Wednesday, December 31, 2025
Welsh Secretary digs in on undermining devolution
The broadcaster says that Jo Stevens spoke after Labour Senedd member Alun Davies said ministers in Cardiff were being "humiliated" by the UK government's stance on devolution:
Davies was one of 11 Labour backbenchers in Cardiff Bay who signed a letter attacking how funding for the Pride in Place scheme was going directly to local councils, bypassing Welsh ministers.
But Stevens said "my job is to make sure that we get more in Wales, not less, and I'm not going to turn money away".
Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth used a debate in the Welsh Parliament on Wednesday evening to accuse Sir Keir Starmer of "an abject lack of delivery for Wales".
In the debate Davies criticised how the country is funded and disagreements over powers with Westminster, saying it was "not fair that Wales is treated the way it is".
There is a split within Labour between Westminster and Cardiff on where power should lie in devolved areas.
A visit to Port Talbot on Thursday by Jo Stevens was the first opportunity for a member of the UK cabinet to respond to the criticism from Labour Cardiff Bay politicians.
Stevens said Pride in Place funding was "about making sure that people in Wales get what they need and what they deserve in order to make improvements to their lives".
"So if you open your door in the morning and there's a bus shelter that's broken or you haven't got enough bins in your town centre, people want these things fixed," she told BBC Wales.
"That's what they want, that's what their priorities are.
"And there is money going to every single local authority in Wales in order to do those sorts of things."
Stevens was asked what her message was to Labour Senedd members "causing her a bit of a headache".
"I met with all the Labour MSs last week, actually, and I spend a lot of my time out and about with Labour MSs all over Wales," she said.
"We are doing a job of work for the people of Wales, and I will be absolutely fully behind the First Minister, Eluned Morgan, as we go into the run-up to the elections next year."
Davies told the Senedd on Wednesday he wanted "equality for our country within the United Kingdom", having earlier argued that policing powers should also be devolved to Wales.
"It is not fair that Wales is treated the way it is, and it is not fair that Welsh ministers are humiliated – and we saw it this afternoon – having to run to catch up because they don't know what's being said from London," he said.
"It's not fair that Welsh ministers need to try to explain that rail funding is fair when it's self-evidently not, that Barnett is fair when it is self-evidently not."
The Barnett formula is used by the UK Treasury to set funding for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The Welsh government has said the formula should be changed because it does not meet Wales' needs.
Stevens is right of course about the priorities of people in Wales, but under the present settlement, it is not her job to deliver on them, it is the job of Welsh government.
Like previous Tory governments and, as revealed by the release of confidential papers yesterday, previous Labour governments as well, the Secretary of State for Wales and her fellow ministers do not get devolution and do not like giving up power and influence to devolved administrations.
