The relationship between the UK and Welsh governments is based on subservience, not cooperation
Martin Shipton
Reading a press release this week about the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Welsh Office, I was reminded of a quotation from Through the Looking Glass by my favourite children’s writer, Lewis Carroll.
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.”
As an Oxford don and cleric writing more than 90 years before the Welsh Office was established – and nearly 120 years before the National Assembly came into being – it would be foolish to imagine that Carroll gave any thought to the future governance of Wales.
But Humpty Dumpty’s words certainly resonated with me when I read what Jo Stevens, the current Secretary of State for Wales, had to say about the current relationship between the UK and Welsh governments.
Champion
She said: “The Wales Office exists as a dedicated champion for our nation and I believe it is critical that Wales has its voice at the Cabinet table, steadfastly advocating on behalf of our country. This is a legacy I will continue to champion and strengthen.
“But I want to go further and faster in strengthening the voice and the impact of the Wales Office across government and in the experiences of people across Wales.
“When I came into office in July, I set out my plans to reinvigorate the Wales Office and set a clear vision for its future.
“The last decade has been characterised by a fractious relationship between Welsh and UK Governments and as a first act, we have fundamentally reset the relationship between the Welsh and UK governments.
“The First Minister and I are forging a new partnership, based on trust, respect for devolution, cooperation and delivery. That is the bedrock on which everything else is built.”
Maximalist
Ms Stevens certainly paints a positive and maximalist view of the relationship being forged between the two governments. But does it stack up?
I’d argue that what we’ve seen so far by no means matches up to the warm words in her press release.
When the Tory government was still in office at Westminster, it was clear that the two administrations were often in discord. The “respect” agenda promoted by David Cameron when he was Prime Minister ceded to the muscular unionism associated with Brexit that came into its own after the victory of Leave in the 2016 referendum.
The relationship deteriorated further when Boris Johnson succeeded Theresa May, with undisguised attempts to roll back devolution over important matters like post-Brexit regional aid and trading arrangements.
Welsh Labour figures like Mark Drakeford and Mick Antoniw would make speeches inside and outside the Senedd, fulminating against the anti-Welsh conduct of the UK Tory government. In most cases they were,to coin a phrase, urinating in the wind, but the fact that they were making a public stand for Wales was cause for applause.
Equality
In the run-up to July’s general election, we heard a lot from Labour about how having a Labour government in Westminster would vastly improve matters for Wales, leaving the distinct impression that the two administrations would work in harmony together on the basis of equality.
There were, it’s true, a few hints dropped that the wish-list of extra powers put forward by the Welsh Government wouldn’t be met, but the negative vibes tended to be drowned out by the positive rhetoric. In any case, for many people the priority was to send the Conservatives packing and start afresh.
But those pre-election hints have turned out to be an entirely accurate indication of how events would turn out when Labour became the governing party in Westminster..
Unless one subscribes to the Humpty Dumpty school of linguistics, it should now be perfectly clear that the relationship between the two governments is not one based on “trust, respect for devolution, cooperation and delivery”. Instead it is based on one administration (the Welsh Government) being subservient to the other (the UK Government).
That, I’m afraid, is the bedrock alluded to by Ms Stevens in her press release.
Waiting times
There have been examples of how this works in practice in recent days. A few weeks ago the two governments announced a supposedly groundbreaking deal between NHS England and NHS Wales to collaborate on delivering patient improvements. The impact of the announcement was, however, somewhat diminished by the fact that no details were released about how the cooperation would work in practice, given that both countries’ NHS waiting times were causes for concern.
There was an embarrassing moment on a BBC politics programme the other day when Jo Stevens and Eluned Morgan appeared to disagree over whether the purpose of the cooperation was to “share best practice” or bring down waiting times.
There’s no getting away from the fact that the initiative is being driven not by the Welsh Government, but by Wes Streeting, the UK Health Secretary (for UK, see England).
