A MEETING between the devolved administrations and the UK Government on their recovery plan from the coronavirus pandemic has been postponed.

The meeting had been due to take place tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon, but following a joint letter from Welsh first minister Mark Drakeford and Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon, it has been postponed.

The letter asked for more time so that “further detailed preparation” could be done in advance of the meeting.

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“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 (public relations) exercise,” it read.

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

Mr Drakeford and Ms Sturgeon asked for clarity on what outcomes the UK Government wanted from the meeting, as well as for a detailed agenda on the issues which would be discussed and supporting papers to be prepared ahead of the meeting.

“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,” they said. “We are sure that is what we all want.”

Following its postponement, the prime minister’s official spokesperson said it was “disappointing” it had been pushed back.

“As the prime minister has set out, we need to overcome the significant challenges of the Covid recovery, with the same spirit of unity and cooperation that we have seen during our fight against the pandemic,” they said.

“It is disappointing that the Scottish Government and Welsh Government would prefer to delay this meeting so that they have more time to prepare, especially given the scale of the challenge, but we remain committed to that spirit of cooperation.

“This meeting would have been the start of a more detailed programme of engagement. But of course we want to ensure those attending have time to prepare, so we will work through arrangements with the devolved administrations and rearrange the meeting for the near future.”

The PM’s spokesperson added that although no date had been agreed yet for the rearranged meeting, Mr Johnson was “keen for this to happen as soon as possible.”