Welsh First Minister sluggish to indicate help for under-pressure Starmer as a result of she’s ‘a busy girl’, says Labour minister
The First Minister of Wales was slow to give her support to Sir Keir Starmer when he faced calls to quit last week because ‘she’s a busy women’, a Cabinet minister said today.
Jo Stevens faced questions on why Baroness Eluned Morgan had not immediately offered her support for the Prime Minister after Anas Sarwar called for him to resign.
Sir Keir is due in Wales today ahead of a crunch Senedd vote later this year in which Labour is set to be kicked out of office by either Plaid Cymru or Reform UK.
After Scottish Labour leader Mr Sarwar became the first senior Labour figure for Sir Keir to step down, there were reports that Baroness Morgan would do the same.
But after cabinet ministers had rallied round the PM, she did to, saying she supported Sir Keir ‘in the job he was elected to do’.
Welsh Secretary Ms Stevens told Times Radio today : ‘I don’t think she could have been any clearer.
‘She’s a busy woman, she’s the First Minister of Wales, she’s not going to be able to do stuff, you know, seconds after Anas Sarwar does his press conference.
‘But she was very clear backing the Prime Minister.’
Jo Stevens faced questions on why Baroness Eluned Morgan (above, left) had not immediately offered her support for the Prime Minister after Anas Sarwar called for him to resign
Welsh Secretary Ms Stevens told Times Radio today : ‘I don’t think she could have been any clearer’
Last month Baroness Morgan begged voters not to treat May’s Senedd election as a protest against Sir Keir’s government, as Labour faces losing power for the first time since devolution.
The FM said Sir Keir is ‘not on the ballot paper’ in Wales and refused to say he was a ‘good prime minister’ as she appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Polls have suggested that the Senedd is likely to be run by a coalition government made up of nationalists Plaid Cymru and the Greens, with Reform leading the opposition.
Baroness Morgan could see her party reduced from its current 29 seats to just eight, becoming just the third largest party.
Sir Keir’s appearance in Wales is his first since the Government U-turned on postponing dozens of May’s council elections.
Thirty English council polls had been postponed, to help town halls through a major reorganisation of local government.
But the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) on Monday reinstated the votes, after receiving advice from lawyers following a legal challenge by Reform.
Travelling west of the border, Sir Keir is expected to back several railway projects.
He will commit to joint working between Westminster and Cardiff Bay on the plans, including new stations at Magor and Undy, Llanwern, Cardiff East, Newport West, Somerton, Cardiff Parkway and Deeside Industrial Park.
“This Government is turning the page on historic dither and delay with seven new stations, thousands of jobs, and a generational commitment to build a rail network fit for Wales’s future,” Sir Keir said.
“This isn’t tinkering nor sticking plasters.
“This is investment for the long term and change communities will feel.
“This is putting Wales on the front foot and getting Britain building again.”
YouGov polling of Senedd voting intentions last month suggested 37 per cent of the Welsh public planned to back Plaid Cymru at the election, with 23 per cent planning on voting for Reform.
Labour was on 10 per cent, behind the Greens on 13 per cent.
