WELSH Labour have been accused of “undermining devolution” with the launch of their General Election manifesto.
First Minister Vaughan Gething launched the document with Labour shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves and Welsh Labour candidate Jo Stevens in Wrexham on Friday.
Plaid Cymru have criticised Gething for releasing a document “written by UK Labour” and not including calls for devolution of police and justice and the Crown Estate, and fair funding for HS2, all of which have been called for by Labour in the Senedd.
The HS2 project was designated an "England and Wales" scheme by the UK Treasury, which means it did not trigger the Barnett Formula mechanism that would usually send money to the Welsh Government as a consequence.
There have been cross-party calls for that first leg of the project to be reclassified so Wales can benefit from "consequential" funds. Plaid Cymru say it could be worth as much as £4 billion.
Plaid Cymru candidate Liz Saville-Roberts (below) said: “It’s no wonder that there is so little ambition for Wales in this manifesto – it’s all they could get past London Labour HQ.
“No commitment to HS2 consequential funding, no devolution of justice and policing, no control over the Crown Estate, and one hand tied behind their backs on post Brexit cash.
“Keir Starmer has already told Vaughan Gething what to expect – more austerity, £18bn cuts to public services and pernicious policies like the two-child benefit cap.
“Vaughan Gething is too weak to stand up to his London boss and too mired in scandal to stand up for Wales.
“As Keir Starmer and Jo Stevens form a tag team to undermine devolution Plaid Cymru will always put the interests of Wales first.”
The Welsh Labour manifesto mentions working with Starmer in the second line of the document and you have to go through the UK Labour website to access it.
Pictures of Starmer appear more often throughout the manifesto than those of Gething and apart from the first few pages, it appears to be a near-carbon copy of the Scottish Labour document released earlier this week and the UK Labour manifesto unveiled last week.
It features six steps for change in Wales including delivering economic stability with tough spending rules, cutting NHS waiting times, launching a new Border Security Command, setting up Great British Energy, cracking down on anti-social behaviour and recruiting new teachers.
Amid the launch, Gething continues to be mired in controversy after losing a no-confidence vote in the Senedd.
The vote followed criticism of donations received by Gething’s leadership campaign which included a £200,000 donation from Dauson Environmental Group owned by David John Neal, who has previously been convicted of environmental offences.
Gething has refused to stand down as leader.
Under party rules, any surplus donations would have gone to UK Labour but Welsh Labour confirmed this would not be happening last month and the money instead would go to “wider progressive causes”.
The fallout over the incident led to Plaid Cymru ending its cooperation agreement with Welsh Labour in the Senedd early as Plaid leader Rhun ap Iorwerth accused Gething of “a significant lack of judgement”.
