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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Comment
Will Hayward

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

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

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.

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