As I said earlier, Llywydd, collaboration during the pandemic has yielded some positive examples of inter-governmental working. This year, we have had regular meetings between devolved Governments and the then Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, covering COVID-19 and other business. I look forward to this continuing following the recent reshuffle, where Michael Gove retains, as I understand it, responsibility for inter-governmental relations. The vaccination programme is a further example of how things can be done well, with agreement on central procurement, shared on a population basis across the UK, but with delivery managed by each nation. Beyond COVID, Llywydd, we have worked jointly on common frameworks, devised as a result of leaving the European Union, with provisional agreement between the Governments, hopefully to be followed by final agreement later this year.

The Welsh Government continues to enjoy strong relationships with other devolved Governments, and particularly with the British-Irish Council members. I look forward to welcoming the BIC to Wales, later this autumn, for its thirty-sixth summit, and I will return to the Senedd at a later date with further information for Members on the British-Irish Council meeting in Wales. Earlier this month, I attended the annual meeting of the British-Irish Association. There was an opportunity there to share a platform with the Northern Ireland First Minister, Paul Givan, and to meet with representatives of other parties within the Executive. In November, Welsh Ministers will take part in the COP26 discussions in Glasgow, working with the Scottish Government to maximise the contribution we can make to combating climate change alongside other regional Governments.

These relationships with other UK nations are a very important component of our inter-governmental efforts and ones that allow us both to work closely with others and to promote Welsh interests. What we need, however, is for these positive examples to become the norm in inter-governmental relations. A voluntary union of four nations is far more likely to be sustained into the future where we have a pattern of respectful, regular and reliable engagement, with clearly established robust and rules-based inter-governmental machinery. What we have in practice is piecemeal, ad hoc and sporadic co-operation. At best, it's capable of delivering useful outcomes, but far too often it leaves frustration and silence where dialogue and delivery were needed.

I regret that our bilateral relations with the UK Government are too often poor and difficult. Their muscular unionism, their hostility to devolution, and their aggressive unilateralism is entirely counter-productive and at odds with sentiment here in Wales. It is very difficult to reconcile the positive overtures made some of the time, by some UK Ministers, with the aggressive incursions they make into devolved areas, for example through their legislative programme and their spending plans, holding back money that should come to Wales, and taking back responsibilities that are clearly devolved.

Llywydd, it does not have to be this way. The Welsh Government wants a strong Wales in a successful United Kingdom. Our document 'Reforming our Union: Shared Governance in the UK', published in its second edition in June of this year, outlines such a positive future. It envisages an enduring union, utilising devolution as a strength and working together in ways that would persuade citizens in all four nations to want to belong to it. To take this work forward here in Wales, we will soon announce some details of our own new constitutional commission. The 'Reforming our Union' document will be available to it as it begins its deliberations, and I hope, of course, that others too will come forward with creative and workable ideas.

Llywydd, I had hoped to be able to set out today for the Senedd the culmination of the inter-governmental relations review, commissioned as long ago as 2018. Earlier this year, the publication of a draft package of reforms showed a growing level of consensus between the Governments, with relatively few remaining areas to be agreed. That is not to say that each Government will get everything it wanted, because, inevitably and quite rightly, this has been a process of negotiation and compromise. But, progress has been made and I try to remain optimistic that the review is finally ready to be concluded. Final details were being negotiated as the UK Government reshuffle took place, and now it remains to be seen whether this has implications for concluding the review satisfactorily. 

The draft reform programme represents a significant improvement and it includes new structures to facilitate better dialogue. In spite of a generally challenging relationship with the UK Government, here are some important steps set out in the review: it will establish a new inter-governmental machinery for regular meetings at all levels of Government; it would see increased parity of esteem and participation; for the first time, it would create an impartial secretariat; and it sets out an improved dispute avoidance and resolution mechanism, with the ability to include independent input into disputes and with greater transparency about their resolution. 

For this afternoon, Llywydd, I'd like to end on that positive note. The context of inter-governmental relations is difficult, but progress can be made. I hope that next year I will be able to report that issues as profound as the future of the United Kingdom are being addressed with the seriousness that they so urgently deserve.