The ink on his election victory was barely dry before the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, was packing his bags and heading for the exits of Downing Street. His destination was not the sun-drenched beaches of a well-deserved holiday, but the windswept capitals of the devolved nations: Edinburgh, Cardiff, and Belfast. This was a whistlestop tour with a very specific and urgent purpose. Starmer was not on a victory lap; he was on a diplomatic rescue mission. His message, delivered with the earnest, slightly lawyerly conviction that has become his trademark, was a promise of an “immediate reset” of relations between Westminster and the governments of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
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The need for this reset is glaringly obvious. The relationship between the UK government and the devolved administrations has been, to put it mildly, fractious in recent years. The legacy of Brexit, the internal market act, and the bitter disputes over funding have left deep scars and a profound sense of mistrust. Starmer, who campaigned on a platform of healing the divisions within the country, knows that he cannot afford to govern as his predecessors did. He cannot simply dictate terms from London and expect the leaders in Edinburgh and Cardiff to fall into line. The political reality, especially with the threat of a nationalist surge in the May elections, demands a more collaborative, respectful approach.
