Starmer ‘welcome’ on Welsh campaign trail if he brings more investment, FM says

The First Minister of Wales has said Sir Keir Starmer is welcome on Welsh Labour’s campaign trail if he promises more investment.

Speaking in Newport on Monday, Baroness Eluned Morgan said she was happy for Sir Keir to be Prime Minister during Welsh Labour’s Senedd campaign.

Labour has been in power in Cardiff Bay since the Welsh Parliament was first established as the National Assembly for Wales in 1999, but, if opinion polls are to be believed, the May election could see more than two decades in power brought to an end.

Sir Keir last appeared alongside the First Minister in February to announce his endorsement of a pipeline of rail improvements worth £14 billion.

It was not confirmed how much additional funding would be provided as part of this commitment.

Speaking at Welsh Labour’s Senedd campaign launch, Lady Morgan said: “If he brings me another £14 billion, he is very welcome on the campaign trail.

“That was significant, it was important, and I was pleased to welcome him, because I have been asking for that money for a long time.

“If he brings me another £14 billion, he’s very welcome to come back.”

Asked if she was happy for Sir Keir to be Prime Minister during Welsh Labour’s Senedd election campaign, Lady Morgan said “yes”.

“I have a country to run here,” she added.

“I’m much more interested in focusing on what is important to the people of Wales.”

Addressing an audience of MSs, candidates and members, Lady Morgan opened her speech by saying her party is “proud to be patriots”.

“I’ve always been a patriot,” she told reporters afterwards.

“It is absolutely central to my core political beliefs.”

In her speech, she suggested opposition parties do not have a serious plan for government and were instead focused on “protest politics”.

Plaid Cymru and Reform have topped recent opinion polls in Wales, with both parties hoping to win enough seats to form a new government.

She said: “What we’re seeing around us in Wales, across the UK and around the world, is politics that is louder than it is wiser, angrier than it is useful, more interested in posturing than progress.

“Reform offers rage, loud rage, but no real answers.

“Plaid offers slogans, some of them are even quite good, but when you ask for the detail, when you ask what changes on day one, what gets cut, and what gets funded in year two, it all starts to dissolve.”

At the campaign launch, Lady Morgan announced a commitment to transform mental healthcare to provide easy-to-access, same-day services.

The party has also pledged a £2 bus fare cap, improved access to hospital transport, and a crackdown on fly-tippers by increasing fines.

A spokeswoman for Plaid Cymru said: “This is tired stuff from a party that has been in power in Wales for almost 30 years and has long run out of ideas. The people of Wales won’t be buying it.

“After 27 years of Labour, people face long NHS waiting times, rising costs, and overstretched services. There has been no serious reckoning with that record, and no real plan to fix it – just re-announcements of things that should have been done years ago.

“There was also nothing that would shift the dial with Keir Starmer or challenge Westminster’s neglect of Wales.

“By contrast, Plaid Cymru has a clear plan for government, starting with our first 100 days to improve the NHS and deliver the most generous childcare offer in the UK. In Plaid Cymru, you get a party relentless in demanding the fairness Wales deserves from whoever is in power in Westminster.

“In this election, Labour is finished. This is now a two-horse race, and only Plaid Cymru can stop Reform UK from dragging our politics backwards.”