Devolved nation leaders praise Starmer in rare win for No 10 | Politics News

Sir Keir Starmer is not accustomed to receiving much praise, so he’ll take it where he can.

And on Friday it came from an unlikely source, his political opponents.

Speaking at the British-Irish Council summit in Edinburgh, SNP leader and Scottish First Minister John Swinney described a change in atmosphere since Labour took office.

He told journalists: “The Scottish government and the United Kingdom government today are incomparably better than they were immediately before the general election.

“The relationship with the last United Kingdom government latterly… was awful. They could not have been more disrespectful.

“Sir Keir Starmer came to see me on Sunday after the election and we’ve had a number of one-to-one meetings.”

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His Northern Irish counterpart Michelle O’Neill was equally withering about the previous administration.

She said: “The tenure of the Tories in government was one of disrespect, one that drove an austerity agenda that decimated our public services, one that very much left people behind.

“So, I welcome the fact that there is a determination for a reset. It’s early days and that will be tested, of course, over time.”

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The comments were the culmination of one area where the plan has been delivered.

For all the new government’s announcements about their priorities, they have quietly made devolution one, as promised during the general election campaign.

Sir Keir is the first UK prime minister to attend this summit since 2007.

And before that, Number 10’s engagement with devolved leaders has been stepped up since day one.

Clearly, it has been noted – and Downing Street will no doubt take this as a rare win.