‘The UK is over’ claims Welsh first minister Drakeford
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Splash
    • Videos
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Friday
August 12, 2022

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Splash
    • Videos
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2022
‘The UK is over’ claims Welsh first minister Drakeford

World+Biz

TBS Report
06 March, 2021, 09:30 pm
Last modified: 06 March, 2021, 09:38 pm

Related News

  • Troubled UK economy rides out Jubilee disruption, but recession looms
  • 'Extreme' weather warning in force in Britain as new heatwave hits
  • 'I would rather lose than...': Rishi Sunak on UK prime minister race
  • Why British conservatives went cold on Rishi Sunak
  • London children to be offered polio booster as samples found

‘The UK is over’ claims Welsh first minister Drakeford

He told MPs that parliamentary authority in the United Kingdom was a "redundant notion"

TBS Report
06 March, 2021, 09:30 pm
Last modified: 06 March, 2021, 09:38 pm
FILE PHOTO: Wales' First Minister Mark Drakeford speaks during a joint news conference with Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in London, Britain October 23, 2019. Daniel Leal-Olivas/Pool via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: Wales' First Minister Mark Drakeford speaks during a joint news conference with Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in London, Britain October 23, 2019. Daniel Leal-Olivas/Pool via REUTERS

Mark Drakeford, first minister of Wales, has declared that the United Kingdom is "over,"' and has called for a major overhaul focused on a "voluntary union of four nations."

After proposing a more federal system akin to the United States, or even as loose as the EU, Drakeford was accused of "giving up on the Union," reports the Daily Mail.

He told MPs that parliamentary authority in the United Kingdom was a "redundant notion" and that further powers should be transferred from Westminster to the devolved nations.

He described his relationship with Boris Johnson as "remote," and he bemoaned Westminster's "relatively random basis" for engaging with the devolved nations.

He said, "There is no institutional framework to make the United Kingdom work."

"It is all ad-hoc, random, and made up as we go along. And I'm afraid that really is not a satisfactory basis to sustain the future of the UK."

The Welsh Labour leader said that he wants the United Kingdom to remain intact, implying that his stance is not as hardline as Scottish nationalists who want absolute independence.

Unionists, on the other hand, have chastised Mr Drakeford for oiling the wheels of Welsh separatism just as the movement is gaining momentum.

"Mark Drakeford's image of a hollowed-out United Kingdom kept together by the loosest of links is a recipe for national division and decline," Stephen Crabb, former Welsh Secretary and chair of the Commons Welsh Affairs Select Committee, told MailOnline this morning.

"Federalism is the rallying cry of those who have given up on the Union." 

Appearing before the Committee this week, Mr Drakeford told MPs the pandemic had polarised public opinion about Wales's devolution settlement.

The four nations have for the most part been managing their crises separately, leading to lockdowns of varying degrees of length and strictness. 

Mr Drakeford said: 'I do think the effect of the pandemic and the last 12 months has been to polarise opinion in Wales about the way it should be governed.

'What we have to do - to quote a Conservative member of the Senedd, David Melding - is we have to recognise that the union as it is, is over. We have to create a new union.
'We have to demonstrate to people how we can recraft the UK in a way that recognises it as a voluntary association of four nations, in which we choose to pool our sovereignty for common purposes and for common benefits.' 

A Savanta ComRes poll this week showed 39 per cent of people in Wales favoured independence, one of the highest levels of support ever recorded.

Mr Drakeford, who has been first minister since 2018, said he wants to see a prosperous UK but through a system of individual nations that pool sovereignty. 

He said: 'The idea that sovereignty is held only in one place and is handed out to other places, but always on a piece of string so it can be pulled back to the centre at any moment when the centre requires, I think that is over.

'The European Union will be an example potentially but Canada, or Australia, or the United States, are examples of what I talked about, where sovereignty is dispersed amongst its component parts and pooled back together again for those central purposes.'

States in the US and Australia are largely in charge of their own affairs, but collective elements of governance such as defence are managed by the federal government.
Mr Drakeford also bemoaned the lack of engagement from Whitehall, but although praised Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove for increasing contact during the crisis. 

However he took aim directly at the Prime Minister, who he claimed to have only once met one-on-one. 

He said: 'If I have an anxiety about the lack of regular engagement between the Prime Minister and other parts of the UK, it is more that I think without that then the security of the future of the UK becomes more difficult.

'Without the Prime Minster playing his part in all of that, I think it undermines the efforts of those of us - and I include myself certainly in this - who want to craft a successful future for the UK.'

Mr Crabb, Conservative MP for Preseli Pembrokeshire, asked Mr Drakeford if there was a 'meeting of minds' between him and Mr Johnson, describing the men as 'both classic scholars'.

