well together.

The Tory government’s Intergovernmental Relations Review for 2021, published on Thursday, claimed that the relationship between the UK Government and Welsh and Scottish governments “has been working”.

“No single government has all the good ideas. We need to work together,” it said.

“This is how intergovernmental relations works – and as this annual report shows, it has been working. The report details the unprecedented amount of calls and meetings that have taken place between the governments. And we will go further.”

However, a Welsh Government spokesperson dismissed the impression given by the report, saying: “Intergovernmental relations are based on more than a glossy brochure.

“Deeper and more meaningful engagement is still needed to resolve a series of ongoing issues.”

Scottish Constitution Secretary Angus Robertson also criticised the report, telling the Scottish National newspaper that the review only “describes the UK Government’s view”.

“Simply holding meetings does not constitute quality engagement – meetings need to have substance,” he said.

“Too often our experience is one of being told decisions which affect Scotland are being taken without any meaningful consultation taking place beforehand.”

In his introduction to the report, Levelling Up Minister Michael Gove said they were now “working hand in hand with the devolved governments” on the pandemic.

He said Covid-19 was an “extraordinary logistical triumph as the UK Government bought and shared vaccines across every part of the UK and our respective health services got the needles into arms in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales”.

“A corner was being turned but a lot of hard work still lay ahead.”


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Kerry Davies
Kerry Davies
1 year ago

Has Gollum Gove paid NHS Wales for the PPE that England hijacked yet?
Barnett should also see Wales get a bonus since England gave so many Billions to friends of Tories for stuff they couldn’t use and are now burning.

Y Cymro
Y Cymro
1 year ago

I wouldn’t trust a word this Tory idiocracy says. If Boris Johnson said it was sunny outside, I’d go and look out of the window first. And not because I listen to anything this fool says but I trust only my judgement. Seeing is believing. The Conservatives have claimed similar before. How they were in regular contact with the Welsh Government. But this was a lie. There is often zero communication from Whitehall, who prefer to bypass or overrule our Senedd completely. Power junkies. As an example. Who can recall over 300 refugees dumped at an ex-Army barracks in Pembrokeshire… Read more »

Last edited 1 year ago by Y Cymro
Mark
Mark
1 year ago

So they’re basing the success on the number of phone calls and meetings they’ve had and not on the outcome of said meetings and phone calls, and it would depend on which side you take whether the interactions were a success or not, St Davids day bank holiday, not successful for Wales total success for the English nationalists,

Llefain
Llefain
1 year ago

If you have to tell people it is working rather than people being able to see it is working, it probably isn’t working.

Fi yn unig
Fi yn unig
1 year ago

The bypassing, ignoring and rubbishing of the Welsh and Scottish Parliaments by the UK Parliament has been clear for all to see. To produce any literature to gloss over that indisputable truth sounds to me like a measure of panic and a recognition that there is a rapid growth of desire in both nations to be free of their disdain.

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