Plaid Cymru leader calls for more powers as Wales’ wings clipped
Rhun ap Iorwerth urges Westminster to hand over policing and justice, warning Wales cannot wait for further devolution.
Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth told delegates at the party’s annual conference in Llandudno that Wales has been denied the powers it needs to thrive.
Speaking from the stage at Venue Cymru, he declared that the party’s victory in May’s Senedd election marked “the beginning of our work to give flight to a nation whose wings have been clipped for far too long”.
The conference, the first since Plaid’s historic breakthrough ended Welsh Labour’s 27‑year grip on government, was used to press for a new devolution settlement that would hand over policing and justice to the Senedd.
“In May, the stars aligned in Wales, Scotland and the north of Ireland,” ap Iorwerth said, referring to the concurrent electoral successes of pro‑independence parties across the UK.
He added that the “UK constitution now sits within a very different constellation”, hinting at a shift in the balance of power between Westminster and the devolved nations.
Three weeks earlier, the first ministers of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland – John Swinney, Rhun ap Iorwerth and Sinn Féin vice‑president Michelle O’Neill – met in Cardiff and declared that “Westminster’s time is coming to an end”.
Ap Iorwerth told the gathering that the three leaders would “seek practical ways of working together on issues that matter to the people that we serve, finding common ground where we can”.
He stressed that the shared principle binding the nations was simple: “to ensure that it is the people of our nations who decide their own future”.
In a bold move, the Plaid leader said he had written to the Prime Minister to set out a case for further powers, including control of policing and the justice system.
“I do believe the new Prime Minister and I both want to have a constructive and genuinely positive relationship.” I’ve looked him in the eye and said do not undermine Wales as a nation, do not bypass our Senedd.
The appeal came as the UK government faces mounting pressure to reform the devolution settlement, with recent reports highlighting disparities in funding and decision‑making authority.
Ap Iorwerth warned that if the Prime Minister failed to engage, “Wales will know again that our best interests will never be served by Westminster, and that it matters little whether who lives in Number 10 Downing Street is an Evertonian or an Old Etonian”.
He urged the audience to view the push for more powers not as a separatist agenda but as a pragmatic step to address “historic unfairness” that has left Wales lagging behind its neighbours.
Labour’s Mark Drakeford, who remains First Minister, has previously signalled openness to expanding devolved competencies, but has stopped short of committing to the transfer of policing or justice.
Analysts say the growing chorus for deeper devolution could force Westminster to reconsider its approach, especially as the next general election looms and the political calculus in the three nations shifts.
For now, Plaid Cymru’s conference has set a clear agenda: to press the UK government for a new constitutional arrangement that recognises Wales as a nation capable of governing its own affairs.