Andy Burnham will invite John Swinney to work with him on devolution and unlock jobs and opportunities for every area of the country during a visit to Scotland later. The prime minister will say "there is no limit to what we can achieve for the people of Scotland" at an event in North Lanarkshire. Burnham, the former Mayor of Manchester, has said he wants to devolve more power to local areas around the UK, while the first minister has called for a second Scottish independence referendum by 2031.
The PM's visit coincides with the SNP's annual party conference in Aberdeen and Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch's latest visit for an engagement in Glasgow. What does Andy Burnham have up his sleeve as he crashes SNP conference? Burnham is expected to say: "During my first week in office, I told the first minister that I wanted to work with him to spread opportunities to communities across Scotland's regions and cities.
"Through No10 North, we are rewiring the state and I want to make sure regions in Scotland are fully part of this. "This is me making an offer to the Scottish government. With us working together, there is no limit to what we can achieve for the Scottish people." The prime minister will use his speech to claim the Scottish government is one of the most centralised devolved administrations in Europe.
He is expected to say Holyrood does not give enough of a say to people who know their areas best, despite significant devolution from Westminster over the last 27 years. The PM will call on the Scottish government to work with No10 North and the Scotland Office to develop "a new model of regional empowerment for Scotland, ensuring communities with their own strengths, identity and ambitions can seize new economic opportunities and unlock their potential". Local devolution is considered a policy area where there is scope for some common purpose between the Scottish and UK governments.
Both have said they are willing to work together on pushing power into city regions and local communities. But Swinney has warned the prime minister not to overstep by stripping power from Holyrood. The first minister is expected to promote his renewed push for independence in his keynote speech at the SNP conference on Saturday.
Swinney previously welcomed Burnham telling MPs that a border poll would be considered in both Scotland and Northern Ireland if there was a clear consensus and public opinion had changed. But Burnham later pushed back on that by telling Swinney at a meeting in Glasgow that a second Scottish independence referendum remains "off limits". Meanwhile, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said the Tories currently have "no plans" to take away powers from the Scottish Parliament - but that "maybe we need a review" into how devolution is working.
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