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Rishi Sunak: No more austerity, Mark Drakeford urges PM

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Wales' First Minister Mark Drakeford has said he will tell new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak the last thing the UK needs is more "Tory austerity".

He said he wants a "constructive relationship" with Mr Sunak, and confirmed on Tuesday they have spoken.

In her 49 days as PM, Liz Truss never spoke to either Mr Drakeford or his Scottish counterpart Nicola Sturgeon.

Welsh MP Craig Williams, a former Sunak aide, said the PM will work with Mr Drakeford "in the national interest".

The Montgomeryshire Conservative MP added that a "respectful and mature relationship" is needed between the two governments.

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Mr Sunak, who has become the third prime minister in seven weeks, said bringing the Conservative Party and the UK together would be his "utmost priority".

On Tuesday evening, Mr Drakeford tweeted that he had spoken to Mr Sunak on his first day in office, adding that he had "a chance to congratulate the prime minister and discuss the importance of working together as four nations to address the urgent challenges we face as a United Kingdom".

Mr Sunak also tweeted that it was "good to speak" to both Mr Drakeford and Ms Sturgeon, adding: "I emphasised our duty to work closely together to respond to the shared challenges we face, so that collectively we can deliver for the people of the United Kingdom".

Speaking earlier at First Minister's Questions in the Senedd, Mr Drakeford said he would be raising the issues of the economy, the future of the Tata steelworks in Wales, and the future of the UK.

Getty Images Mark DrakefordGetty Images
Mark DraKeford says he hopes Rishi Sunak will "take a different approach" to devolution that previous prime ministers

"Of course I will say that the very last thing that people in Wales, or across the United Kingdom, will need is a further dose of Tory austerity," he said.

"The Welsh government is the only other unambiguously unionist government with which he will have contact and I will want to work with him for a successful future for the United Kingdom."

Mr Drakeford added that the future of Tata should be "high on his list of priorities".

Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price suggested that instead of waiting for Downing Street to initiate the call to the Welsh government "we could break with tradition and proactively call them".

"They may refuse to take the call but it would be a symbol of self-confidence and a message that we see the relationship as equals," he said.

Speaking to BBC Radio Wales Breakfast earlier, Mr Williams said: "Rishi Sunak today becomes the prime minister of Wales as well as England, Scotland and Northern Ireland and we need to work really closely together, we need to put egos, political ideologies aside.

"Mark Drakeford, at the core of him, is a good man and I know Rishi Sunak is a good man. I think they'll both work in the national interest."

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Later, at a Welsh government news conference, Finance Minister Rebecca Evans said she hoped Mr Sunak "makes contact with our first minister at the earliest possible opportunity".

She added: "I do think that it demonstrates a willingness to work together for people and, at the end of the day, that's what people want.

"They want governments which work and collaborate effectively for their benefit, which I think is the appropriate thing to do."

Ms Evans said an early phone call also showed "respect to devolution and to devolved governments" in the UK.