Devolved administrations in Belfast, Cardiff and Edinburgh should work together collectively in their dealings with London to “be more than the sum of their parts”, Welsh first minister Rhun ap Iorwerth has said.
Speaking in Dublin, ap Iorwerth said Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland “are following different journeys as nations”, but they have “core asks” from London “for equality of treatment”.
His declaration came after he, Michelle O’Neill and John Swinney told the Sinn Féin ardfheis in April in Belfast that they would seek to work far more closely together when dealing with No 10 Downing Street and Whitehall.
Then, Swinney said the Scottish National Party, Plaid Cymru and Sinn Féin “may not agree on everything, but what we do agree on is that the people who should decide the future of our nations are the people who live in our respective nations”.
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Meanwhile, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald saw pro-nationalist victories in Edinburgh and Cardiff offering support for her party’s long-held push for an Irish unity referendum.
“Anybody listening to those messages can’t miss the fact that we are in really a very special moment. We’ve always had a sense that there is a potential to build something really significant and strong, like Celtic cousins,” she told the ardfheis.
Illustrating Cardiff’s unhappiness with London, ap Iorwerth, the Plaid Cymru leader who was elected as first minister after the May elections, has yet to meet British prime minister Keir Starmer, having had a telephone conversation only.
Political instability in London in recent months “made it difficult” for Starmer to meet, he accepted, but Wales has always known it is “far too often low down in the pecking order” for No 10.
He had pledged, he said, as Welsh first minister “to stand up for the people of Wales, to stand up for the things that matter to them” in all of his dealings with Starmer’s successor.
The first minister was speaking alongside Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee during a day-long visit to Dublin, where he also met Taoiseach Micheál Martin and President Catherine Connolly.
Welcoming ap Iorwerth to Iveagh House, McEntee said co-operation between Dublin and Cardiff “continues to go from strength to strength”, especially in renewable energy and electricity interconnectors.
Later, the two politicians took part in a forum in Iveagh House on how sports can be better used by the two countries to promote themselves politically and economically on the global stage.
Sport has even greater value than before in such matters, said McEntee, in a world so riven by division. “Sport should always be about connection. it should always be about bringing people together,” she said.
“In an increasingly complex world, sport creates that dialogue and that space for connection. It’s a powerful medium to be able to connect us in a common purpose, to sustain our international connections and shared values.”
Using the now global success surrounding the celebration of St Patrick’s Day, the minister said, there are political, economic and tourism gains for Ireland to make from Euro 2028, the Rugby World Cup and the Cricket World Cup.
