Our governments must work together

IT IS excellent that a summit conference is being held today at which UK Government ministers and ministers from the devolved administrations will discuss Covid-19 and the economic recovery that is needed.

The announcement suggests that the meeting will take place in a spirit of collaboration and cooperation.

Clearly, we hope very much that will be the case.

The pandemic has done untold harm to our economy and it is important that the governments of the UK work together to ensure that a recovery takes place as smoothly as possible.

But it is impossible to ignore the events that leave us in doubt about the sincerity of the UK Government’s intentions.

The Welsh and Scottish governments have not been shy in criticising the patchy nature of the interaction they had with the UK Government at the height of the Covid crisis.

And the Welsh Government has been scathing about the way that Westminster has sought to usurp powers from it in the wake of Brexit and freeze it out from future regional aid planning.

It would be good to think that today’s summit will see a more conciliatory approach from the UK Government.

Perhaps Boris Johnson and Michael Gove will demonstrate that the “respect agenda” instigated by David Cameron is not a thing of the past.

The best way to secure an economic recovery is not to alienate those whose cooperation it makes sense to nurture.

It would be appropriate if all the governments that need to participate in the initiative did so in a spirit of humility and willingness to serve.

Westminster certainly should not be seeking to lord it over the devolved administrations as if they were subservient bodies.

The fact that Scotland and Wales have elected governments that oppose the ruling party in the House of Commons should not be of relevance to the way they are treated.

Each administration has an important role to play - and in Wales and Scotland it’s the devolved administrations that should be taking the lead in managing economic development.

It should quickly become clear whether the UK Government is sincere in its blandishments.