Welsh Labour officials ‘trying to create a wedge between Burnham and Plaid’s Welsh Government

Martin Shipton

Welsh Labour officials have been accused by a senior party source of trying to create a wedge between Plaid Cymru’s Welsh Government and Andy Burnham before the former Greater Manchester Mayor has become Prime Minister.

On Monday Mr Burnham, who is expected to be elected unopposed as Labour leader within weeks, delivered a keynote speech in Manchester in which he said Britain was an overcentralised state and that more power should be held locally.

The Labour source told Nation.Cymru that party officials had tried to spin the line that Burnham intended to bypass the Welsh Government and give new powers to local authorities in Wales.

In the aftermath of Brexit, the Conservative UK Government decided to bypass Labour’s Welsh Government and allocate regional aid money via councils.

The Labour source told us: “It’s my understanding that Welsh Labour officials spent the day desperately trying to start a conflict between Andy Burnham and the Welsh Government on the basis of very little really. This idea of the Welsh Government being bypassed is more about them wanting to drag him into fights. They must have missed the bit at the start of his speech about his willingness to work collaboratively.

“While Andy Burnham spoke eloquently about the failings of politics as usual and the need for a more collaborative approach, he stressed his willingness to work with others. Meanwhile, some Welsh Labour sources in the Senedd group spent the day trying to convince Welsh journalists that he was spoiling for a fight with the Welsh Government. They claimed he wanted to sideline devolution and deal directly with Welsh councils instead.

“If we want to win back the voters we’ve lost to Plaid Cymru, pretending the Senedd and Welsh Government don’t exist isn’t exactly a winning strategy. We’ll have to make the case to the Welsh people for further devolution to Wales, and within Wales.

“The most frustrating part is that this is exactly how Plaid Cymru would love to portray an incoming Andy Burnham administration. The only problem? It isn’t true.

“The last thing Andy Burnham needs is anonymous briefings from people who seem determined to pick a fight before he’s even found the kettle in his new office. It makes little sense to drag him into a pointless row with the Welsh Government just to serve internal agendas. Especially when it cuts across the collaborative politics that made him so successful in the first place.”

‘Benefit of the doubt’

After Burnham’s speech, First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth said he was willing to give the man expected to become Prime Minister the “benefit of the doubt” over more powers for Wales.

Ap Iorwerth said he was “yet to hear” what the MP for Makerfield would do to help empower Wales’ devolved institutions, and said there were “signs” he might want to bypass the Senedd and Welsh government.

Burnham said he wanted powers to go “deeper down” in Wales. The meaning was not made clear on Monday, although a Labour source told BBC Wales this referred to giving powers to councils.

‘Change politics’

Near the start of his speech, there was a passage where Burnham said: “We cannot go through another decade like the one we have just had. We need a new determination to raise living standards of every single person in this land, and we must accept that to do that, to fix the economy and the country, we need to change politics, and we need to do it now.

“So let me state my clear intention as I put myself forward, true to the motto of this city. I am going to do things differently. I am going to break with the ‘more of the same’ approach that has got us here. I am going to give Britain the circuit breaker it needs by building a more collaborative politics in Westminster.

“By taking power out of the centre and putting it in the hands of the people and places who can use it best. And in so doing, creating a new sense of agency, possibility and hope flowing around the country. We will make politics work for you and the place where you live. I know it can be done because we have done it here [in Manchester].”