The Crown Estate is a massive collection of properties and land owned by the monarch, but managed by a semi-independent board. In 2017, the Scottish government were granted responsibility over the estate in Scotland, but that hasn’t happened in Wales. Plaid Cymru and the Welsh government want that to happen.
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00:00Management of the Crown Estate was devolved to Scotland in 2017. The latest annual report shows
00:06the Scottish Crown Estate generated £103 million for the Scottish public purse. But whilst the
00:12Crown Estate is announcing record net profits, Wales is still missing out on millions because
00:18it's not devolved here. Plaid leader Srinab Yorworth argues that it would be a great benefit
00:22to Wales to be in control of the Crown Estate and it would bring millions into the Welsh economy.
00:27First Minister Eluned Morgan tends to agree. Of course we want to be able to maximise the
00:32potential of our natural resources, creating jobs, helping to tackle the cost of living
00:37crisis and so on. That means devolving it. It's something Welsh Government has backed,
00:41it's something that's important to Welsh Government. Last week though, Labour MPs at
00:45Westminster had an opportunity to back a Plaid Cymru amendment to transfer the management of
00:50the Crown Estate's assets in Wales to the Welsh Government. Was the First Minister as frustrated
00:56as I was that Labour MPs blocked it? Let me just make it clear that our position in Government
01:02remains that the Crown Estate should be devolved and we will continue to make that case to the UK
01:10Government. We welcome the UK Government's commitment to a Welsh Commissioner but that
01:15is certainly something I see as just a first step. Plaid Cymru are concerned that not enough
01:20is being done by the Welsh Government to achieve devolved powers over the Crown Estate. But the
01:25First Minister insists official talks have taken place and will continue to fight, even against
01:29her wider party, for those powers. There's lots that we agree on, there are things that we disagree
01:35on. This is one of the areas where they disagree. I will continue to make the case. I was very
01:39pleased to see that Lord Murphy was somebody who helped us to make the case in the House of Lords
01:46on the Welsh Government's side of the argument. But I am not giving up on this cause. It's an
01:52important cause for our nation. I just want to make it absolutely clear that it's nation before party.