Can Labour deliver on its bold devolution promises?

The prime minister anointed Eluned Morgan the new Labour first minister of Wales yesterday, making a two-day visit to the principality on his return from Northern Ireland.

- JOHN RENTOUL

Meanwhile, Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, has renewed his assault on the SNP government, which he hopes to replace in Scottish parliament elections in 2026.

After six weeks of a new government of the UK, let us take stock of how devolution might work differently under a Labour prime minister.

What is happening in Northern Ireland?

Keir Starmer’s visit to Northern Ireland was his second as prime minister because he toured all four parts of the UK in the days after the election. The two visits to Belfast in a short time show a commitment to making a success of the newly restored executive, led by Michelle O’Neill, the Sinn Fein first minister, and Emma Little-Pengelly, the DUP deputy, who is of constitutionally equal status.

Starmer is said to have a good understanding of Northern Irish politics from his time as an adviser to the Northern Ireland Policing Board, 2003-06.

However, devolution to Northern Ireland is a special case, tied up as it is with the power-sharing agreement that ended the IRA’s campaign of violence in 1998, and complicated as it now is with the post-Brexit status of the province, simultaneously part of the UK and part of the EU single market.

What about Wales?