Wales’ Labour first minister Eluned Morgan says she will ‘call out’ Starmer

Wales’ First Minister Eluned Morgan has said she will “call out” Labour in Westminster when it “gets it wrong for Wales”.

In a major speech the Welsh Labour leader said she will “not stay silent” if the UK government takes decisions “we think will harm Welsh communities”.

She called for UK ministers to rethink cuts to winter fuel; suggested plans to cut disability benefit were unlikely to get people into work, and demanded Wales benefit more from wind power via the Crown Estate.

It comes after the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, introduced changes to personal independence payments (PIP) and cuts to health-related universal credit during the Spring Statement.

Morgan told Labour members: “It’s nation and the people of Wales before party, for me”.

The Welsh Conservatives said it was a “last ditch, desperate attempt to save the Labour party’s bacon”.

Plaid Cymru said it was a “desperate attempt by a floundering first minister to reset her premiership”.

Reform, which is hoping to win its first seats in the Senedd next year, said Labour was “more focused on slogans than solutions”.

Speaking in Cardiff Bay, Morgan said she will not “hesitate to challenge from within, even when that means shaking things up”.

But using the analogy of the BBC TV series Gavin and Stacey, she said: “There will be times when what’s right for Essex is not right for Barry.

“Like Nessa and Smithy, there will be a bond, but there will also be issues.”

“Where we disagree, we will say it, where we see unfairness, we will stand up for it.”

She insisted that what she was describing was not a “split” but was instead “grown up modern government” and patriotic.

Morgan used her speech to set out what she expects of the UK government.

She said the cuts in winter fuel was something that “comes up time and time again, and I hope the UK government will rethink this policy”.

Morgan called for the Wales to benefit more from the Crown Estate, which is being used to build offshore wind projects off the coast of Wales.

“We saw them take out coal, we saw the take our water. We will not let them take our wind, not this time, not on my watch.”