{"id":750873,"date":"2026-08-27T00:56:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T00:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/750873\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T00:56:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T00:56:08","slug":"burnham-calls-summit-of-first-ministers-of-wales-scotland-and-northern-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/750873\/","title":{"rendered":"Burnham calls summit of first ministers of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Burnham said: &#8220;I am in South Wales today because the answers to the UK&#8217;s challenges will not come from an echo chamber. They will come from the places that know their own strengths, and from a government willing to listen and then act.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Good jobs in every community, in every part of the UK. That is what I want every leader in this country signed up to.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">He will meet the Welsh government&#8217;s deputy first minister Sioned Williams at the visit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Williams said the visit was &#8220;a positive example of governments working together to improve people&#8217;s lives&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">She will call for a &#8220;fair share of the UK government&#8217;s steel fund&#8221;, an &#8220;energy social tariff to support those facing fuel poverty and struggling with high energy bills&#8221;, and high standing charges in Wales to be addressed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">She added: &#8220;Wales is an energy-rich nation. People should see that reflected in good jobs, stronger communities and lower bills.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The National Economic Council was created by the Gordon Brown administration in 2008, and has been revived by Burnham. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">A previous meeting brought together government ministers and English local authority mayors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Downing Street said the prime minister wanted to discuss &#8220;how we will drive good growth in every postcode across the UK&#8221; with the first ministers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The Welsh government said: &#8220;We look forward to discussing shared challenges, including ensuring growth and investment in all the countries represented, and support for families facing the continuing cost-of-living crisis.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;This is alongside further discussions with the UK government to progress broader priorities in Wales, including fair funding and extending devolution.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Plaid Cymru has pressed the UK government for discussions over more powers and funding for the Senedd &#8211; Wales&#8217;s parliament &#8211; and the Welsh government in Cardiff.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth had his first meeting with the new prime minister on the sidelines of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in July.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">At the time, ap Iorwerth said it was &#8220;too early&#8221; to know whether the new Labour prime minister would agree to his calls.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Downing Street said then that the prime minister wanted an &#8220;open and ongoing dialogue&#8221; with the first minister.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Burnham said: &#8220;I am in South Wales today because the answers to the UK&#8217;s challenges will not come&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":750874,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-750873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=750873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/750874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=750873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=750873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=750873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}