Newly-elected Prime Minister Keir Starmer began a tour of Britain’s nations on Sunday, promising to “urgently reset” relationships with the disbanded governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Starmer was due to meet Scotland’s First Minister and leader of the pro-separatist Scottish National Party (SNP) John Swinney in Edinburgh on Monday before travelling to Cardiff and Belfast.
The meeting comes after the SNP was virtually wiped out in last week’s election, leaving Starmer’s Labour Party to win power with a landslide majority.
The Labour Party, which dealt a crushing defeat to Rishi Sunak’s ruling Conservative Party in the election, also ended the SNP’s more than decade of dominance in Scotland, capturing a majority of its 57 seats.
Swinney lamented what he called a “very difficult and damaging” election result for his party.
He had set a target for the party to win 29 seats in order to resume talks with the British government for another independence referendum, but the party only won nine MPs.
‘Seat at the table’
Under the leadership of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, the Labour Party played a key role in devolving power to the regions in the late 1990s by establishing parliaments or national assemblies in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast.
But under Conservative Party rule, leaders in all three capitals complained they were being increasingly sidelined.
Starmer said disagreement could be turned into cooperation and a “real negotiating table” could be put in place to deliver the sweeping changes he has promised to Britain.
“Today this starts with urgently redefining my Government’s approach to working with First and deputy First Ministers, because meaningful collaboration centred on respect will be vital to delivering change across our United Kingdom.”
The decentralised administration has the power to determine policies in many areas, such as education and housing.
However, responsibility for policymaking on matters such as national defence, international relations and the monarchy remains entirely with the UK-wide Westminster Parliament based in London.
SNP in turmoil
Swinney said he looks forward to discussing shared priorities.
These include “eradicating child poverty, growing the economy, prioritising net zero and ensuring effective public services”, he said in a statement.
The SNP has dominated Scotland in the last three UK elections, peaking in 2015 when it won 56 of the 59 seats.
But the party has been in turmoil for months, as voters tire of its 17 years of rule over the devolved Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh.
Critics allege the government is focusing on freedom at the expense of key issues such as cost-of-living crisis, education and health.
Support for the SNP has also fallen due to the party’s financial scandal, in which Peter Murrell, the husband of former SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon, was accused of embezzlement. Murrell is the party’s former chief executive.
Sturgeon was also arrested, but released without charge.
‘Immigration controls’
Starmer will make his debut on the international stage as a leader when he travels to Washington for a NATO summit next week.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister David Lammy travelled to Berlin to meet his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock on his first foreign trip.
The German Foreign Ministry wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that the ministers discussed issues ranging from boosting NATO support for Ukraine to the situation in the Middle East.
“The United Kingdom is an indispensable part of Europe”, the ministry wrote, adding that Germany is “working closely with the new UK government to see how the UK can move closer to the EU”.
Earlier on Sunday, as Starmer began his second day as prime minister, three-time Labour prime minister Blair made an early intervention, urging him to come up with “a plan to control immigration”.
Blair warned Starmer that the anti-immigration Reform UK party was posing a challenge not just to the Conservative Party but also to Labour.
Blair advocated the introduction of digital ID, writing in the Sunday Times: “We need a plan to control immigration. If we don’t have rules, we will have prejudices.”
The idea was later rejected by business minister Jonathan Reynolds.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
