Wales' First Minister will meet with the Prime Minister at the latest meeting of the British-Irish Council - but it will be remotely as Mark Drakeford continues to isolate after testing positive for coronavirus. It is rare for a British prime minister to travel to the British-Irish Council, with Rishi Sunak the first PM since Gordon Brown in 2007 to attend.
The PM will be joined in person at the gathering by Scotland first minister Nicola Sturgeon, and he will also meet Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin. He is expected to discuss next week's autumn statement with the heads of the devolved administrations, with Chancellor Jeremy Hunt expected to join the discussion virtually, and to set out his plans for closer collaboration.
Welsh Government has confirmed that Mr Drakeford will attend the summit "remotely" and has a meeting scheduled with the Prime Minister on Thursday afternoon.
A spokesman said: "The First Minister will discuss a range of issues with the Prime Minister later this afternoon. In particular, the First Minister will raise the impacts of the cost of living crisis and the additional actions that are required to help people deal with the very difficult challenges over the winter period.
“The First Minister also welcomes the return of constructive dialogue with the Prime Minister.”
The new Prime Minister appears to be taking a very different approach to his predecessor. Just hours after being sworn in, Mr Sunak was on the phone to Mr Drakeford for a conversation that was described as constructive. More about that here.
Both stressed the importance of working together to face the "shared and urgent" challenges that "we face as a United Kingdom”. That came after Liz Truss never got round to speaking to the first ministers, during her 45-days in office. Every other recent Prime Minister has called the First Minister of Wales on the day they took office.
The main topic at the summit is expected to the restoration of power-sharing in Northern Ireland as soon as possible, when he attends a British-Irish Council summit on Thursday. The summit comes after Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris announced plans to extend a deadline for calling a Stormont election and cut the pay of Assembly members, amid continuing political deadlock in the region.
The absence of a power-sharing executive means that Northern Ireland will not be represented by any politicians at the talks, with the head of the civil service there, Jayne Brady, attending instead.
Opening the summit, the prime minister is expected to stress his commitment to the Good Friday Agreement and his hope that devolution can function again soon.
"We all want to see power sharing restored as soon as possible," he will say. "I'm determined to deliver that."
He will also use the occasion to urge closer collaboration, as he meets with Ms Sturgeon and Mr Drakeford as well as a Mr Martin.
"We face huge challenges from global economic headwinds to war in Europe," the Prime Minister will say. "So let's be pragmatic. Let's work together in our shared interests. Let's deliver for all our people across these great islands - and build a future defined not by division, but by unity and hope."
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