Few were watching from Wales, but those who tuned in to a House of Lords debate about the Crown Estate will have seen pro-Wales peers like Lord Dafydd Wigley, Baroness Carmen Smith, Lord Peter Hain and Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd making the case for its revenues to be devolved to Wales.
This is an issue that, like the injustice of no HS2 consequential funding for Wales, angers many thousands who take an interest in Welsh politics, but deserves to have more cut through with the general public.
Official Welsh Labour policy
Devolution of the Crown Estate revenues is an official Welsh Labour policy position, but you wouldn’t know that if you listened to Lord Livermore, the little-known UK Labour apparatchik who is Economic Secretary to the Treasury, deliver a lengthy put-down speech in which he made it absolutely clear that the idea was a non-starter.
There have been other snubs as well, with Welsh Labour’s attempts to get policing and criminal justice devolved also rejected, despite powerful inquiry reports that set out cogent reasons for why reform would deliver better outcomes.
But it seems that the merits of change are irrelevant. Reform may mean something else in Wales, but for the likes of Wes Streeting it means the expansion of private involvement in the public sector.
It has another meaning as well, of course: it’s the name of the political party that could take numerous Senedd seats at the next election in 2026 if Labour fails to get its act together and steps up on policy delivery.
The language of Humpty Dumpty may be good enough for a press release (although it’s easy enough to pull apart). What it won’t do is convince the voters of its authenticity.
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Without a written constitution and a constitutional court power will always lie with whoever holds the chequebook, and intergovernmental relations will be as constructive as the personalities involved.
‘The “respect” agenda promoted by David Cameron when he was Prime Minister ceded to the muscular unionism associated with Brexit that came into its own after the victory of Leave in the 2016 referendum.’ I think that pretty much sums up where we appear to be right now, The Tories may have been evicted from government earlier this year; but as far as the evolution of devolution to Wales is concerned, the signs are that Starmerite Labour, with its ministers ensuring that all their staged media interviews take place with a neatly draped union flag as backcloth, will be as… Read more »
These are the heady days of Labour’s sunlit uplands that they told us we should long for. When two Labour Governments lift Wales up on high! Except they don’t. What Labour really wants from Wales is MP’s. Ooh, best not put that in danger lest the nasty Tories get in power. Except they do and they will again. Will Labour equip Wales politically to face the next Tory onslaught? Nope. They’ll be thinking “ah, but Wales gives us MP’s”. Wales has endured a hundred years of Labour doing what’s best for Labour. We could change that. We could vote for… Read more »
If Plaid Cymru goes into the 2026 Senedd election on a pledge to ‘Stand Up for Wales’, it will do well. If it narrows its appeal by demanding independence, it will not.
In your opinion. I’ve campaigned to build Welsh Democracy nearly fourty years now. All my life I’ve had people such as yourself attempt to tell me (as if they know better) how impossible it all is. You, and each and every one that says the same are just plain wrong. I was told we’d never get an Assembly. I was told we’d never get objective one funding. I was told we’d never get law making powers. I was told we’d never get tax raising powers. You were all wrong. What Wales needs is its political agency in its own hands.… Read more »
‘Do something useful for a change and put your energies into building Wales.’ And yet you know nothing about me. For the record, I put most of my spare energies into ‘building Wales’. I am involved in campaigning on many issues to protect the natural and historic environment of Wales from the ravages of capitalist developers (including Welsh ones), as well as on issues such as anti-racism, housing and poverty, and seeking to improve democracy in Wales by challenging elected politicians and officials who ignore the people they claim to represent. Real activity to advance the well-being of the people… Read more »
“If Plaid Cymru goes into the 2026 Senedd election on a pledge to ‘Stand Up for Wales’, it will do well. If it narrows its appeal by demanding independence, it will not.”
I don’t think you need to be concerned that Plaid Cymru will be “demanding independence”. making the argument for it is a different matter.
It’s not binary choice. Both standing up for Cymru and making the argument for independence are possible.
I wouldn’t expect Plaid Cymru not to make the case for independence. Explaining how it would work in practice would help.
