No more shortchanging Wales

Peter Hain

Even under the last Labour government I was frustrated for seven years as Welsh Cabinet Minister that Whitehall always put Scotland first, Wales second.

And First Minister Eluned Morgan is absolutely correct to demand of Keir Starmer that this must change.

People in Wales must be able to feel a real difference from having two Labour governments working together: crucially important for the Welsh Parliament/Senedd elections next year when Scotland votes at the same time.

And especially when Reform’s surge in last week’s elections in England threatens to upend Wales’ progressive self-government next May.

Tory austerity

After 14 years of savage Tory austerity, last autumn Labour gave Wales the biggest increase in its grant from the HM Treasury in more than two decades, enabling Eluned Morgan’s government to pour hundreds of millions of pounds into the NHS, and bring down waiting lists in Wales.

The number of people waiting for more than two years is the lowest it has been for four years and in the last month alone fell by a quarter. Outpatient waiting lists are now a third shorter than they were in 2022.

Extra Labour funding has also enabled Eluned Morgan’s government to invest in more homes, better transport, and more jobs.

But as her important speech insists, that is not enough. Wales has been shortchanged in many ways for decades.

The Barnett formula determining how much devolved nations get from the UK Treasury is based largely on population when Wales is poorer and sicker, mainly because its miners once powered the rest of the UK.

Scandal

The biggest scandal was Tory Prime Minister David Cameron slyly defining the mega billion HS2 rail investment as England ‘and’ Wales when not an inch has been or will be built in Wales. So, Scotland got a share of the extra millions, Wales zilch.

When the Parliament was recalled over Easter to save steel in Scunthorpe, why not Port Talbot, people in Wales asked?

Eluned Morgan is absolutely right to demand under the Labour UK Government partnership between both ends of the M4 is two-way, not one-way.

She is also right to speak up for traditional Welsh Labour heartlands where around half of adults are on the highest level of disability benefit – a legacy of mining and other heavy industry. Yes they need welfare reforms to get new skills and jobs, but not punishing benefit cuts.

Since I delivered extra powers in the 2006 Government of Wales Act, more Metropolitan Mayors in England have enjoyed more powers, and the Welsh Government must not be left behind.

Crown Estate

Last October my amendment in the Lords to back Eluned Morgan and give Wales more say over the Crown Estate which has control over rich Welsh resources in the sea and elsewhere, was backed by UK Labour, by Plaid Cymru and the Lib Dems – proof of partnership working in both Westminster and the Senedd. But as she rightly demands that needs to go much further: if the Scottish parliament gets all the millions from its Crown Estate reserves, why not the Senedd?

Past profits from Welsh coal, oil, water and wind largely left Wales for company owners elsewhere. Now Eluned Morgan is rightly insisting that Wales benefits from its rich resources of renewable energy from the sea, wind and sun, as well as from an impressive compound semi-conductor sector and the reserves of the rare minerals needed to supply it.

‘Red Welsh Way’

What she called the ‘Red Welsh Way’ should embody values which UK Labour shares.

She will continue to put Nation before Party and shout when she thinks the UK Government has got it wrong, demanding cooperation between two Labour governments to deliver real improvements for Wales.

In turn showing to voters in Scotland and metropolitan England the benefits of Labour administrations working together in robust partnership.

But under the Senedd’s new electoral system no party is likely to win outright. Eluned Morgan has demonstrated by her speech that she is the best person to lead Welsh voters in these turbulent times by working in partnership with Westminster and partnership across the Welsh Senedd parties.

Voting instead for a Putin-supporting, Trump-echoing, Reform-led Senedd would sabotage Wales’ future. Voting for Plaid Cymru could allow Reform to supplant Labour as the latest polls in Wales show.

Eluned Morgan’s unique parliamentary experience in Westminster, in Europe and in Wales, together with her upbringing in the biggest Welsh council-estate, make her uniquely fit to be re-elected as Welsh First Minister – and her big speech vividly demonstrates why.

Lord Hain was Secretary of State for Wales and MP for Neath