FM calls for ‘home rule’ for Wales within UK
FIRST Minister Mark Drakeford will today call for greater devolution for Wales within the United Kingdom.
In a keynote speech, the Welsh Labour leader will say: “We need a more powerful devolution settlement. One in which we secure home rule for Wales – in a successful United Kingdom.”
It comes after a Welsh Labour MP urged Prime Minister Boris Johnson to avoid a strategy of “empire unionism” and take a deeper interest in helping Wales to develop.
Kevin Brennan, MP for Cardiff West, told the House of Commons in its St David’s Day debate yesterday: “Now is the time to recognise that this voluntary union of four nations can only function through equality and respect for devolution.”
Welsh Secretary Simon Hart told MPs that “the choice is not whether we can be a patriot or a unionist, but how we can effectively be both”.
BORIS Johnson must avoid pursuing a strategy of “empire unionism” and take a longer term interest in helping Wales develop, according to MPs.
Labour former minister Kevin Brennan also warned Welsh Secretary Simon Hart to show greater respect to voters after he advised the Welsh Government to stop fretting about its “little status in Cardiff”.
The remarks came amid criticism of a £4.8bn fund to drive regeneration across the UK being managed by Whitehall.
Opening the annual Welsh affairs debate in the Commons, Mr Brennan (Cardiff West) told MPs yesterday: “I say to the Secretary of State he is treading a dangerous path.
“He has revealed he has no respect for Wales’s democratic institutions, choosing instead to look down his nose from Gwydyr House, sneering those words ‘their own little status’ with reference to the elected Government of Wales.”
Mr Brennan highlighted the importance of devolution, praised the Welsh Government’s response to the Covid19 pandemic, and raised concerns about the Westminster’s approach to the union.
He said: “Now is not the time for empire unionism from the Welsh Secretary or the Prime Minister.
“Now is the time to recognise that this voluntary union of four nations can only function through equality and respect for devolution, a commitment to enhance and develop democratic institutions in Wales, and in the nations and regions of the United Kingdom.”
Conservative former Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns said the benefits of the union can be seen with the support provided during the pandemic, but he warned Whitehall’s approach to the four nations over the years has been “feeding calls for greater separation”.
He said: “The devolve and forget attitude became endemic amongst officials since 1999, simply passing on the responsibility to devolved administrations – irrespective of whether a fournation approach would deliver better outcomes.”
Mr Cairns welcomed recent spending announcements, including the “levelling up” fund, adding: “My request is that this needs to be followed through, allocation of funding and the powers to spend are fundamental and the Government should be congratulated.
“However, we still need an active interest from Whitehall to understand and deliver for communities in Wales.”
Plaid Cymru’s Hywel Williams, the MP for Arfon, said more people in Wales are pushing for independence than ever before, as he warned exporters are facing “huge barriers” to trade and “mounting” paperwork.
He said: “The lesson for Wales from this red, white and blue Brexit is clear – don’t expect Westminster to seek out best interests.
“Control of our own affairs and speaking directly with our international partners is our way to prosperity, to expanding our opportunities and to opening our horizons - and our people are now seeking to grasp that opportunity in greater than ever numbers, particularly young people.”
Welsh Secretary Mr Hart told MPs: “I hope that further down the line there will be a full scale analysis of these last few months, the chance perhaps to lay to rest a host of conspiracy theories, the chance to heap praise on those who have borne the greatest burden.
“It will help us show where devolution has worked, and it has worked in parts, and of course if we’re honest where it hasn’t. It will show the role played by the MoD, the vaccine programme, research and development and of course financial support of the sort that we were able to do quickly and positively.”
He added: “It will demonstrate, I hope, that the union is about more than money, it’s this historic bond that adds to the individual strengths of its component parts. I hope it will show once and for all that the choice is not whether we can be a patriot or a unionist, but how we can effectively be both.”