For decades, the question in Wales was often how much power Westminster was prepared to give away. Now, a different question is emerging: how much power is Wales prepared to demand?
That shift was on full display in Llandudno, where Welsh First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth used his first Plaid Cymru annual conference address since taking office to put a formal proposition to Prime Minister Andy Burnham: Wales needs a new constitutional and financial settlement.
Ap Iorwerth has written to Burnham calling for what he describes as a “New Deal for Wales”—one designed to address what he regards as longstanding inequalities in Wales’s relationship with Westminster. At its core is a demand for Wales to have, at minimum, constitutional and fiscal tools comparable with those already available to Scotland.
The request is not limited to symbolic recognition.
The Welsh government wants further powers over areas including policing and justice, rail infrastructure and the Crown Estate, alongside greater financial flexibility. The argument from Cardiff is that devolution should not simply be about moving responsibilities around; it should provide the tools to strengthen public services and generate economic growth.
And there is a striking political backdrop to the demand.
Plaid Cymru’s victory in the May Senedd election ended Labour’s long period of dominance in Welsh government. Ap Iorwerth became the first non-Labour leader of the Senedd since devolution began, transforming the political relationship between Cardiff and Westminster almost overnight.
That election result has given Plaid Cymru a political mandate to press its case for deeper devolution—and the new first minister is clearly intent on using it.
But there is another reason this moment matters.
Burnham has spent much of his political career advocating the transfer of power away from Westminster, particularly towards regions and local government in England. Ap Iorwerth’s challenge is therefore straightforward: if decentralisation is valuable in England, what does it mean for a nation that already has its own parliament and government?
The two men have so far struck a noticeably more constructive tone than the relationship Ap Iorwerth had with Burnham’s predecessor, Keir Starmer.
When the Welsh and UK leaders met in July, Ap Iorwerth said he saw an opportunity to establish a new relationship based on mutual respect. He also made clear that devolution must strengthen rather than bypass the Senedd.
Now comes the test.
The Welsh first minister wants promises translated into powers. Westminster, meanwhile, must decide how far it is willing to reshape an already complicated constitutional settlement involving Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Ap Iorwerth has deliberately framed his proposal not as an immediate demand for independence. Instead, he is asking for greater authority within the United Kingdom, while Plaid Cymru has ruled out holding an independence referendum during its first term.
Yet the wider political atmosphere makes the demand impossible to view in isolation.
Nationalist leaders from Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have recently reaffirmed their countries’ right to pursue constitutional change, while debates over independence and the distribution of power continue to challenge the traditional Westminster model.
For Burnham, therefore, the forthcoming meeting with the three Celtic first ministers will be more than another intergovernmental discussion.
It will offer an early indication of what his vision of devolution actually means when it reaches beyond English regions and confronts the constitutional ambitions of the UK’s nations.
For Wales, the message from Llandudno was unmistakable:
Devolution is no longer being presented as a favour from Westminster. Cardiff wants it treated as the foundation of a new relationship between two levels of government.
Whether Burnham accepts that premise—and how far he is prepared to act on it—could shape the next chapter of the UK’s increasingly decentralised political landscape.
