Scotland’s First Minister has said he “of course” will work with the Prime Minister if he wants to devolve more powers to Scotland.
Andy Burnham will head north on Friday to make a speech in North Lanarkshire, where he will urge the Scottish Government to work with Whitehall to push powers to local communities, though it is not clear if more powers could be devolved to Holyrood.
“The Prime Minister is very welcome in Scotland and I’ll be interested to hear what he’s got to say,” the John Swinney said.
He added that he, “of course”, would take the Prime Minister up on his offer of co-operation, saying: “I’ve got a track record throughout my political life of working to make sure as many powers as possible are exercised here in Scotland.
Andy Burnham will visit Scotland on Friday (Gary Oakley/PA)
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He added that he, “of course”, would take the Prime Minister up on his offer of co-operation, saying: “I’ve got a track record throughout my political life of working to make sure as many powers as possible are exercised here in Scotland.
“I voted for the Scotland Act in 1998, so we could establish the Scottish Parliament. I’ve been a member of the Scottish Parliament since 1999. My participation in the Smith Commission got substantial extra powers delivered to Scotland, which has allowed us to tackle child poverty with measures such as the Scottish Child Payment.
“So, I’m all for the Scottish Parliament having as many powers as it possibly can do, and I’ll work constructively to make sure we bring all those powers to Scotland.”
The First Minister’s comments come after Economy Secretary Stephen Flynn said the Government would listen to ideas put forward by the Prime Minister, but pushed for the powers for another independence referendum.
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland on Friday, Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander said the Prime Minister was coming to Scotland to make a “substantive and genuine offer to the Scottish Government to empower regions across Scotland”.
“In Andy Burnham, we have a Prime Minister who’s not just an advocate of devolution, he’s actually been a practitioner of it as the Manchester mayor,” the minister said.
Douglas Alexander talked up the Government’s desire to work with the Scottish Government (Stefan Rousseau/PA)
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“So, in that sense, we recognise and respect the devolution settlement, and that’s why we’ve said let’s work together – Scottish local government, the Scottish Government, and the UK Government, to the betterment of Scotland’s regions.
“In that sense, it’s a genuine offer. We want to work with the Scottish Government.
“I made a speech to Cosla last year, calling out what I called the grinding centralisation that we’d seen during the period of devolution.
“I welcomed the fact that just a few weeks after that, John Swinney made a speech saying he wanted to put what are called regional economic partnerships on a statutory footing in Scotland.
“So, I think if we work together, there is common ground that we can find, and actually move forward. We all know that there’s lots on which we disagree. Just because we disagree on some things doesn’t mean that we can’t find ways of working together on other things.”
But the First Minister launched an attack on the Scottish Secretary, further straining their already acrimonious relationship.
Asked about Mr Alexander’s claims the Scottish Government is “hoarding” power, Mr Swinney said: “The Secretary of State for Scotland is not a force for good in all this discussion, I’m afraid.”
The First Minister rejected claims his Government was too centralised, adding: “The Secretary of State for Scotland doesn’t have a clue what he’s talking about.”