What would Prime Minister Burnham mean for Glasgow?

Good morning readers. Beth clearly has a nose for a good story: she’s down in Manchester this week, just in time for Andy Burnham’s big speech setting out his agenda as the PM-in-waiting. 

Passing ships, Robbie was also down in Manchester over the weekend, but to watch Scotland play in the Women’s T20 Cricket World Cup; no win for them either, alas. He also squeezed in a trip to one of his favourite pubs in the city (Peveril of the Peak since you’re asking) and cooled down with a few swims in the River Lune, Lake Ullswater and the Healey Dell nature reserve. On a similar theme, Calum went for a wee dook in Portobello over the weekend.  

Onto your briefing.

Glasgow in brief

🌹 Any guesses heretofore as to the meaning of Burnhamism or Manchesterism — to use two awful -isms that have been attributed to the political agenda of the effective Prime Minister-in-waiting — are about as reliable as a First Bus timetable at this stage. But it’s all becoming a bit clearer following Burnham’s speech at Manchester’s People’s History Museum this morning. Today he set out a commitment for a 10-year mission to transform the economy and raise living standards. Central to this plan is a “No 10 of the North” which would act as a “conduit” through which power and resources will be redistributed across the UK. He called for a “more collaborative politics”, acknowledging that the current system is “broken”. So what does it all mean for Glasgow? 

It’s being pitched as “the biggest transfer of power out of Whitehall in modern times”, a push for devolution across the UK’s nations and regions, with budgetary powers devolved to mayors who’d be given greater control over social housing, welfare and education. The issue for Burnham is he’d need cooperation from Scottish ministers for at least some of this legislative agenda, for example if he wants Scottish cities to have their own mayors. The BBC reports that Burnham’s allies believe he could devolve UK powers to a much more local level, leapfrogging Holyrood. Either way, the former Manchester mayor wants a “circuit breaker” in which decision-making is “pushed to regions and local communities”. This will involve slashing Whitehall budgets as money is diverted to regional mayors and local authorities. Previously, Burnham has made clear he thinks the Barnett Formula is unfair to English regions and should be scrapped, but his team have since rowed back on the statements he made in his book, Head North: A Rallying Cry for a More Equal Britain. What we can expect to see is a push to improve public transport in Scotland, where he believes standards are “rubbish” outwith Edinburgh. But in Glasgow, the push towards a Manchester-style bus network is already underway.

As for his desires for a more “collaborative” politics, he’s certainly likely to forge an alliance with Springburn’s Paul Sweeney, as the pair struck up a friendship during COP26, according to The Times. “He’s great, Paul”, Burnham said two years ago. But collaboration with the more centrist wings of Scottish Labour might be harder, as Dundee’s Michael Marra showed when he once said Burnham should “shut up” in reference to his first failed attempt to usurp Starmer last September. Burnham may well find such collaboration with the Scottish government equally hard, as he’s wont to criticise their push for independence as prioritising politics over people. “Devolution only works if you put the place first. If you don’t, and just take the party line, you may as well forget it. That isn’t how it should be,” he jibed in a 2024 podcast.