If the Tories did this we’d Be calling for a Judicial Review” – Shocking letter sent to Starmer

IN A BOMBSHELL that lays bare deepening rifts within the Labour family, 11 Welsh Labour Senedd Members have unleashed a blistering attack on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, branding his government’s approach to devolution a “constitutional outrage” and implying it’s even more damaging than the Conservatives’ record.

The extraordinary letter, signed by heavyweights including former Counsel General Mick Antoniw MS and ex-Deputy Minister Lee Waters MS, was fired off to Downing Street today. It demands an immediate end to the UK Government’s “Pride in Place” initiative – a Whitehall-run scheme doling out grants to Welsh councils for mundane fixes like bus shelters, park toilets and litter bins.

At the heart of the fury: the programme’s use of the UK Internal Market Act 2020 (UKIMA), the post-Brexit law rammed through by Boris Johnson’s Tories that allows Westminster to meddle in devolved areas without Cardiff’s say-so. Welsh Labour once dragged the Conservatives to court over UKIMA, decrying it as a blatant power grab that shredded devolution.

Now, with Labour in charge at both ends of the M4, the rebels are turning the tables. “If this was being done by a Tory Government, we would be calling for a judicial review,” they write starkly. “This must never happen again. Wales needs and deserves to be treated as an equal part of the UK – and the UK Government has a responsibility to deliver this equality.”

The signatories – a who’s who of Welsh Labour experience – read like a shadow cabinet in waiting: Antoniw, Hannah Blythyn, Alun Davies, John Griffiths, Lesley Griffiths, Julie Morgan, Jenny Rathbone, Rhianon Passmore, Carolyn Thomas, Mike Hedges and Lee Waters. Their collective voice carries real weight, especially as Welsh Labour licks its wounds from November’s Caerphilly by-election drubbing, where Plaid Cymru snatched a safe seat amid voter fury over Westminster’s perceived neglect.

The letter pulls no punches on the “Pride in Place” flaws. Funded partly by top-slicing the Local Growth Fund – meant as a clean replacement for lost EU structural cash – the scheme sees UK ministers in London picking Welsh winners and losers. “Why is the UK Government directly funding Welsh councils to fix bus shelters, reopen park toilets, and provide bins?” the MSs demand. It’s “ineffective and wasteful”, they add, forcing local authorities to beg Whitehall for scraps in a fully devolved policy zone like regeneration.

This isn’t abstract griping; it’s a direct hit on Starmer’s devolution credentials. The missive arrives just a day before the anniversary of his starry-eyed 2024 “devolution reset” pledge in Cardiff, where he vowed to end Westminster’s top-down ways and treat the nations as true partners. Instead, the rebels accuse Labour of “rolling back the existing devolution settlement” – from stalled reforms to the Barnett funding formula, to unfulfilled promises on rail infrastructure, policing and the Crown Estate.

Opposition vultures are circling. Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Jane Dodds hailed the letter as proof that “Labour’s representatives in Wales have lost faith in Labour’s MPs in London”, exposing a “deep lack of understanding and a worrying disregard for the Senedd”.

Plaid Cymru piled on, calling it “damning proof that Welsh Labour in Cardiff and Welsh Labour in Westminster are now two completely different parties”. One Plaid source quipped: “Even their own side thinks Starmer’s worse than the Tories – that’s how low we’ve sunk.”

Downing Street was tight-lipped tonight, but a Wales Office spokesperson insisted the programme “complements the work of the Welsh Government” and gets cash “quickly to communities that need it”. They stressed local control over spending decisions, but dodged the UKIMA elephant in the room.

Behind the scenes, the tremors are palpable. A Cardiff Bay insider not among the signatories whispered: “This is the wake-up call. Starmer’s ‘new era’ talk was fine in opposition – but in power, it’s business as usual from London. If we don’t sort this, 2026’s Senedd elections will be a bloodbath.”

For Starmer, already buffeted by Budget whispers and leadership jitters, this Welsh revolt couldn’t come at a worse time. As one rebel put it in the letter: “The signs are clear that the public understands this – we must demonstrate that we do too.”

Will the PM listen, or will this fracture widen? In the pressure cooker of Welsh politics, today’s letter isn’t just shocking – it’s seismic.