Rishi Sunak holds first official meeting with Mark Drakeford

Meetings have been taking place between senior UK ministers ahead of a summit in Blackpool

Mark Drakeford discussed the future of Tata's steelworks in Port Talbot in his first official meeting with Rishi Sunak, the Welsh government has said.

The first minister spoke to the prime minister on a video call ahead of the British-Irish Council summit of ministers from the two countries.

Mr Drakeford is not attending in person after testing positive for Covid.

Mr Sunak tweeted that it was "great to meet" Mr Drakeford and Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

"Teamwork, absolute focus and collective effort will be required to deal with the shared challenges faced by people across the UK," he tweeted.

Welsh government officials said Mr Sunak and Mr Drakeford also discussed relations between their governments, which both sides have signalled they want to improve.

Liz Truss did not formally meet Mr Drakeford during her short time in office and Mr Drakeford had let it be known he thought Boris Johnson was "awful".

Before the meeting, a Welsh government spokesman said he "welcomes the return of constructive dialogue with the prime minister".

Tata has warned its huge Welsh steelworks could close unless there is a deal with the UK government to subsidise the cost of reducing carbon emissions.

Mr Sunak - who phoned the Welsh and Scottish first ministers on his first day in Downing Street - has said he wants the UK and devolved governments to "work together in our shared interest".

He and Mr Drakeford also discussed the ability of the Westminster parliament to intrude on devolved affairs.

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Under what is known as the Sewel Convention, Westminster asks the Senedd for permission to legislate on policies that are normally controlled by Cardiff.

But it has been a source of tension and the Welsh government wants the convention to be legally binding.

They also talked about the Shared Prosperity Fund, which the UK government set up to distribute money for its levelling up policies.

The Welsh government has said Wales is losing out compared to the funding it got as part of the EU.

Economic challenge 'similar'

The meeting was followed by the Heads of Devolved Governments Council, which included Ms Sturgeon, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove.

A Welsh government spokesman said: "The first minister had a constructive call with the prime minister this afternoon."

The spokesman said the devolved governments' council "provided an opportunity to have a more in depth discussion on the cost-of-living crisis".

Mr Sunak said the economic challenges people faced were "similar, whether you're in Belfast or Dublin, Swansea or Edinburgh, or indeed Yorkshire".He said it was important to attend the British-Irish Council and "talk to other leaders about how we can relentlessly focus on working together to serve the people that we represent across all these islands".A UK government source described Mr Sunak's meetings between the first ministers as "constructive".