Burnham must ensure devolution does not stop at Offa’s Dyke
Rhun ap Iorwerth
The prospect of a new Prime Minister should always present an opportunity to redefine the relationship between the nations and regions of the United Kingdom.
Each premier will have their vision for where power should lie, how resources should be allocated and how government should interact with people’s everyday lives.
For my part, I have always been driven by the principles of fairness and collaboration, and I was heartened by Andy Burnham’s pledge last week to reach out to other political parties to find as much common ground as possible.
For his part, the challenge will be not to allow his unionism to determine that some of this ground will be off limits.
Inviting the reader to “imagine a rambling stately home” in his 2024 book ‘Head North’, Andy Burnham develops an analogy for the imbalanced United Kingdom with “much dimmer” lights in the room representing Wales.
Whilst I agree that there needs to be a wholesale rewiring of the building, what Andy Burnham fails to acknowledge is that the UK in its current form is a house built on sand, one where inequality and economic injustice are not just reflected in the brightness of the lights but running through the flawed and flimsy foundations.
Despite winning a parliament of our own nearly thirty years ago, despite considerable devolution of powers in 2011 and despite a historic election in which Plaid Cymru ended a hundred years of Labour dominance back in May, Wales remains a footnote in the UK’s political story.
As a new Welsh Government, it is Plaid Cymru’s mission to change that. A small nation is not predisposed to having small ambitions.
But lumped in with the regions of England – who are of course entitled to fair funding and political focus for themselves – Wales is pushed to the margins of political debate whilst the centre of gravity remains in Westminster.
Manchesterism may have its merits, but its limitations cannot go unnoticed and indeed unchallenged. An evolution of a city-plan is just that – a local, even parochial vision which falls short of getting to grips with the fundamental weakness of how the UK is governed and ironically risks pitting region against region. A Number 10 of the North will mean little to the people of the communities my government represents.
For me, it has never been England v Wales, nor any one area against the other.
On taking office, I vowed to be a First Minister for the whole of Wales, and I remain steadfast in that commitment. Part of that is about taking our own decisions in Wales about connecting our own Welsh regions together, not pitting north against south or Bangor against Cardiff, but fulfilling the potential of all parts of our nation.
Constructive
My new Welsh Government has also vowed to engage with the UK Government and Prime Minister of the day in a positive and constructive manner, always driven by the best interests of Wales.
However, we don’t want that to be at the expense of any other nation or region because we in Wales are all-too familiar with how that feels.
Billions lost to HS2 when our railway infrastructure is crying out for investment. This is not part of some conspiracy concocted in the corridors of Westminster to spite our nation, but an inherent unfairness borne out of a fundamentally distorted system. It is not anti-Welsh it is simply pro-Westminster, and I would hope a future Prime Minister would agree with that.
Because many of us in Wales have long been aware of the broken Westminster system which Andy Burnham spoke of in his recent speech.
That is why the only way to truly rebalance the UK is to empower our own national parliament so that we have parity with Scotland as a bare minimum. If we are to move away from the corrosive hyper-centralisation which has come to define Westminster politics, this new wave of devolution must not break on Offa’s Dyke.
Natural next step
Alongside a fairer settlement which funds Wales according to need not population, the transfer of powers over policing, justice, the Crown Estates and rail should represent a natural next step for any Prime Minister who wants to demonstrate their commitment to the nations and regions. A new Wales Bill cannot come soon enough.
Every council in Wales supports the devolution of the Crown Estates. The Senedd has voted in favour of reforming the Barnett Formula. The Thomas Commission and the Independent Commission on the Future Constitution of Wales have made the case for the devolution of justice and policing. These are not narrow, party-political calls but issues on which Wales has spoken with one voice – and when that happens, our voice becomes harder for Westminster to ignore.
My sincere view is that having a staunch devolutionist in Number 10 offers hope for redesigning the UK, but this must mean not just driving power our of London into the English regions, but to the national parliaments too. If Andy Burnham is to demonstrate his full commitment to subsidiarity, then our Senedd must be empowered, not bypassed.
In attending my first meeting of the British Irish Council as First Minister tomorrow, I will be taking this message to counterparts in all nations of these islands, promoting fairness, collaboration and a new respect agenda, because Wales cannot be left lingering in a dimly-lit room.
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I do not trust any London government of all parties to treat Wales Fairly and as equals the only future Wales have is to get out of the DISUNITED KINGDOM
This is so important to Wales,I so agree with your every word,if this new PM does little can Wales take it through the Courts,we cannot stand by and do little about this terrible mess we are in.
Well said Rhun. If Burnham really is a decentralisationist…(?) then he’s standing in front of a rather large open goal with Wales. Tap it in Andy.
