Andy Burnham is acting like he is “the first prime minister of England”, Scotland’s Deputy First Minister has said, as she called on the Labour leader to have the “courage” to hold a second independence referendum.
Jenny Gilruth hit out at the UK Prime Minister on the same day that he travelled north to make his first major speech in Scotland since moving into Number 10.
Mr Burnham said he wanted to “move beyond the old politics of conflict” as he offered to work with the SNP to deepen devolution in Scotland.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham decided to ‘pop up’ to Scotland, Ms Gilruth said. (Jeff J Mitchell/PA)
But Ms Gilruth told the SNP conference in Aberdeen that most of his big announcements since taking on the job “seem to be England only”.
Scottish First Minister John Swinney has already claimed Mr Burnham will be the last prime minister of the United Kingdom – a jibe made when he met with the nationalist first ministers of both Wales and Northern Ireland last month.
And Ms Gilruth said that he was “already acting like the first prime minister of England”.
Speaking about Mr Burnham, she said: “Every major announcement he makes seems to be England only.
“He even creates a ‘Number 10 North’ – but puts it firmly in the southern half of the UK.”
While she said the Prime Minister had “decided to pop up to Scotland for the first time in months”, Ms Gilruth said it was a “real shame” he had not been able to come to the SNP conference.
Ms Gilruth, who is married to former Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale, added: “We welcome Labour leaders to SNP conference, as my wife can attest.”
Her comments came as she told Mr Burnham “have the courage of your convictions” and permit a second referendum.
Mr Burnham has become the latest UK leader to insist another vote on Scotland’s place in the UK is not on the table.
But Ms Gilruth said: “Nobody who is confident in their argument ever fears democracy.”
With the SNP having launched the largest campaign for independence since the previous referendum in 2014, the Deputy First Minister promised supporters this would be “the most sophisticated political campaign that Scotland has ever seen”.
Adding that the party would seek to reach some 1.5 million Scots over the coming months, Ms Gilruth insisted that “our opportunity has never been greater”.