The demands of Welsh devolution are simple: just give us what Scotland has | Will Hayward

. UK edition

Rhun ap Iorwerth at Plaid Cymru’s annual conference in Llandudno, 2 October 2026.
Rhun ap Iorwerth at Plaid Cymru’s annual conference in Llandudno, 2 October 2026. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA

Andy Burnham is a Westminster leader whom Welsh nationalists could finally work with - but only if he stands up to the devo-sceptics in UK Labour, says Guardian columnist Will Hayward

As I sat in the first Plaid Cymru conference since the party won the Welsh election and started leading the Welsh government, I heard things I had never heard before. I have been to a lot of Plaid conferences and not once have I heard people being really positive about a UK Labour leader. But there was no mistaking it: the Welsh nationalist party feels that Andy Burnham is a man it can work with.

When I interviewed Welsh first minister Rhun ap Iorwerth, he indicated he was hopeful – in a way he never was under Keir Starmer – that there was a prime minister who had a genuine desire to give Wales meaningful concessions when it comes to additional powers.

In his speech in Llandudno, the first minister said that the prime minister had “looked me in the eyes and promised he would not [bypass the Senedd]”. He said he had written to Burnham with a “formal ask” for “a new deal for Wales”.

There were five demands from the Welsh government to Westminster: powers over policing and justice, powers over rail infrastructure, control over the crown estate, “fiscal fairness” and control of welfare. Seems like a pretty long shopping list, right? Well, it can actually be summarised in just five words: “Give us what Scotland has.”

The Scots have control of the crown estate, a better funding settlement, with more money through the Barnett formula, heavy rail is devolved, and the Scottish government controls policing and justice, as well as having partial control of welfare spending.

When you look at it from that perspective, it’s not as if the Welsh government is asking for something unprecedented. The UK government only has to look north to see the precedent.

You don’t have to be a Welsh nationalist to think it’s unfair that Wales’s government is equipped with fewer tools than its Scottish counterparts to meaningfully tackle Wales’s challenges. Wales has less borrowing capacity than a local council and, as mayor of Greater Manchester, Burnham had more power over policing in his area than the first minister of Wales does.

The stars are aligning for Wales to get more parity with Scotland. If Burnham follows his own devolution logic – that decisions should be taken closer to the people they impact –then how could he defend a region of England getting more autonomy than a nation?

Though figures within Plaid clearly believe that Burnham is genuinely open to giving Wales more powers, they have real concerns that the more devo-sceptic figures within both the UK Labour party and the civil service will hinder their attempts. These fears are not unfounded. A leaked memo from Starmer revealed that he warned his cabinet against being “overly deferential” to devolved governments. In December 2025, 11 Labour Senedd members wrote to the then PM accusing him of “rolling back” devolution.

This fear led to one of the better lines in ap Iorwerth’s speech, where he said that if Burnham fails to give Cymru concessions: “Wales will know again that our best interests will never be served by Westminster, and that it matters little whether who lives in No 10 Downing Street is an Evertonian or an Old Etonian.”

With all the talk of “the Burnham bounce”, one thing that I think is being missed in the wider media is the total collapse of Labour’s status in Wales. Before the Senedd election in May, Welsh Labour was the most successful democratic party in history, having been the largest party in Wales at every general and Senedd election since 1922.

When Labour was struggling in England and Scotland against the Tories, led by both David Cameron and Boris Johnson, Welsh Labour was winning election after election. But now Labour’s dominance in Wales is over. In a 96-seat Welsh parliament, Labour now has just nine seats.

At Labour conference in Liverpool, speaking to people on both the Welsh and UK sides of the party, it was clear to me that they were facing very different trajectories. UK Labour members were full of hope, optimism and excitement for what is to come: the conference was like an engagement party, to celebrate a union with their new partner.

Meanwhile, Welsh Labour members had just broken up with their partner of 27 years and were totally cut up about the divorce. They were at the engagement party, trying to keep a stiff upper lip while nursing a can of strong lager and wondering how they were going to afford to furnish their new one-bed flat.

But this is a very bad time for Welsh Labour to have an identity crisis. All of the demands made by Plaid to Burnham are longstanding Welsh Labour policies. For so long, Welsh Labour and devolution were synonymous with each other, but now the mood music is very different. Welsh Labour’s new leader, Ken Skates, has actively criticised Plaid for pursuing the very policies Labour previously sought around more devolution.

There is a chance for the people of Wales to get more direct tools to improve their own prosperity, but to do so they need all their representatives to understand the value of devolution and be united in their fight for it, regardless of the party they represent.