Burnham in Scotland: PM offers Swinney "deeper devolution"
In his first major speech in Scotland as prime minister, Andy Burnham offered the Scottish Government more powers, including over employment support. Swinney pledged cooperation.
Archive image · Photo: Simon Dawson / No 10 Downing Street / Wikimedia Commons, OGL 3 (cropped and resized)
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham on Friday gave his first major speech in Scotland since taking office, in Motherwell, offering the Scottish Government closer cooperation. "Scotland, the most devolved nation in the UK, is itself one of the most centralised nations in Europe," he said, according to the text published on GOV.UK. Specifically, he offered to devolve the Department for Work and Pensions' employment support to Scotland, and said the UK government was looking at devolving innovation, enterprise and employability funding.
Burnham also wants to explore giving Scotland's regions more control over local innovation funding, as English mayors have. The Scottish Government has agreed to match the UK's £10 million for two defence technical excellence colleges. A National Economic Council with the leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is to meet in a couple of weeks. Burnham also wants to work on a food and farming deal before the EU-UK summit on 20 November.
"Problem-solving, not point-scoring," Burnham pledged, addressing First Minister John Swinney directly. According to LBC, he appeared to rule out another independence referendum, urging politicians to focus on practical issues. Before the speech, Swinney said he would "of course" accept the offer and work constructively to bring powers to Scotland. According to the SNP's Stephen Flynn, Swinney had already sent the prime minister a letter on Monday requesting more powers.