Mark Drakeford and Humza Yousaf hold first face to face talks

Mark Drakeford has met the new First Minister of Scotland for the first time in person on a day when he’s also joined senior Labour figures to call for a new relationship between the countries of the UK.

Humza Yousaf took over from Nicola Sturgeon in March. He and the Welsh First Minister have met virtually since then but their meeting in Edinburgh today was their first face to face.

During the meeting, the First Ministers were said to have "urged the UK Government to consistently respect devolution" and agreed to continue to work closely to protect devolution.

Later Mark Drakeford tweeted that today was "A chance to reaffirm our commitment to inter-governmental relations and discuss how we can work together to deliver on shared goals."

They’ll be hoping to forge a strong working relationship. Despite their political differences, Nicola Sturgeon and Mark Drakeford worked closely together, particularly during the Brexit crisis and later during the pandemic.

Mr Drakeford will also join the former Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, and other senior Labour figures at a political rally aimed at setting out the case for a radical shake-up of the way the United Kingdom is governed.

The First Minister is expected to argue that only Labour is committed to improving devolution in the UK.

Last year Mr Brown published a report which committed a future Labour UK government to major reforms to the way that Westminster works including replacing the House of Lords and further devolution to Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

It proposed that Wales could gain new powers over parts of the criminal justice system if Labour forms the next UK Government.

The report was condemned by Plaid Cymru as a “damp squib for Wales.”

The party’s Westminster Leader Liz Saville Roberts said: “By offering more powers to Scotland than to Wales, Labour is once again showing that how much they are in awe of SNP-run Scotland while taking Labour-run Wales for granted. Scotland is rewarded while Labour is content for Wales to make-do and mend with piecemeal powers.

He’ll be leading the rally tonight organised by the campaign group “Our Scottish Future” at which Mark Drakeford, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester will be speaking.

When the rally was announced last month, the First Minister said: "The current union of the United Kingdom isn’t working for people in any part of this country we are proud to call home.

“We need a new, strengthened union, which guarantees that no one will find themselves unable to eat or relying on a food bank; facing old age or illness at the margins of society. A union which offers strong devolution for all parts of the UK; a union where all four nations are treated as equals.

“In Gordon’s report we have a blueprint for real and lasting change to transform our country for the better.”

But he’s been criticised for attending the rally by Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies who said that “Instead of using his normal distraction techniques by going to Scotland and lecturing on how things should be different, Mark Drakeford should be up in North Wales speaking to local people explaining how he is going to fix their health board after years and years of mismanagement.

“Or perhaps when he is in Scotland, he should apologise to the people of Wales for cutting the Welsh NHS budget in real terms and slashing education funding next year.

“After 25 years of Wales under Labour, Mark Drakeford is forcing Welsh people to the margins with his government’s failures – the First Minister should stop blaming the UK Government for Labour letting down local people, especially in his own area of Ely.

“Health, education, housing are all devolved to the Labour Government and yet the Welsh NHS waiting times are the worst in the UK, our children’s futures are being thrown away with inferior education standards and an economy which punishes hope, aspiration and opportunity.

“What the Welsh people want is a strong Wales in a strong United Kingdom - not a Wales which is a run by a Labour Government that believes Wales should be a hand-out nation not a hand-up one.”