Burnham Tells Scotland Too Much Time Is Wasted on ‘Dramas’
Speaking in Motherwell while the SNP met in Aberdeen, the prime minister offered deeper devolution from Holyrood to Scotland’s cities, including an offer to devolve Department for Work and Pensions services, and shut down talk of a second referendum. “Too much time is wasted in those dramas,” he said. “My view won’t be changing.” John Swinney said he would “of course” work with him on empowering regions.
The argument is that Glasgow and Edinburgh risk being “underpowered” next to English city-regions, and it is the case Mr Burnham made for a decade as mayor. The Scottish and Welsh governments are wary that pushing power down to regions means drawing it away from their parliaments. Mr Swinney was scathing about the Scottish secretary’s claim that Holyrood was “hoarding” power: Douglas Alexander, he said, “has not got a clue what he is talking about”. Kemi Badenoch, also in Scotland, accused the SNP of “navel gazing”. The Scottish government is already reviewing whether its 32 councils could become six or seven regional authorities, with a report due in December — the point where the two offers will have to be reconciled.