Scottish and Welsh FMs urge PM to ensure “meaningful” Covid summit

26 May 2021 10:18 AM

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and her Welsh Counterpart Mark Drakeford have written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson calling for greater clarity and substance around a proposed four-nations Covid recovery summit currently scheduled for Thursday this week.  

The full text of the letter is below:

Dear Prime Minister,  

We are writing about the proposed 4-nations summit on Covid recovery, which you have suggested should take place this Thursday afternoon. 

We are both deeply committed to taking part in such a summit and to working appropriately together on Covid Recovery - but, as we are sure you do, we want the meeting to be a meaningful discussion with substantive outcomes, and not just a PR exercise.

Our view is that this will be best achieved if further detailed preparation is done in advance.

In particular, we would propose early discussion to reach agreement on the following -

  1. A detailed agenda. Your office sent a very rough proposed agenda only yesterday morning and our view is that further work is needed to agree key issues for discussion and any supporting papers to be prepared;
  2. What outcomes/further process we are seeking to achieve as a result of the summit discussion.

Further discussion between our officials - leading to the summit taking place on an agreed date, perhaps as early as next week - would allow for a much more meaningful exercise, and avoid the risk of it being just a PR or box-ticking exercise.  We are sure that is what we all want. 

We are copying this letter to Arlene Foster and Michelle O’Neill.