by David Nicholson in Llandudno

THE opening of the Welsh Labour conference in Llandudno on Saturday saw a contrast in leadership styles as British leader Keir Starmer warmed the audience up for First Minister Mark Drakeford.

While Mr Drakeford dared to use the word socialist in his rapturously received speech, Sir Keir pledged to be more like Welsh Labour.

He said: “I had the privilege of campaigning with Mark last year and I saw first-hand how people appreciated his leadership.

“When I look at the current UK government, it pains me to see how much this respect is lacking.

“Contrast that with the respect that Mark has shown Wales.”

In a wide-ranging address that covered domestic politics, the danger of the UK breaking up and the war in Ukraine, Mr Drakeford set out a vision of what his government has achieved.

“We are expanding our Wales union learning fund, creating green trade union reps in the workplace and putting our social partnership arrangements on the statute book,” he said.

Mr Drakeford addressed the damage the Tory government was causing to social cohesion and the future of the UK.

He said that the union is “under greater threat today than at any point in my political lifetime” and that he believed that “a successful future can be crafted for the UK.”

Describing this, Mr Drakeford said: “A UK that has a future will be one in which power is redistributed radically to its nations and regions; in which the reality of devolution is recognised and respected.

“A guarantee that at times of misfortune and distress, of sickness, or disability or old age, being a citizen of the UK will mean a real helping hand. 

“A guarantee that to be in work in the UK will bring you protections in the workplace, freedom from the exploitation of false self-employment or rip-off working conditions.

“And a guarantee that fair work is fundamental to a UK free of the fear that poverty brings – the fear of being in work but still running out of vouchers for the food bank or the pre-payment meter.”

“All of this founded on the most important goal of all – that fundamentally socialist understanding that a more equal country is one where every single one of us does better than when we are forced apart.”