Welsh First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth says there has been a "significant step forward" with regards to his country's spending and borrowing powers after meeting the prime minister. Andy Burnham held a meeting of his National Economic Council with the first ministers of Wales and Scotland on Friday, after which ap Iorwerth said it was a matter of "how and when" a loosening of financial restrictions will take place. At the summit in Glasgow, Burnham lobbied the government leaders to devolve "deeper" to the regions of Wales and Scotland.
The prime minister said the two first ministers had agreed to work with him on "regional empowerment". No timescales were announced for changes to Wales' finances. Friday's meeting followed rows between the Welsh and UK government over the chancellor's Budget on Wednesday, which ap Iorwerth had said was "not serious about Wales".
His party Plaid Cymru said the budget left the Welsh government with a real-terms cut in funding, which the UK government denied. Ap Iorwerth had set out a range of demands to the prime minister in a letter sent at the start of October. As well as calling for powers over policing and justice, and for more funding for rail projects, he called for an end to restrictions on access to the Wales reserve - spare funding that the Welsh government can store in one year to use in another.
It is capped at £350m, and the Welsh government can only draw down £125m and £50m for resource and capital spend respectively per year. The Welsh government can also borrow up to £1bn for infrastructure, with a limit of £150m a year. Ap Iorwerth said: "There were some real positives here.
"On fiscal flexibility, the ability for us to use our funding better in Wales, use our reserves better in Wales - and on borrowing powers, I was told clearly that its now was a matter of how and when. That is a significant step forward." He said there was "clearly an interest" for the prime minister to "really understand that sheer injustice of underfunding of rail in Wales that we have seen for many years". "That is a particular issue we will be taking forward now between my office and his," he said.
On policing, the first minister said "I think instinctively the prime minister wants to go there and there's still work to do". At a speech this month the first minister called for "practical agreement" on how the two governments could work together on the economy, calling for Westminster to avoid duplication in areas that are devolved already to the Welsh government. Burnham said Friday's meeting was "positive", and that both first ministers had agreed to "work together jointly on regional empowerment in Scotland and Wales as well".
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