Words from UK Labour mean nothing if they continue in the same vein. First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth and the Plaid Cymru–led Welsh Government are trying to work constructively with Labour, but at present Labour remains steadfast in its hostility toward Wales and the idea of devolving powers already enjoyed by the other home nations. It seems certain that Andy Burnham could be crowned the leader of a unified Labour, much like Athelstan did England in 927 AD. The question is whether he will act as an invading force or as a force for good—choosing not to treat Wales like… Read more »
Da iawn a diolch Rhun. Andy Burnham has already mentioned the phrase ‘NATIONS and regions’ (Keir Starmer did so before). This, at least, confirms mere recognition of our nation as such, something NOT afforded us by Tories and their extremist families. However, as Burnham organises the ‘English’ regions, we must be keenly focussed on any being created crossing our only land border. This must not happen. Cymru has its’ own NATIONAL Parliament and is, therefore, outside the jurisdiction of any proposed ENGLISH region.
More of the corrupt and disgusting Union it is then.
Being held hostage by these muppets is like still having your dinner money stolen by the school bully who’s too ols and unhealthy to throw a punch.
Needs to be firm constitutional boundaries between UK and England administrations if this is going to stick. His “Number 10 of the North” could be the start of a UK federal government, with those responsible for England-only matters being confined to London. He can swap FM of England and UK PM hats on the train down.
Rhun ap Iorwerth must ensure devolution does not stop at Cardiff Bay.
And he should be the one to ensure that, not Burnham.
Well, he can get on and do it then.
Give him time now it’s been two months out of four years.
Fair point; but time goes quickly when you don’t have much.
Plaid Cymru seem uninterested in local government now that they control Welsh Government. There is nothing in Rhun’s article to suggest otherwise. But devolution must not stop at Cardiff Bay.
The latest evidence for that is failing to stand in Cardiff’s Splott by-election. Maybe they wanted to give the Green Party a free hand to challenge Labour but if so they haven’t explained that.
I agree. But that was the agenda of Welsh Labour over the past 27 years. It will not continue under Plaid Cymru. However, what must not happen again is the UK Government cynically bypassing the Senedd competency, as has been seen under both Conservative and Labour governments. Any top-down devolution must be decided and rolled out by our Senedd Cymru, not Westminster.
Absolutely. We hear plenty about more devolution to Cardiff Bay; but little or nothing about devolution from the Bay. It was the hallmark of 27 years of Labour. Some things need to be run nationally I accept; but swapping one centralised state in London for another in Cardiff is a false prospectus. Plaid’s case for more devolution would be immeasurably strengthened if they addressed both sides of this coin.
In recent years Welsh Labour devolved control of second homes, the visitor levy and twenty to local government so that’s simply not accurate.
Third division issues. What I’m referring to is real autonomy for fewer Councils—operational and financial. There is also a huge difference between that and delegating the donkey work from decisions made in Cardiff Bay, which is what Labour largely did. It was also a convenient buffer when things went wrong. The local authorities got the blame.
Not sure what “real autonomy for fewer Councils” means. You want Wales to be divided into eight independent states?
It means cut 22 Councils to 6-8. But give the new ones real fiscal powers to pursue policies that work in that locality. Yes, some things (eg rail) need to be done nationally; but all too often politicians and civil servants in Cardiff have no more idea about what’s right for the Valleys and rural Wales then their counterparts at Westminster. In other words, the Burnham agenda.
Examples please.
I could give several; but here is one. Housing policy has been an abject failure. No joined up thinking, over complicated planning regimes and a rent setting mechanism which has made social housing unaffordable for many. Welsh Government should hand it over to Councils and the RSLs in their respective areas.
From what I understand councils already have the freedom to set social rents and Welsh Gov just caps the increases. If affordability is a problem it needs the Bay to act against councils desire to raise social rents to plug funding gaps.
Nothing will change in Wales and Rhun won’t get a penny out of Westminster. He only got approx 44% of the vote on a paltry approx 52% turnout. Doesn’t have the mandate and Burnham knows it. I doubt even mass protests etc would achieve much.
Let’s wait and see eh. Burnham well understands what it’s like to be on the receiving end of a rogue central government.
If not, I think we should take to the streets. We are far too passive over all this – Barnet, JS2, Crown Estate etc.
If we want more resources for Wales then we need to challenge ongoing UK austerity, Labour’s fiscal rules and their reluctance to tax wealth, militarisation, and the Bank of England’s subordination to finance capital. Otherwise, where will the money come from?
You’re on shaky ground raising the issue of mandates when comparing Senedd and Westminster governments: the grossly unfair FPTP system used for Westminster elections regularly doles out big majorities on a minority of the popular vote (and Starmer’s Labour in 2024 got a lower percentage vote than Rhun’s in 2026)
I’m not convinced by Burnham. His talk of devolution relates mainly to England. Yet his dismissal of an independence referendum for Scotland, despite their being a democratic mandate for it, was made at a meeting of the Scottish Labour Party. This demonstrates that Burnham regards Welsh and Scottish devolution as a party political matter, not a constitutional one. Expect more of the same muscular unionism that we saw under Johnson and Starmer.