Burnham Offers Holyrood a Deal to Devolve Power Further
The prime minister, in North Lanarkshire today, invites the first minister to work with him on pushing power below Holyrood, arguing that “power was never supposed to stop at the doors of the Scottish Parliament”. The visit falls on the weekend of the Scottish National Party conference, where John Swinney will make the case for independence tomorrow.
The offer is specific: that the Scottish government work with the government’s northern office and the Scotland Office on what is called a new model of regional empowerment. “This is me making an offer to the Scottish Government,” Andy Burnham said. “With us working together, there is no limit to what we can achieve for the Scottish people.” He framed the argument around places rather than institutions — people in North Lanarkshire, Fife or the Highlands “know what their communities need better than any minister, whether they sit in London or Edinburgh”. The politics underneath it are less generous. Mr Swinney wants a second referendum by 2031 and has warned the prime minister against stripping powers from Holyrood; Mr Burnham has told him a second vote remains off limits, having earlier suggested to MPs that a border poll could be considered given clear consensus and changed opinion. The Conservatives are circling the same ground from the other side: Kemi Badenoch, in Edinburgh, said her party has “no plans” to remove powers but “maybe we need a review”, adding that devolution “is not a religion which we should worship”.