Former Labour First Minister Mark Drakeford has said it is time to consider scrapping the UK government’s Wales Office.
Drakeford said “the time has come” to think about abolishing the department, which was largely stripped of its powers when devolution began in 1999.
Asked on S4C’s Y Byd yn ei Le if he would be happy to get rid of the Wales Office, Drakeford said: “Yes, I think the time has come for us to think about that.”
But Labour MP Ruth Jones described the suggestion as “foolish”, arguing Welsh Secretary Stephen Kinnock was “fighting the corner for Wales”.
The future of the Wales Office has been the subject of regular speculation since devolution, with successive UK governments considering whether its functions could be folded into a single department, also covering Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Earlier this year, then-First Minister Eluned Morgan said there remained “a role” for the Welsh secretary, but argued the post should be “the voice of Wales at the cabinet table” rather than “the UK government’s voice in Wales”.
Under a previous UK Labour government, Peter Hain combined cabinet responsibility for Wales and Northern Ireland between 2005 and 2007.
Asked if he would be happy to get rid of the Wales Office, Drakeford said: “Yes, I think the time has come for us to think about that.
“Of course, [former Labour prime minister] Tony Blair thought of this too.
“This has been part of discussions in Westminster not only now but for more than a decade.”
The post of Welsh secretary, or secretary of state for Wales, was created by Harold Wilson’s Labour government in October 1964, with the Welsh Office opening the following April.
In 1999 the Welsh Office’s powers over areas including health, education, environment, agriculture and transport were taken over by the Welsh Assembly, now known as the Senedd, and what remained of the UK government department was given the title of Wales Office.
