First Minister Mark Drakeford tells Labour to work with other parties

Mark Drakeford has been Welsh Labour leader since 2018

First Minister Mark Drakeford has told the Labour conference the party should be ready to work with others in Westminster.

He said Labour had an "obligation to do everything we can to take and exercise power".

The Welsh Labour leader also hailed the benefits of electoral reform in his speech to the event in Liverpool.

Conference on Monday passed a motion calling on Labour to back proportional voting in general elections.

The vote came despite UK leader Sir Keir Starmer having said electoral reform is not a priority.

He is facing increasing pressure to drop the party's historic support for the first-past-the-post voting system used for UK general elections.

There are calls in Labour for it to embrace proportional representation (PR) - the principle that the number of seats elected should reflect votes cast.

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Labour members passed a motion calling on the party to make a commitment to PR on Monday.

Sources have suggested to the BBC PR will not be put in the manifesto, even if members vote for it at conference.

The Senedd already uses an element of a proportional system in how regional politicians are elected.

In the future it is set to move completely away from first-past-the-post, under Welsh government and Plaid Cymru plans.

Welsh Labour, after the 2021 election where the party gained a seat but was still short of overall majority control of the Senedd, is also in a co-operation agreement with Plaid Cymru.

Speaking at party conference in Liverpool on Monday, Mr Drakeford said the decision by Welsh Labour to back the electoral changes would "make sure that every Labour vote in Wales will count towards creating that next Welsh Labour government".

He said "while Labour has always formed the government in Wales, we've never governed alone," adding: "we focus on those areas where progressive parties can agree, a politics which recognises the dominant position of Labour, but which also knows that no party has a monopoly on good or progressive ideas".

The Cardiff West Senedd member added: "In the face of the dreadful decisions of last week, the obligation to do everything we can to take and exercise power on behalf of that great mass of decent people, the length and breadth of the United Kingdom - that obligation is more powerful than ever".

In his speech Mr Drakeford addressed two issues which have created some debate within the party recently.

One is reform of the first-past-the post voting system for Westminster elections which Sir Keir has made clear is not a priority for him.

Mr Drakeford has long advocated a proportional voting system for general elections - he pointed out that Labour's electoral dominance in Wales over the last 20 plus years has been achieved via a voting system that is partly proportional.

Secondly he pointed out that Welsh Labour has consistently worked with other parties when in government in the Senedd.

This is relevant because UK Labour faces a very big challenge in trying to overturn the Conservatives' majority at the next election.

Despite that, the mood at conference is more confident than it's been for years - one Welsh political heavyweight told me there's an "expectation" that Labour is on the path to government. Only time will tell if he's right.

Mark Drakeford spoke at conference on Monday

He said there was growing "disappointment" that Labour's successes in Wales have not been matched in the rest of the country, as he urged the party's conference to focus on winning power.

He added: "The central reason for our party's existence, the reason why our members do all those things we ask of them ... is this, we exist to seek and to win political power.

"Now we do that, not as an end in itself, but because only in that way can we change for the better the lives of those who rely on the Labour Party, rely on our party to fashion that better future for us all."

Earlier former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell suggested Sir Keir Starmer was acting like a monarch over PR.

In an interview with the Observer, Sir Keir suggested he would not put a pledge for electoral reform in Labour's manifesto.

"I think we just have to remind, as gently as we can, that all our decisions are taken democratically," Mr McDonnell said at a pro-PR rally.

"I think Keir's been mixing with the royalty too much for the last few days. He's not a feudal monarchy."