Andy Burnham says he will bring together the leaders of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland this autumn for a summit to help boost the UK economy.

He made the announcement on a visit to Tata steelworks in Port Talbot – his first official visit to Wales as prime minister – where he met workers, apprentices and senior executives.

He also suggested Wales and Scotland should consider ways to deepen devolution by following England’s model where more powers are given to cities and regions under mayors.

The first ministers of Wales and Scotland, and the first and deputy first ministers of Northern Ireland will meet Burnham at the National Economic Council in October.

Burnham said he wanted “every leader in this country signed up” to having “good jobs in every community”.

The National Economic Council was created by Gordon Brown’s UK government in the wake of the 2008 banking crash, and has now been revived by Burnham.

A previous meeting brought together government ministers and English local authority mayors.

Plaid Cymru Deputy First Minister of Wales Sioned Williams, speaking before she met Burnham at the visit to the steelworks, said she thought “the announcement about the National Economic Council is a hopeful thing”.

“But, obviously, the money has to be put where the mouth is around that,” she said.

“That can’t be a talking shop.

“We can discuss challenges there, we can discuss how every postcode, as the prime minister has put it, needs to see economic growth.

“The proof would be in the pudding but we obviously very much welcome that that body will be revived.”

Burnham is giving more powers to regional mayors in England, including a share of income tax revenue and the ability to overrule local councils on some planning decisions.

The prime minister had previously expressed support for empowering local communities in places like Wales and Scotland rather than just directing public services from their devolved governments.

That prompted Welsh First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth to warn him not to “bypass” Wales’ parliament.

At his visit to Port Talbot steelworks on Thursday, part of his summer listening tour, Burnham said: “All of this can be discussed at the National Economic Council that I’ve called for October.”

He added: “Number 10 North is as much at the service of Wales, as it is at the service of England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, and it’s there to make Whitehall work better for Wales, and that’s what I’ve said to the Welsh government today.”

The prime minister also said he was “open to the conversation” about handing control of policing in Wales to the Welsh government and the Senedd.

Some workers at Tata’s Llanwern plant, around 50 miles east on the M4, have been put on lighter duties with unions blaming competition from cheap steel imports.

It follows a decision by UK ministers to raise the quotas limits on countries including South Korea, India, and Vietnam.

Burnham said the quotas would be kept under review.

“The steel sector is in flux around the world, and it’s moving fast, and things are changing,” he said.

“And what we have got to do is to support the British steel industry as best we can through that. But recognizing that we also got to support the wider the wider economy and find the right point of balance on these on these issues.”

Tata Port Talbot is in the process of being converted to greener steel production, and building a new electric arc furnace, which Burnham said Wales could have “the first green steel production capacity in Europe, the biggest green steel production in the world”.

Earlier, the Welsh government said it looked forward “to discussing shared challenges, including ensuring growth and investment in all the countries represented, and support for families facing the continuing cost-of-living crisis.”

Ap Iorwerth, who is away on leave this week, had his first meeting with the new prime minister on the sidelines of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in July.

Reform UK’s Welsh leader Dan Thomas said ahead of the visit that Burnham “may well be the last Labour prime minister to come to Wales”.

“We have no doubt that when the prime minister finally calls a general election and stops running scared, it will be the end of the line for Labour here in Wales,” he said.

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