Carwyn Jones to call for 'new Union mindset' for UK
Carwyn Jones calls for 'new funding system' for Wales
(about 2 hours later)
Carwyn Jones will call for a "new union mindset" that gives governments in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland more of a say in UK affairs.
First Minister Carwyn Jones has called for a new funding system that meets the needs of public services in Wales.
In a speech in London on Wednesday, he will say the UK's devolved institutions "embody popular sovereignty".
It sets him against Downing Street and his own party's leadership, which has said it will keep the existing system.
The first minister will also repeat his call for a new funding formula to set the Welsh government's budget.
The UK government uses the Barnett formula to decide the size of its funding to the Welsh government.
It comes a day after he hailed a cross-party agreement in the assembly on further devolution.
Labour has said it would make adjustments to help Wales, but Mr Jones again called for a new formula based on the UK nations' and regions' needs.
Also on Wednesday, his predecessor Rhodri Morgan will deliver a speech in Cardiff calling for a new funding system and an elected House of Lords.
In a speech in London on Wednesday, Mr Jones said the Barnett formula, devised in the 1970s, was "the constitutional equivalent of fixing a hole in the roof with Blu Tack and cardboard".
'Mutual benefit'
He added: "Scotland gets promises made to it at the drop of a hat. In Wales we have to wait more than a year."
Mr Jones will say in his speech: "A devolution mindset starts with the assumption that the Westminster parliament is sovereign and we are a fundamentally centralised state.
The Welsh government has said it is short changed by around £300m a year under the current arrangement.
"That thinking has led to Whitehall making concessions to national feelings by way of specific limited delegations to the so-called devolved administrations.
Prime Minister David Cameron recently told BBC Wales: "There aren't plans for some huge change in the formula distribution."
"A new union mindset on the other hand says that the UK is a state governed by four representative institutions.
Meanwhile, Labour has said it would meet the Welsh government's call for "fair funding", but has ruled out scrapping the Barnett formula.
"Those parliaments and assemblies embody popular sovereignty in each part of the country and will work with one another for our mutual benefit."
Together with the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, Labour committed to retain the formula as part of the Scottish independence referendum campaign.
Analysis by political correspondent Daniel Davies
'New mindset'
Carwyn Jones is trying to come up with an argument that gets him taken seriously in Westminster. But what leverage does he have?
But Mr Jones said a more fundamental overhaul for the whole of the UK was required.
Alex Salmond represents a very real threat to Westminster. On Tuesday, he said Scots felt betrayed and warned Labour and the Tories would pay the price at the ballot box.
He said it was not a case of "special pleading or saying to Scotland 'give us your money'".
The Welsh Labour leader doesn't have that option. Instead, he has to keep prodding Downing Street and the upper echelons of his own party. His record so far - on funding, for example - is mixed.
He added: "It's very difficult to make a logical case for the retention of Barnett as it is.
Tuesday's cross-party statement in the assembly called for talks on topping up Welsh funding. But now the first minister is making it clear he thinks that's only a first step.
"In the meantime I would say - selfishly - fine, as long as we've got the money in Wales then we're fine... (but) at some point in time there's going to have to be an examination of Barnett."
The Welsh government has been calling for this since 2009, and yet the three big Westminster parties have ruled out the change Mr Jones wants: a new needs-based formula to replace Barnett.
It was a "fundamental principle of the Union that money is distributed to where it's needed at that time", he said.
Will his appeal for a 'new mindset' bring about a change of heart?
His speech called for a "new Union mindset" and "more federal thinking in the UK".
In their statement on Tuesday, party leaders in Cardiff Bay called for talks with the UK government about a "fairer funding agreement", and for those talks to conclude by the end of January 2015.
Mr Jones attacked moves towards English votes for English laws in the Westminster Parliament, and said further devolution promised to Scotland during the referendum campaign had to be honoured.
The Welsh government says it loses out under the Treasury's Barnett formula, which sets the size of its budget.
The first minister has said that Wales is short-changed by around £300m a year under the formula, although there is no all-party consensus on the size of any shortfall.
However, aides say Mr Jones will make clear that topping up Welsh government funding will not be enough and that more fundamental reform is necessary.
He is expected to say plugging the funding gap is not a long-term solution and a new needs-based formula is required.