But I am confident in my assessment that many people want a more vigorous defence of Welsh interests than Welsh Labour is providing but are not convinced of the independence case.
“But I am confident in my assessment that many people want a more vigorous defence of Welsh interests than Welsh Labour is providing but are not convinced of the independence case.” Maybe those people understand that a vote for Plaid Cymru is a vote for a party that will be more vigorous in the defence of Welsh interests and only a majority Yes vote in a referendum will bring about an independent Cymru. If voters don’t want to even contemplate the idea of independence there are plenty of British nationalist (aka Unionist) parties to choose from but voters will have… Read more »
I distrust all extremist nationalisms: Great British, Make America Great Again, etc. All fuelled by hatred of the Other. Your binary division into good Welsh Nationalists and evil Unionists is no better.
It’s perfectly possible to defend the interests of the people of Wales on matters like the Crown Estate, needs-based funding, HS2 funding, and many others without committing to ill-defined visions of ‘independence’, whatever that means in the 21st century.
But the idea of working together for common goals is anathema to haters of the Other.
You continually project your prejudices onto those who have a different opinion to yourself whilst complaining that others “know nothing about me” when they confront those prejudices
It’s not enough to “defend the interests of the people of Wales on matters like the Crown Estate, needs-based funding, HS2 funding, and many others “.
Those interests need to be secured.
Plaid Cymru want them secured.
British nationalist (aka Unionist) parties have shown that they do not want them secured.
The goals for each are different so thinking that working together (at least for those particular goals) is a rather unrealistic proposition.
Sorry, but this is very much about your prejudices. I haven’t even mentioned ‘British nationalist parties’. But to take the example of the Crown Estate, it is the position of Welsh Labour (and of many smaller parties) that Crown Estate revenues should be devolved to Wales, although I would certainly agree that their allegiance to the UK party inhibits how strongly the leadership will press for it. https://nation.cymru/news/uk-government-firmly-rejects-devolving-crown-estate-to-wales/ Just as importantly, many people who are members of no political party would agree with devolving the Crown Estate. But you have no interest in us (the vast majority of the people… Read more »
” lf we do not submit to your nationalist extremism then we must be the enemy within.”
If a deficiency in cognitive thinking is ruled out you could not have revealed your prejudice any clearer.
So refusal to bow to nationalist extremism can only be explained by cognitive deficiency or prejudice? Would you bend your knee to Trump?
Try arguing through facts and logic instead of insults.
I applaud your heroic efforts not to sink to the level of your interlocutors.
She out-ranks him, I wonder if he ‘salutes’ before telling her what to do…
She’s a willing subservient and will take a bit of dominance from Sir Keir and his team of centralists
Spot on.
Clearly Starmer and co will tell Morgan to jump and her only response will be how high. Labour politicians’ loyalty and interests is to themselves and the party while the government in the Senedd is more administrative of the party line than visionary. Being a visionary government requires many attributes including independent thinking and the ability to think outside the box. Welsh Labour are firmly stuck in the box. Plaid is the only answer if Wales is to flourish.
What would England lose by giving Wales Independence?
a loss of face in front of other countries across the world. a reduction in international standing. a sense of losing the last vestige of empire. the assumption that their country extends uninterrupted from Cromer to the shores of Cardigan bay. the pretence that England is a sceptered isle but only part of a sceptered isle. the ending of jurisdiction and all the advantages it brings. the option to refuse to acknowledge that Cymru isn’t just a region of England and live here treat it as though it were. The above wouldn’t bother some but for others it would be… Read more »
I recently visited the Scottish parliament to watch MSPs debate seeking to reverse the means-testing policy for winter fuel allowance for pensioners. This was a telling experience. MSPs, including Scottish Consrvatives, seemed to be unanimously voicing the will and values of the Scottish people — with the singular exception of Scottish Labour! Scottish Labour MSPs, apart from the six who abstained, all toed the party line for Starmer’s version of yet more neoliberal austerity. When it comes to the crunch, how can it really be any different for Welsh Labour in the Senedd?