PLAID Cymru’s Westminster leader has said the party received a “very dismissive” response from Labour to their calls for Wales to have the same powers as Scotland.
Liz Saville-Roberts met with Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens earlier this week to set out demands for a Wales Bill “based on the premise of parity of powers with Scotland”.
Transport, Crown Estate, justice and policing, energy, taxation and welfare are among the powers held by Scotland but currently unavailable to Wales.
But Saville-Roberts told The National following the meeting the party feels as if it is “pushing against a closed door”.
She said: “The response was very dismissive.
“This is really disappointing from Labour. We have Welsh Labour politicians making very similar noises to Plaid Cymru about the additional powers that mean we could actually do more with the powers we have in the Senedd, but when it comes to actually have the means of doing this in London it is just dismissed as a ridiculous idea.”
Saville-Roberts explained that over the years since devolution, Wales was given full law-making powers in 2006 before being handed some additional powers in 2014 and 2017.
“At each stage there was a recognition of the insufficiency of powers, but at present we are pushing against a closed door and it is beyond disappointing,” she siad.
“You get the sense that Labour is very content with the status quo and yet for Wales that means we remain the poorest nation in the UK.”
She added: “The way of explaining this is we were given the powers of managing poverty but we have never been given the means to build our way out of poverty.
"It angers me that when I deal with Unionist politicians who regard us as a nuisance, they don’t see the means for us to build ourselves out.
“It isn’t asking for hand-me-downs, it’s asking for the tools to do the job.”
The Scottish Affairs Committee has announced an inquiry into the Barnett Formula and Saville-Roberts said she hopes in time the subject can be raised on the Welsh Affairs Committee, which Plaid Cymru has three members on.
On the Barnett Formula, she said: “It in no way recognises our needs in terms of the age of the population, the health of the population, the economic nature of our communities. So alongside a new Government of Wales Bill, we want a review of the Barnett Formula.”
Scotland has authority over rail infrastructure, whereas Wales does not control its own railways or receive equivalent funding for infrastructure.
Scotland receives a 100% Barnett comparability factor for investment by the UK Government in English railway projects, but the 2024 Statement of Funding for Wales gave a Barnett comparability factor of just 33.5% for Wales.
Management of the Crown Estate was devolved to Scotland in 2017, which means that Scotland can maximise the potential of its resources, and that revenue is returned to Edinburgh rather than Westminster. All revenue from the Welsh Crown Estate go to the UK Treasury.
Scotland controls its justice system, including policing, courts, and the legal framework, but in Wales these remain under UK Government control, and an “England and Wales” legal jurisdiction remains in place despite the Senedd having primary lawmaking powers since 2006.
When it comes to energy, while the Wales Act 2017 devolved competence for the consenting of electricity generating stations up to 350MW, in Scotland, all decisions on new energy infrastructure projects are devolved and applications over 50MW are made to the Scottish Government.
On taxation, while Wales has some powers over income tax, the Senedd cannot change the income tax bands like Scotland can.
When it comes to welfare, Scotland can tailor support for some of its most vulnerable citizens, by means of the Scottish Child Payment for example. Wales currently lacks this power.
Despite the push-back from the UK Labour Government, Saville-Roberts said this will not deter the party from pushing for a bill to be adopted in future.
She said Plaid Cymru hope that come 2026 they will be in a “position of power” in the Senedd which will help build pressure.
She said: “It isn’t the end for us. We will be working on a bill out of this but the reality is a government would have to bring a bill like this forward and our job is to put pressure on them.
“What we will hope is to be in a position of power in 2026. The voting system in Wales is changing, it’s going to a closed list system across 16 constituencies, each returning six members, whereas previously it was the same as Scotland. So we hope to be in a position to push this forward.
“With Labour in power in Westminster and Cardiff, they are not popular in either place and they are suffering now as being the party that have run out of ideas.
“There is a feeling that Labour’s time is run. We need new ideas here.”
A UK Government spokesperson said: “This UK Government has already delivered significant change for Wales. “We have reset our relationship with the Welsh Government and are now working closely together to deliver the priorities of the people of Wales like improving the NHS, bringing investment and jobs and growing the economy. “Just last month, the Budget provided the biggest boost in spending power for the Welsh government since the dawn of devolution. More money for public services, first-time funding to keep coal tips safe and a strong voice for Wales on the Crown Estate. These are the early benefits of two governments working together.”
