Keir Starmer warned his cabinet against an “overly deferential” approach to the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish governments, according to a leaked memo.
In the document from December, obtained and published on Tuesday by Plaid Cymru, Starmer said ministers should be prepared to make spending decisions “even when devolved governments may oppose this”. It came shortly after Labour Senedd members wrote to the prime minister over concerns his administration was rolling back devolution powers.
“Overly deferential or laissez-faire” engagement with the Celtic administrations would “almost inevitably create political challenges or missed positive opportunities”, he wrote.
The memo is dated 10 days after an unprecedented letter to Downing Street signed by a third of Welsh Labour members of the Senedd over a funding row they called “at best deeply insensitive, at worst a constitutional outrage”.
The members also expressed “increasing concern” about what they said was Westminster’s failure to devolve further functions to Wales – including justice, policing and the crown estate – some of which is Labour party policy.
At prime minister’s questions in the House of Commons, the Scottish National party’s Stephen Gethins asked Starmer about the leaked memo, suggesting it showed he found the upcoming Scottish and Welsh elections “terrifying”.
The prime minister replied: “I’m not going to make any apologies for spending more money in Scotland or in Wales to improve people’s lives.”
The Plaid Cymru leader, Rhun ap Iorwerth, raised the leak with the Welsh first minister, Labour’s Eluned Morgan, during first minister’s questions on Tuesday, calling the document Starmer’s “own version of Boris Johnson’s muscular unionism”. He also accused Morgan of undermining her own administration by repeatedly aligning with Starmer.
Morgan said: “Devolution must be respected, and I’ve always been very clear with the prime minister on that issue. It is a respectful relationship.”
Downing Street said: “We make no apologies for being determined to deliver for people across all four nations of the UK. In Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, there are clearly reserved areas of governmental responsibilities and this government is committed to upholding this devolution settlement with mutual respect and partnership.”
Nonetheless, the leak is being seen as further evidence of conflict within Welsh Labour as it heads into the election fight of its life. The party, struggling with a 26-year-long incumbency issue and an unpopular leader in Westminster, is polling third or even fourth in May’s Senedd elections.
Coalition wrangling makes it likely that Plaid Cymru will form the next Welsh government, ending 100 years of Labour hegemony, while Reform UK is set to become the biggest party and form the official opposition.
In the memo, Starmer wrote that the importance of the Welsh and Scottish elections in spring “cannot be underestimated” and will have a “significant impact on how we govern at UK level in the second half of parliament”.
