Rhun ap Iorwerth seeks new deal on Welsh powers ahead of Plaid conference

Rhun ap Iorwerth, Wales’s first minister, wrote to Prime Minister Andy Burnham on Thursday, 1 October, seeking a ‘New Deal for Wales’ before Plaid Cymru’s annual conference in Llandudno. He wants more devolved powers and financial flexibility for the Welsh Government, arguing that they would help it improve public services and grow the economy. The letter is a request to the UK Government; no transfer of powers has been announced.

Plaid Cymru published an account of the request ahead of ap Iorwerth’s planned address to party members on Friday. It is his first conference speech since Plaid won the May Senedd election and took power in Wales for the first time. The party says the election gives its government a mandate to seek a stronger devolution settlement.

Which powers does Rhun ap Iorwerth want for Wales?

The areas named in Plaid’s account are policing and justice, rail infrastructure, the Crown Estate, welfare and greater flexibility over funding. Ap Iorwerth says Wales should be able to use the constitutional and fiscal tools already available to Scotland. His proposed deal therefore covers both which decisions are made in Wales and how the Welsh Government can use its resources.

The first minister’s case for policing and justice rests on the division between services already run by Welsh ministers and a justice system reserved to Westminster. In the published account of his letter, he calls that division a ‘jagged edge’ that makes it harder to design and deliver coordinated services. He describes the case for devolving policing and justice as ‘compelling and urgent’. Those are his arguments for a change, rather than findings that the UK Government has accepted them.

The Crown Estate is among the areas he wants transferred. Speaking to BBC Radio Wales Breakfast, ap Iorwerth acknowledged that there could be practical barriers to devolving it and said he was willing to consider a gradual approach. That qualification matters: his request sets out a direction for negotiations, while the means of carrying out any transfer remain to be settled.

Why Plaid Cymru says the election strengthens its case

Plaid’s victory in May ended Labour’s 27 years in Welsh Government since devolution began in 1999, according to the BBC. Ap Iorwerth is the first minister in a minority administration, however, and must work with opposition members of the Senedd to pass laws and budgets. His government lost a key vote on spending plans in July. The election changed who leads Wales, but it did not give his party an unrestricted route to delivering its programme at Cardiff Bay.

In remarks released before the conference, ap Iorwerth presents the request as a way to put Wales on an equal footing with Scotland ‘as a bare minimum’. He says the powers are intended to serve practical goals, including economic growth and better outcomes for residents. The prepared remarks also call on the UK Government to treat Wales as a nation in its own right. As the speech was published in advance, those lines should be understood as planned remarks rather than an account of what he has already said at the conference.

What has Andy Burnham said about further devolution?

Burnham has previously said he would give proposals from the Welsh first minister a fair hearing. The BBC reports that he has been open to considering Welsh Government control over policing. Neither statement amounts to an agreement to transfer policing, justice or any of the other powers in the new request. A UK government spokesperson told the BBC that its focus was on working with the Welsh Government to empower local leaders and communities to deliver growth and jobs.

The limits of that opening were visible before the letter. Nation.Cymru reported that Burnham had ruled out giving the Welsh Government the power to hold an independence referendum, while saying he would consider further devolution. Referendum powers are a separate issue: they are not among the areas listed in Plaid’s published account of this letter. The distinction leaves the current proposal focused on the particular powers and funding changes that ap Iorwerth has named.

In a September interview with The Guardian, ap Iorwerth said his initial discussions with Burnham had been constructive, but he was concerned about resistance in Westminster to relinquishing powers. He highlighted policing and justice, comparing the policing authority Burnham held as Greater Manchester mayor with the powers available to Wales’s first minister. The Guardian also reported that Welsh Secretary Stephen Kinnock had said in July that he was not entirely convinced about devolving areas such as policing. Those earlier positions help explain why a fair hearing leaves a substantial political decision ahead.

What happens after the Plaid Cymru conference?

Ap Iorwerth was due to put the case to party members in Llandudno on Friday. The BBC reports that he is expected to meet Burnham later in October alongside the first ministers of Scotland and Northern Ireland. That would offer a further opportunity to discuss devolution, but the available accounts establish neither a UK Government decision on the letter nor an implementation schedule. For now, the concrete development is the first minister’s formal request and the set of powers and financial changes it asks Burnham to consider.