WELSH Labour would welcome a Union summit called by prime minister Boris Johnson if it is “real”, a minister has said.

Mr Johnson invited Mark Drakeford, the leader of Welsh Labour, and Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the SNP, to the meeting following their wins in the Welsh and Scottish parliaments.

In his letter, Mr Johnson said the UK was “best served when we work together” and called for a discussion about “our shared challenges” in the months and years ahead.

Mr Drakeford is set to continue as Wales’ first minister after Labour equalled its best ever Senedd election result by winning 30 seats – just one short of a majority.

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The SNP fell one seat short of an overall majority in the Scottish Parliament, securing 64 seats, but the result still leaves Holyrood with a pro-independence majority.

On Sunday, Welsh Labour housing minister Julie James was asked about Mr Johnson’s proposal to have a “Team UK” summit and approach to coronavirus.

She told BBC Politics Wales: “I hope very much that it’s real. We would welcome it if it was.

“We’ve been calling for many, many years for a proper constitutional summit, where we talk properly about the role of devolution across the UK, in a United Kingdom.

“We very much welcome that. You’ve heard party leaders from us for many, many years saying how necessary that is.”

Ms James added that where devolution exists, there is a “clear appetite for it”.

An announcement on any further easing of coronavirus lockdown restrictions in Wales is due to be made on Friday.

On Sunday, Public Health Wales reported 54 cases of Covid-19 and no further deaths.

Ms James said the Welsh Cabinet would meet on Monday afternoon to discuss “the next set of measures”.

She added that she was “absolutely not able to say” whether the easing of restrictions could be accelerated until ministers had received advice from medical and scientific advisers.

Foreign holidays are “very much part of the package of discussion for Monday”, she confirmed.

The Welsh Conservatives saw the party’s best result in the Senedd following Thursday’s elections, with its number of seats rising from 11 to 16.

Senedd leader Andrew RT Davies told Politics Wales that he was “very pleased” with the result, which included the first woman from a BAME background to be elected to the Welsh Parliament.

Natasha Asghar will represent the South Wales East region for the Welsh Conservatives.

“I think generally, when you look across the United Kingdom, there is the incumbency factor,” Mr Davies told the BBC.

“That’s either a nationalist government in Scotland, a Conservative government in England or a Labour government here in Wales. We have to reflect on that, obviously we have to reflect on the campaign.

“This isn’t just saying it’s been a brilliant success, we don’t need to do anything, because all parties need to rejuvenate and re-energise themselves, but this was a record-breaking campaign.”

Mr Davies said having a Conservative as the Senedd’s next presiding officer or deputy presiding officer would be a “sensible way” to build consensus in the parliament.

Plaid Cymru received 13 seats in the elections, though the party’s high-profile former leader Leanne Wood lost her Rhondda seat to Labour.

Adam Price, leader of Plaid Cymru, told Politics Wales that he felt a “sense of disappointment and sadness” that the party had not been more successful.

“The thing I felt was so important in this election was to provide people with a sense of hope that the future can be better than the past,” he said.

“Of course I feel disappointed and frustrated that I’m not going to now be able to deliver that change to the many, many people that I met in communities right across Wales that are crying out for transformational change.

“Our role now is as a constructive opposition to make that case and to try and put maximum pressure on the Labour government.”

Mr Price described the loss of Ms Wood’s seat as “bitterly disappointing” but said there were positive signs in other parts of Wales, where the party “built on a platform for success”.

Jane Dodds, leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats – which retained a single seat – said the party would now consider how to rebuild.

It lost its constituency seat of Brecon and Radnorshire to the Conservatives, though Ms Dodds gained a regional seat in Mid and West Wales.

Ms Dodds she was “very disappointed” to lose Brecon and Radnorshire but was “delighted” to have won the regional seat.

“We lost so many months of our traditional campaigning which is door-knocking – the Liberal Democrats do door-knocking and we weren’t able to do that until very recently,” she said.

“We’re going to be looking at what happened and how we campaign and we’re going to be looking at our messages but right now we’re celebrating that we’ve got this one seat in the Senedd.”