Plaid Cymru 'holding up investment' in Wales, claims Welsh Secretary

The Welsh Secretary has accused Wales' Plaid Cymru government of holding up investment and called for it to work more closely with UK ministers.

Speaking at Labour's autumn conference in Liverpool on Sunday, Stephen Kinnock said Plaid Cymru was "stalling" on deals resulting in "jobs and security delayed".

He said he wanted to "reach out" to Plaid Cymru because, in England, deals were already underway.

Liz Saville Roberts MP, Plaid Cymru group leader in Westminster, said Kinnock should "reflect on why so many people chose positive change after 27 years of Welsh Labour rule" instead of "throwing insults".

The Welsh government has been asked for comment.

Elsewhere in his speech, Kinnock said he was committed to reindustrialising communities and called for more local and regional devolution within Wales.

He told delegates Prime Minister Andy Burnham understood the need for collaboration and "that when we work together, we get stronger".

His message to Plaid Cymru was: "Work with us."

He said: "Stop sitting on your hands, get energy infrastructure through planning, allow broadband upgrades for thousands of homes, stay true to your commitments on our £50m defence growth deal."

Kinnock said the UK's Labour government had given Wales "the money to meet demand for additional needs provision in schools" and called on Plaid to "stop dithering and get that funding to the kids who need it".

The MP for Aberafan Maesteg warned Wales risked becoming "the most centralised nation in the UK" with a devolution programme being rolled out in England that gave more powers to regional mayors and local councils.

"The Welsh people deserve similar levels of control over decisions as people across the border," he said.

Speaking to Politics Wales on Sunday morning, Kinnock said the UK government would give "careful consideration" to any Welsh government proposals for devolving further powers, but suggested transferring policing could jeopardise cross-border cooperation between forces.

"The question is, will it reduce crime? Will it make the Welsh people safer and more secure?" said Kinnock.

"What we know is that you've got a tremendous amount of integration between English and Welsh police forces on things like county lines, where we need really strong cooperation between police forces in North West England, for example, or Avon and Somerset and their counterparts in Wales, so let's not do anything that jeopardises that integration."

Responding to the comments made by Kinnock, and earlier by Welsh Labour leader Ken Skates, Saville Roberts defended the Welsh government's record, adding it was "focused on delivery and a positive vision for Wales".

"Labour can keep attacking the choices voters made in May, but that won't rebuild trust. The challenge for Labour is to understand why so many people wanted change. The challenge for Plaid Cymru is to deliver it, and that is exactly what we are focused on doing," she said.