Labour Whip in the Lords 'insults Wales by referring to Senedd as an Assembly'

Martin Shipton

A UK Government Whip twice referred to the Senedd as an “Assembly” as he responded to a question from former Plaid Cymru President Lord Dafydd Wigley about the funding of Wales.

After doing so, Lord Wilson of Sedgefield was accused by a Plaid source of showing “a total lack of respect towards the Senedd and Wales as a nation”.

Originally called the National Assembly for Wales when it was founded in 1999, the body’s name was changed in 2020 to Senedd Cymru / the Welsh Parliament, reflecting its acquisition of primary lawmaking powers.

Addressing Lord Wilson - who holds an equivalent constitutional status to a government minister in the House of Lords and who represented Tony Blair’s former constituency of that name in County Durham from 2007 until 2024 - Lord Wigley said: “When the Barnett formula was first established, more than 100,000 people worked in coal and steel in Wales; that is now down to under 5,000.

"Does the Minister recall Lord Barnett admitting that his formula was outdated, with the consequent underfunding of Wales hidden by European regional grants, which have now ended? Has the Minister seen Cardiff University’s recent report stating that Wales receives far less than its population share of funding for reserved functions such as justice and railways, calling for the tripling of the Senedd’s borrowing capacity and for full income tax devolution?

“If the Minister cannot commit to a needs-based formula, will the Government at least take the opportunity to give the Senedd parity of financial powers with those that the Scottish Parliament now has?”

'Fair funding'

Lord Wilson, who speaks on behalf of the government in the House of Lords, responded, stating: “The Barnett formula does reflect the higher level of needs in Wales. A 5% needs-based factor in the formula ensures that Wales receives fair funding. It is the biggest uplift since 1998, when devolution started.

“As far as the railways are concerned, the UK Government is responsible for heavy railway infrastructure across England and Wales - it is devolved, I believe, to Scotland - so spend money on railways in Wales, rather than funding the Welsh Government to do so. This is consistent with the funding arrangements for all other policy areas reserved in Wales.

“Wales continues to benefit from rail investment. At the 2025 spending review, the Chancellor announced an investment in Welsh rail of at least £445m.”

Baroness Debbie Wilcox, the former Labour leader of Newport council, said: "The UK Government have given the Welsh Government the largest financial settlement in the history of devolution, nearly £5bn extra to spend on public services in the next three years - not supported in the Senedd by Plaid Cymru. “Does the Minister agree that it was most positive to hear the Deputy First Minister [How Irranca-Davies] telling the Senedd last Tuesday that Ministers had ‘secured an agreement with the UK Government’ to further explore the Barnett formula?”

Lord Wilson responded: “It is true that the UK and devolved Governments have agreed to undertake joint working to look at ways of improving the operation of the Barnett formula, to report at the next meeting of the finance Interministerial Standing Committee, expected in early 2026. Just to reiterate, they have had a 20% uplift in their budgeting from the Barnett formula, which is equivalent to £4bn this year.”

Former Conservative Secretary of State for Scotland Lord Forsyth of Drumlean said: “Does the Minister recognise that this is not actually about the amount of funding going to Wales but about fairness? I draw his attention to the 2009 report of this House’s Select Committee on the Barnett Formula, which clearly showed that Wales loses out and that we should move to a funding system based on need. Surely that would be fairer to the people of Wales. Simply citing numbers does not deal with the problem, which is the basic unfairness in the way the Barnett formula has operated towards people in Wales.”

'Flexibility'

Former Cardiff West Labour MP Lord Kevin Brennan of Canton said: “Lord Wigley, for whom I have a great deal of respect, neglected to mention, when he talked about the report A Decade On: Reforming Wales’ Fiscal Framework, recently published by Cardiff University, that it described tax devolution and the extra needs-based formula that was negotiated by Mark Drakeford as Finance and First Minister as an ‘unequivocal budgetary success’, because it has added £1bn by 2027-28 to the Welsh budget. However, while making that point, I also emphasise to the Minister the need for extra flexibility on borrowing. I very much hope that will come out of these discussions.”

Responding to the debate, Lord Wilson said: “Wales and the other devolved authorities have done really well out of the Barnett formula this time around. It is the biggest increase in their funding from the Barnett formula since 1998. The money is there and it is up to the elected Assembly to decide how it is going to spend it, so that democracy is there. All I can say is that the best result we could get at the next election is a Labour Assembly.”