Rhun ap Iorwerth presses Burnham for new Welsh devolution deal

Rhun ap Iorwerth, Wales’s first minister, called on UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham at Plaid Cymru’s conference in Llandudno on Friday, 2 October, to agree a new devolution deal. He said he had written to Burnham the previous day seeking more powers and financial flexibility for Wales. The UK Government has not announced agreement to the request.

The appeal marks a step beyond the proposal described in NewsJaws’s earlier report ahead of the conference: ap Iorwerth has now put his request to Burnham in a letter and made it the centre of his first address to Plaid’s annual gathering as first minister.

Which powers does Rhun ap Iorwerth want for Wales?

Plaid Cymru’s published account of the letter identifies policing and justice, rail infrastructure, the Crown Estate, welfare and funding flexibility as areas for change. Ap Iorwerth wants Wales to have the constitutional and fiscal tools available to Scotland as a minimum. These are requests for powers and resources; the published material does not set out an agreed transfer or a timetable for one.

In extracts published by Plaid, ap Iorwerth says the May Senedd election gave his government a mandate to seek powers, funding and financial flexibility to improve services and grow the economy. He calls the case for devolving policing and justice ‘compelling and urgent’. His argument is that Welsh public services and a justice system reserved to Westminster are difficult to coordinate when their responsibilities meet.

How Wales’s current devolution settlement works

Senedd Research explains that Wales operates under a reserved-powers model. The Senedd can generally legislate where a matter has not been reserved to the UK Parliament, within other legal limits. Policing and the prevention, detection and investigation of crime are among the specific reservations it identifies. That division helps explain why a request to transfer policing and justice powers would require a change to the present settlement.

The boundaries are not always straightforward. Senedd Research says the Welsh and UK governments can disagree over whether a subject is devolved or reserved. It also notes that the UK Parliament can legislate in devolved areas, although the Sewel Convention says it will not normally do so without the Senedd’s consent. Ap Iorwerth’s request therefore concerns both which government holds powers and how the two governments work together.

The Welsh Government had already listed justice, policing, youth justice, welfare, rail, water policy and the Crown Estate among the areas where it would seek further devolution this term. Its published priorities also call for a review of the fiscal framework and the operation of the Barnett formula, greater fiscal flexibility and what it describes as fair funding for devolved responsibilities. The letter brings several of those ambitions directly to the prime minister.

What has Andy Burnham said about the request?

A UK Government spokesperson told the Guardian that the government was committed to a stronger and fairer Wales within the UK and was focused on working with the Welsh Government to empower local leaders and communities, growth and jobs. The statement did not say whether Burnham would accept any of the requested powers. No decision on a new settlement was announced alongside ap Iorwerth’s speech.

Nation.Cymru reported that Burnham had previously promised a ‘fair hearing’ for further devolution and was open to examining the case for devolving policing. Ap Iorwerth told the Guardian he had had encouraging initial discussions with Burnham. Those accounts describe an opening for talks, but neither identifies an agreed transfer of powers or funding.

Burnham was expected to meet the UK’s three first ministers at the end of October, according to the Guardian. The reported meeting gives the governments a possible occasion to discuss the request, but its agenda and any decision remain unconfirmed. For now, the specific powers, funding changes and timing that Wales may secure depend on a response from the UK Government.