Wales First Minister Warns Burnham: We're a Nation, Not an English Region

Rhun ap Iorwerth became Wales's first minister in May after leading Plaid Cymru to a historic victory that shattered a century of Labour dominance in the Senedd. For the first time since devolution began in 1999, a non-Labour party controls the Welsh parliament. Now, barely four months into his tenure, ap Iorwerth is pressing the new UK government—led by Prime Minister Andy Burnham—to understand a distinction he sees as fundamental: Wales is a nation, not a region of England.

The tension centers on police and justice powers. Wales remains the only constituent nation of the UK without control over its own policing and justice system. Burnham, who spent years as mayor of Greater Manchester, wielded more direct authority over policing in that city than ap Iorwerth currently holds as first minister of an entire country. In an interview with the Guardian, ap Iorwerth acknowledged that his early conversations with Burnham have been constructive and that the prime minister has assured him he will not bypass devolution. Yet ap Iorwerth expressed deep wariness about the institutional forces surrounding Burnham—the civil service consensus, the departmental resistance—that have historically opposed handing such powers to Cardiff.

The concern is not abstract. In July, Burnham's Welsh secretary, Stephen Kinnock, publicly stated he was not "entirely convinced" about devolving policing powers. Commission after commission, ap Iorwerth noted, has concluded that devolution of these powers is necessary. The arguments are strong. The resistance, he suggested, runs deeper than any one minister's personal views. "What I'm also acutely aware of," he said, "is that those forces around him are probably equally as averse to devolving policing and justice as they have been under previous Labour leaders."

Ap Iorwerth's warning carries weight because his party now commands 43 of the Senedd's 96 seats. The May elections produced a seismic shift in Welsh politics. Reform UK, which entered the campaign with only two members—both defectors from the Conservatives—surged to 34 seats, becoming the opposition. This result has redrawn the political landscape and sharpened questions about Wales's constitutional future. When asked whether Plaid would cooperate with Labour to block a potential Reform government, ap Iorwerth said yes, framing it not as partisan calculation but as a defense against what he called the "destructive politics" of Nigel Farage's party.

Yet the larger conversation ap Iorwerth is having with Burnham is about something more fundamental than any single policy transfer. It is about how Westminster understands devolution itself. Burnham's experience in Manchester, ap Iorwerth suggested, gives him genuine insight into the benefits of devolving power. But Manchester is a city within England. Wales is a nation with its own language, history, and distinct needs. "He now needs to know what devolution means for Wales, and it's very, very different," ap Iorwerth said. "We're a nation. We're not a region of England. There are different needs."

This distinction matters because it shapes how far Burnham might be willing to go. If he views devolution through the lens of English regional governance—the model he knows—he may underestimate what Wales requires. If he grasps that Wales occupies a different constitutional category altogether, the conversation shifts. Ap Iorwerth is trying to make that case before institutional inertia calcifies into policy.

Meanwhile, ap Iorwerth is also managing a broader constitutional conversation. On Monday, he was scheduled to meet with John Swinney of the Scottish National Party and Michelle O'Neill of Sinn Féin—a gathering that one Telegraph columnist branded a "sinister cabal" plotting the end of the United Kingdom. Ap Iorwerth dismissed the characterization with a smile. He does not frame his work as breaking up the UK but as building up Wales. He acknowledges that his party sees independence as a destination, but he emphasizes there is no timetable and that the decision rests with the Welsh people themselves.

For now, ap Iorwerth faces a government in London that he believes understands devolution better than its predecessors, yet is hemmed in by the same institutional skepticism that has always resisted giving Wales full control over its own affairs. His task is to convince Burnham that understanding devolution for Manchester is not the same as understanding it for a nation.