As I sat in the first Plaid Cymru conference since the party won the Welsh election and started leading the Welsh government, I heard things I had never heard before. I have been to a lot of Plaid conferences and not once have I heard people being really positive about a UK Labour leader. But there was no mistaking it: the Welsh nationalist party feels that Andy Burnham is a man it can work with.

When I interviewed Welsh first minister Rhun ap Iorwerth, he indicated he was hopeful – in a way he never was under Keir Starmer – that there was a prime minister who had a genuine desire to give Wales meaningful concessions when it comes to additional powers.

In his speech in Llandudno, the first minister said that the prime minister had “looked me in the eyes and promised he would not [bypass the Senedd]”. He said he had written to Burnham with a “formal ask” for “a new deal for Wales”.

There were five demands from the Welsh government to Westminster: powers over policing and justice, powers over rail infrastructure, control over the crown estate, “fiscal fairness” and control of welfare. Seems like a pretty long shopping list, right? Well, it can actually be summarised in just five words: “Give us what Scotland has.”

The Scots have control of the crown estate, a better funding settlement, with more money through the Barnett........

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