Gareth Lewis: Labour’s dividing lines are emerging

UK and Welsh Labour have different views on policing and justice being devolved to Wales

A vote has not yet been cast, but already the dividing lines are being drawn.

Not between Labour (assuming they win the general election) and the new opposition, but between Labour... and Labour.

The party has long advocated what it sees as the benefits of a UK Labour government working with a Welsh Labour government, but it might not be as harmonious a relationship as you’d think.

As is often the case, those dividing lines are drawn by power and money.

Welsh Labour want powers over policing and justice devolved to Wales and have recommendations from commissions to back them up.

UK Labour are less keen – policing is off the table completely.

Handing over power to Wales now - and over courts and prisons, when crime is such an urgent problem - would be "fiddling" according to Labour’s most senior Welsh politician in Westminster, Jo Stevens.

Ouch – especially when you compare two very recent manifestos.

In the general election manifesto there’s a promise to "explore" the devolution of probation and "consider" the devolution of youth justice. Passive language.

Vaughan Gething’s only slightly older manifesto from his recent leadership campaign used more active words... there would be "support" for the devolution of justice, youth justice, policing and probation "as is established Welsh Labour policy".

Mr Gething also wanted the devolution of powers for the Crown Estate in Wales – it’s the seabed, so important for potential offshore windfarms - and equivalent funding for HS2 high speed rail.

Neither is in the general election manifesto.

You might well agree with Jo Stevens, you might well agree with Vaughan Gething and Welsh Labour. You might not really care who controls what.

So why does it matter?

Well, Mr Gething is under pressure because of the donations scandal.

His political opponents are now trying to portray him as marginalised from Labour’s decision-making process – something he denies.

Both Welsh and UK Labour are pushing hard on the benefits to Wales of Labour governments in Westminster and the Senedd.

But Welsh Labour – whose voters are being courted by both Plaid Cymru and now Reform - will need something to show for it at the Senedd election in 2026.

If there are no more powers and not enough extra cash to win over voters, then what does Mr Gething – assuming he is still in charge – highlight as the practical benefits of having not one, but two Labour governments?