A new era for the UK Government in Wales with Jo Stevens

It will have escaped nobody's notice that the UK Government is 'under new management' and has indeed changed, following the UK General Election in July. One of the most Wales-facing roles is, of course, the Secretary of State for Wales. A role whose value has been questioned in recent times and was certainly used by the former administration to provide a vector for attack on the Welsh Government and the Welsh Labour Party. However, now that it is a Labour-led government in Westminster, it means that for the first time since 2010 the role is held by a politician looking for partnership with party colleagues in government in Cardiff. So it is time for a reset. Leading that reset and fronting much of the UK Government's operations in Wales is Cardiff East MP Jo Stevens and in this interview we discuss many of the pressing issues in Wales. We discuss the economic situation, the looming impact of the changes planned by Tata Steel for its Port Talbot plant, the return of structural funds to Welsh Government, and the ongoing intra- and extra- party debates about the future of devolution. You can find out more about Jo's work as Secretary of State here: https://x.com/WalesOffice And as Cardiff East MP here: https://x.com/JoStevensLabour As always, you can find the latest from us @hiraethpod on most social media, including Twitter/X here: twitter.com/HiraethPod We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: www.patreon.com/hiraethpod