But Mr Drakeford described his relationship with the Prime Minister as 'remote'.

He said: 'Both in the sense that I've met him only once myself - I've been at a number of meetings where there's been large numbers of other people present - and he is yet to call a meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee of first ministers and himself.

'In that sense I would say I've had a very modest level of contact with the Prime Minister. And the remoteness isn't just in that way, I'm afraid we rarely have a meeting of minds.' 

Downing Street recently created a new Cabinet sub-committee, chaired by Mr Johnson, tasked with strengthening the union as its fabric comes under strain.

The SNP is on course to win a majority in May's Holyrood elections, and victory will be wielded by Nicola Sturgeon as a mandate for another independence referendum. 

A No10 spokesperson said: 'We have confronted this virus as one United Kingdom, working with the devolved administrations and local partners. This will continue as we move to build back better together.

'There have been hundreds of meetings and calls with the devolved administrations and local partners since the pandemic began - including the weekly calls between the first ministers, deputy first ministers and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

'The PM has always fully supported devolution and this government continues to put the union at the heart of everything we do.'

Top News

UK / over / Wales's first minister Drakeford

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Life’s a beach.Photographer: Christopher Pike/Bloomberg
    Over New York, London and Hong Kong? Time to move on
  • Infographic: TBS
    Fuel sales drop by 34% after record price hike
  • Photo: TBS
    People in Bangladesh are living in heaven amid global recession: Momen

MOST VIEWED

  • Soldiers parade outside Buckingham Palace during the Platinum Jubilee Pageant, marking the end of the celebrations for the Platinum Jubilee of Britain's Queen Elizabeth, in London, Britain, June 5. Frank Augstein/Pool via REUTERS
    Troubled UK economy rides out Jubilee disruption, but recession looms
  • Life’s a beach.Photographer: Christopher Pike/Bloomberg
    Over New York, London and Hong Kong? Time to move on
  • Mindful of rising geopolitical tensions among powerful members of the Security Council such as China and the United States, the UN secretary-general offers a road map to achieve global consensus. Photo: Reuters
    UN's Guterres expresses 'clear commitment' to North Korea denuclearization
  • A boy walks past an oil tanker train stationed at a railway station in Ghaziabad, on the outskirts of New Delhi, India, February 1, 2019. REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis/Files
    Bank agrees to process Russian oil transit payment to central Europe
  • File Photo: Reuters
    Kazakhstan to start oil sales via Azeri pipeline to bypass Russia
  • Chess pieces are seen in front of displayed China and Taiwan's flags in this illustration taken 25 January 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
    China's sharper focus on military option for Taiwan raises risks with US

Related News

  • Troubled UK economy rides out Jubilee disruption, but recession looms
  • 'Extreme' weather warning in force in Britain as new heatwave hits
  • 'I would rather lose than...': Rishi Sunak on UK prime minister race
  • Why British conservatives went cold on Rishi Sunak
  • London children to be offered polio booster as samples found

Features

Some species of mantises resemble flowers, with just one exception — they hunt. Photo: Collected

Mantis memoir: A master predator

6h | Earth
Bye bye! Photographer: Michael Zarrilli/Getty Images North America via Bloomberg

Three major takeaways from the FBI search on Trump’s home

1d | Panorama
Photo: Noor A Alam/TBS

Big dreams in small rooms: The aspiring nurses of Geneva Camp

1d | Panorama
Illustration: TBS

How to deal with toxic people at work

1d | Pursuit

More Videos from TBS

What's next after searching Trump's house

What's next after searching Trump's house

8h | Videos
Dollar rate increasing in open market despite various initiatives by central bank

Dollar rate increasing in open market despite various initiatives by central bank

8h | Videos
Salimullah Khan on Joddopi Amar Guru

Salimullah Khan on Joddopi Amar Guru

8h | Videos
US wants to turn Taiwan into Ukraine, says China

US wants to turn Taiwan into Ukraine, says China

8h | Videos

Most Read

1
Dollar crisis: BB orders removal of 6 banks’ treasury chiefs 
Banking

Dollar crisis: BB orders removal of 6 banks’ treasury chiefs 

2
Diesel price hiked by Tk34 per litre, Octane by Tk46
Energy

Diesel price hiked by Tk34 per litre, Octane by Tk46

3
Photo: Collected
Transport

Will Tokyo’s traffic model solve Dhaka’s gridlocks?

4
Arrest warrant against Habib Group chairman, 4 others 
Crime

Arrest warrant against Habib Group chairman, 4 others 

5
File Photo: State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid
Energy

All factories to remain closed once a week under rationing system

6
Anwar Group looks beyond slowdown – invests Tk5,000cr
Economy

Anwar Group looks beyond slowdown – invests Tk5,000cr

EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2022
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]