Andy Burnham has been urged to help Scots councils "starved of cash" under 20 years of SNP Government. Left-wing Scottish Labour MP Brian Leishman told the Record he wanted to "see less power concentrated in Edinburgh, and more power given to the country's 32 local authorities".
Burnham's Devolution Pledge
It comes after Burnham, who is expected to replace Keir Starmer as Labour leader next month, yesterday promised to set a "new direction" for the UK - with an outpost of 10 Downing Street based in Manchester to drive his plans to rewire the British state. The Prime Minister-in-waiting used a speech to pledge "new opportunities to extend devolution in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland by taking power deeper down".
Burnham also angered some in the SNP by claiming "the people of Dundee and Bangor feel just as distant from Holyrood and the Senedd as they do from Westminster".
Leishman's Call for Local Funding Reform
But the push for more devolution was welcomed by Grangemouth and Alloa MP Leishman, who said it was an issue the next PM would have to work with John Swinney on to achieve. He told the Record: "I think over the last two decades in Scotland we've seen a centralisation of powers in Holyrood. I want to see local council funding changed. Something that would have been really transformational, if it was in the Scottish Labour manifesto, would have been looking at how we fund local authorities - because they have been starved of cash."
Leishman added: "I know what it was like when I was a councillor for two years. It was a catalogue of potential cuts put forward by council officers to try and come up with a budget. It was a pick-and-mix no one wanted. We've seen a dilution of the ability of local councils to meaningfully impact their local communities. I want to see less power concentrated in Edinburgh, and more power given to local authorities. Andy Burnham is a big fan of devolution."
Scottish Labour's Internal Review
But Leishman also said his own party required change if it was to recover from yet another Holyrood election defeat to the SNP last month. Anas Sarwar and Jackie Baillie will shortly launch an internal review which will examine Scottish Labour's relationship with the UK party, with some calling for the two to separate. Monica Lennon, a former Scottish Labour MSP, this week suggested the party north of the Border needed "more control over our own destiny".
Leishman added: "We've got to have a proper discussion on the direction of the party. It's something the membership needs to consider. Something radically has to change in Scottish Labour. I describe it as rediscovering our radicalism - being much more bold in coming up with transformational policies. The sort of thing we haven't done in quite some time. My primary goal is getting the Scottish Labour party acting like it should do, and adopting policies like it should be doing."
He concluded: "It then becomes a broader, full-membership conversation. Do we go away and do our own thing, and stand away from the UK Labour party?"
