Welsh Labour calls for power shift to councils at Labour conference
Ken Skates urges a new devolution phase to empower councils, while Stephen Kinnock blames Plaid Cymru for delaying energy, broadband and defence projects.
Welsh Labour leader Ken Skates will use his slot at the UK Labour Party conference on Sunday, 27 September, to demand a new phase of devolution that hands genuine authority to local councils and community bodies.
Speaking after the party’s main plenary, Skates is expected to argue that the transfer of powers from Westminster to Wales has reached a point where the next step must be to shift decision‑making from Cardiff into the hands of people who live and work in their own neighbourhoods.
“That means trusting our councils, our regional institutions, and our local communities with genuine responsibility.” We didn’t create devolution just to reproduce a Welsh Westminster,” he will say, echoing a growing sentiment within Welsh Labour that the current model remains too centralised.
He will add that a strong Welsh Government should be able to lead and redistribute without resorting to top‑down control, insisting that “strength doesn’t have to mean central control”.
“The principle is simple.” Power from Westminster to Wales.
Power from Cardiff into our communities. Power into the hands of people themselves,” Skates is slated to conclude, positioning the call as a continuation of the devolution settlement rather than a reversal of it.
Welsh Secretary Stephen Kinnock will also address delegates, using his speech to criticise the Plaid Cymru‑led Welsh Government for what he describes as a pattern of delay on key investment projects.
He will invoke Wales’s historic spirit of ambition and solidarity, reminding the audience that “Wales wasn’t built by people who retreated or set against each other.” Wales was built by people who went out into the world and changed it.
Who lifted each other up.”
Turning to the present, Kinnock will urge Plaid ministers to stop “sitting on your hands and get energy infrastructure through planning”, to accelerate broadband upgrades for thousands of homes and to honour commitments on the £50 million Defence Growth Deal.
He will contrast the situation with England, noting that “In England these deals are underway.” In Wales, Plaid are stalling: jobs and security delayed.”
The two speeches are scheduled for the conference’s afternoon session, with Kinnock slated to speak at around 2.30 pm and Skates following at about 2.40 pm, both to be streamed live on the Labour Party’s YouTube channel.
Welsh Labour’s push for a “power‑to‑the‑people” agenda arrives as the Welsh Government grapples with a backlog of infrastructure schemes, including a series of renewable‑energy projects that have stalled at the planning stage.
Industry bodies have warned that delays in energy and broadband rollout risk widening the digital divide between urban centres such as Cardiff and more remote communities in the Valleys and West Wales.
Local authorities, meanwhile, have welcomed the prospect of greater fiscal autonomy, arguing that they are best placed to identify priority projects and allocate resources efficiently.
Cardiff’s finance director, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Welsh Government “needs to move beyond a Westminster‑to‑Cardiff hand‑over and empower the councils that know the ground realities of their areas”.
Opposition voices within Plaid Cymru have warned that a rapid devolution of powers could strain the already limited capacity of many councils, calling for a “managed and adequately funded” transition.
Nevertheless, the Labour conference will provide a high‑profile platform for Skates to press the case for a more granular, community‑focused devolution settlement, a move he hopes will galvanise support ahead of the next Senedd election.
As the debate unfolds, the central question remains whether the Welsh Government will embrace a model that distributes power more widely, or whether political friction will continue to impede the delivery of vital infrastructure to the people of Wales.