Keir Starmer meets Eluned Morgan as problems loom

Smiles and handshakes as Sir Keir Starmer and Eluned Morgan met for a start of a two-day visit to Wales

Monday was another first for Wales' new First Minister Eluned Morgan: her first meeting with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer since she started her role.

They exchanged a "hiya" and a "croeso" - Welsh for "welcome" - on the steps of the Cathays Park Welsh government building in Cardiff.

No 10 said they were to discuss resetting the relationship between the two governments of UK and Wales.

In the part of the meeting we were allowed to gatecrash, Sir Keir used the word "hostilities" to describe the 14 years of Westminster Conservative and Welsh government Labour dynamic.

The FM said the difference now was a like a switch being flicked.

Then they got down to business and we were politely escorted out.

So when those doors were closed can they start to live up to the general election promise that two Labour governments would be better for Wales?

Scratch the surface and there are serious problems for both Ms Morgan and Sir Keir - who is on a two-day visit to Wales - to address.

Ms Morgan has promised to bring ‘a vibrant splash of colour’ to her role. To splash that ‘vibrant colour’ – make a noticeable difference – the first minister is going to need help and money.

Top of the – long – list of problems are the NHS and Tata Steel jobs.

During that election campaign Sir Keir promised to work with his Welsh Labour colleagues to bring down NHS waiting times, using funding from scrapping non-dom status and cracking down on tax avoidance.

Most Welsh government funding comes from Westminster, but we already know that Sir Keir’s government is more concerned with rectifying what they call a public finances "black hole" than splashing the cash.

So keep an eye out for two budgets.

One by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in October, which will outline UK government spending for the next year and the likely picture beyond.

And then the Welsh government’s draft budget a couple of months later, which is expected to paint a less than pretty picture.

Sir Keir Starmer and Eluned Morgan met in Cathays Park in Cardiff

Last year there were cuts across the board to keep the NHS ticking and trains running.

Then it was easy for Welsh Labour ministers to blame the Tories and their "mismanagement of the economy".

But that’s less likely to wash in the long run with Labour and Labour in power - and opposition parties in Wales are waiting to seize on it.

Throw into the mix that the FM will need support from one of the opposition parties to get the budget through the Senedd.

Steel jobs are a more imminent problem with the last blast furnace at Port Talbot due to close in September.

PA Media reported that Sir Keir discussed the steel industry with Ms Morgan and Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens.

"We're going to need more steel," Sir Keir said, adding that there were "massive opportunities" in the sector.

"My concern is that we're going to lose the capacity to make the steel," he added.

Despite criticising Tata's plans, the new UK Labour government is essentially carrying on with the same plan brought in by the previous Conservative government to move to greener steel and mitigate job losses.

The first test of how voters judge the effort will fall not on Sir Keir, but on Ms Morgan at the Senedd election in 2026.

There is a school of thought that a stand-up row with her Labour colleagues at Westminster wouldn’t do the FM any harm.

It might be Labour and Labour, but "we’re the Labour on your side" kind of thing…

Given the scale of some of Wales’ issues any row needn’t be a contrived one.

It might have been a grey old day in Cardiff when the PM and the FM met.

But the next few months really are going to be colourful.

The Starmer trip will continue into Tuesday, when No 10 says he will visit a renewable energy site.

The focus there will be on jobs, cheaper energy and energy security. Add that to the list of what both governments will need to deliver.