UK could break up unless it is rebuilt as ‘solidarity union’, says Mark Drakeford

Drakeford said Anglocentric Tories in London had shown a ‘fundamental disrespect’ for the Welsh and Scottish parliaments. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/AFP/Getty Images

The UK could break apart unless it is rebuilt as a “solidarity union” where every citizen’s rights to public services and financial security are protected, the first minister of Wales, has warned.

Mark Drakeford said the social and political bonds that tie the different parts of the UK together have come under “sustained assault” from 40 years of neoliberalism, a trend launched by Margaret Thatcher in 1979 and then reinforced after Brexit by Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.