The prospect of a pro-devolution Prime Minister is promising – but can we trust that he will deliver for Wales?

Liz Saville-Roberts is the MP for Dwyfor Meirionnydd and the leader of Plaid Cymru in the House of Commons

The countdown has begun. In two weeks’ time, Andy Burnham is expected to become the next Prime Minister. Within Labour’s ranks, some speak of him not only as the saviour of their party, but also the man who can renew the United Kingdom. If he is to live up to those expectations and deliver on his promise of growth in every  postcode, his government will need to take a very different approach to politics. Nowhere will that be tested more than in Wales, where the new Prime Minister will on the one hand face significant challenges, while on the other will also encounter opportunities to demonstrate that his long-held commitment to devolution is more than rhetoric. 

For decades Plaid Cymru has argued that Westminster is a broken system. Burnham’s acknowledgement of that reality in his first major speech last week was therefore welcome. Yet his vision appeared largely focused on England’s “regions” rather than the UK nations. Plaid Cymru has been clear that such a London-centric political system does not work for our communities in Wales – and it is becoming increasingly clear that it’s not just us saying that – Welsh voters agree with us. 

The people of Wales elected Plaid Cymru to form the next Welsh Government with a clear mandate. We have consistently argued that Wales needs stronger powers- in line with those of Scotland- so that we can start  building a better future for our nation. This includes control over rail infrastructure, justice and policing, and the Crown Estate. And this isn’t a case of seeking powers for the sake of it, it is a matter of having the necessary  tools and home-grown finance to unlock opportunities and enable our communities to thrive. If Andy Burnham genuinely wants to improve lives in Wales, the starting point must be respecting this democratic mandate that the people of Wales have given Plaid Cymru. Devolution doesn’t work in Wales unless the Senedd is equipped with the tools necessary to do the job. 

The alternative has done Labour no favours. Keir Starmer’s muscular unionism helped bring Labour’s century long dominance in Wales to an end. A leaked memo exposed a mindset that viewed devolution as an inconvenience rather than a constitutional reality to be respected, urging ministers not to adopt an “overly  deferential” approach to the devolved governments because doing so supposedly created political difficulties. That instinct to centralise decision-making reflected exactly the attitude many people in Wales have experienced too often. 

But will Burnham really be any different? Just this week, Wales Online labelled an opinion-piece from Andy Burnham as ‘error-filled’ in which he listed promises about housing, education and transport, even though these are all devolved issues that come under the responsibility of the Welsh Government. Whether this is through pure ignorance or a deliberate power-grab, it is unfortunately a continuation of the Westminster-knows-best  mentality. At the very least, it is evidence of a surprising and unprofessional ignorance, Burnham has also spoken of extending devolution by “taking power deeper down” to cities and communities beyond the Senedd which also raises concerns about decisions bypassing the Senedd and ultimately undermining our democracy. Plaid Cymru has long endorsed subsidiarity, namely the principle of enabling decisions to be made as close as possible to the people affected by them, but the timing of this announcement feels like a political continuation of former PM Johnson’s deliberate attempts to treat the Senedd as something to be bypassed and belittled.

The current Labour UK Government are well-known for their U-turns, and Andy Burnham has already completed his first in relation to fair funding for Wales before even entering No10. During his 2015 Labour leadership campaign, Burnham acknowledged that Wales had received an unfair share of UK public spending – something he saw while he served as a Treasury minister eight years previously. He pledged that, as leader, he would take steps to address that injustice. Yet only two weeks ago he ruled out reforming Wales’s funding system. Plaid Cymru has long argued that the outdated Barnett Formula should be replaced with a funding system that truly reflects Wales’s needs. If Burnham is serious about delivering growth in every postcode, decentralisation alone will not cut it. Democratic institutions cannot succeed without the resources to match their responsibilities. Plaid Cymru will continue to make the case that Wales needs to be funded fairly to bring real change to our communities. 

It is reassuring that the MP for Makerfield wants to reach out to other parties and the leaders of the devolved  nations to get our politics working again. Constructive relationships are key to making devolution work, with governments approaching each other with mutual parity of respect. Wales’s First Minister, Rhun ap Iorwerth, has also made clear that he stands ready to build a constructive relationship with whoever occupies Number 10. That willingness for a positive and open dialogue should be reciprocated. Otherwise, Westminster’s habit of pernicious adverserialism will continue to work against co-operation. 

So, while we have reasons to be hopeful of the prospect of this new pro-devolution Prime Minister, our  reservations have yet to be proven wrong. The real question for Andy Burnham is whether he can be trusted to approach devolution in the spirit of respect and remain true to what he has championed for years, or will he repeat the mistakes of his predecessor and lose sight of his principles once in power? We live in hope that it is the former, for the sake of our communities.

Image credit: Scottish Government – Creative Commons