Labour won’t be ‘fiddling’ with police powers, says Jo Stevens

In the Senedd on Tuesday, First Minister Vaughan Gething denied that he is a marginalised figure in the Labour Party.

The first minister faced criticism from opposition politicians in the Senedd over his party’s UK manifesto commitments.

Welsh Conservative Senedd leader Andrew RT Davies claimed that comments by Jo Stevens in her interview with S4C on Monday night showed that Mr Gething “will be a marginal figure”, citing the absence of a commitment to electrify the north Wales mainline.

Quoting Taylor Swift, who is performing in Cardiff on Tuesday, Mr Gething told Mr Davies: “You need to calm down.”

“I think you’ll find that there is a Welsh Labour leader who is far from a marginalised figure.”

Mr Gething said he expects “we will invest more in rail services across north Wales”, and accused the Conservatives of proposing a “direct attack on devolution” in promising to roll back the 20mph speed limit and a Welsh trade union law.

Plaid Cymru’s Heledd Fychan said the language on structural funds in the manifesto – where Labour vows to restore decision making to “representatives” of Wales was “extremely woolly”.

“It seems to us very clear that Westminster will continue to control Wales’ post-Brexit cash – a power grab straight from the Tory playbook.”

Mr Gething said the manifesto “could not be clearer” in saying that Labour would “restore decision-making” over the allocation of structural funds”.

He said he was “confident” the Welsh Labour government would secure the devolution of youth justice and probation – both issues Labour has said it would consider or explore.