Boris Johnson calls for leadership summit as Tories reel from losses in Scotland and Wales

As part of his immediate response to the results of national and local elections across Britain, Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has called for a summit involving the leaders of the UK’s devolved nations.

Johnson has tried to frame the summit as “Team UK”’s recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic but skeptics point to the PM’s need to shore up the country’s constitutional status after Tory defeats in Scotland and Wales.

The PM’s summit call follows the Scottish National Party’s (SNP) fourth Scottish Parliamentary election victory in a row and the Labor Party’s win in the Welsh Senedd (Parliament).

To prepare the grounds for the summit, Johnson anchored his idea firmly in the narrative of post-covid recovery by calling for a “spirit of unity and cooperation” in tackling pandemic-related challenges such as lost learning in schools, National Health Service (MHS) waiting lists and court backlogs.

 "We will all have our own perspectives and ideas - and we will not always agree - but I am confident that by learning from each other we will be able to build back better, in the interests of the people we serve", Johnson said whilst addressing the Scottish and Welsh first ministers.

But Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, appears to have poured cold water on the leadership summit idea by once again placing the Scottish independence referendum at the top of the political agenda.

Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show on Sunday (May 09), Sturgeon said she did not believe any bid for a second referendum would be legally challenged by the UK government.

Beyond the independence issue, Sturgeon tried to place further distance between the SNP and the ruling Tories in London by saying the Scottish people had backed a “progressive, inclusive, outward-looking vision” but now face the prospect of “many more years of right-wing Brexit-obsessed Tory governments that we don’t vote for”.

For his part, Wales’ First Minister, Mark Drakeford, called on Johnson to “reset relationships” with the devolved administrations of the UK.

Drakeford said that instead of “flying more Union Jacks at the tops of buildings”, the ruling Tories need to build “proper, respectful relationships” between four sovereign parliaments that choose to work together for common purposes.

By four parliaments, Drakeford was referring to the Welsh Senedd, Holyrood in Scotland, the Northern Ireland Assembly, in addition to the Westminster Parliament in London.  

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