The Talking-up Scotland fund raiser closing on Friday, primarily to enable the recruitment of some research assistance, in order to take pressure off me [74 in June and tiring] and hopefully to further improve the blog, has made a good start. To contribute, only if you can (!) go to: Talking-up Scotland - a Politics crowdfunding project in Ayr by Professor John Robertson

By Liz S

The Herald newspaper had a front page headline on the 26 February 2025.

“Andy Burnham: Glasgow could be an economic powerhouse with five city collaboration”

Andy Burnham is the Labour Manchester Metro Mayor.

This is the same Andy Burnham who, during Covid told Nicola Sturgeon when she was the FM, that he was “angry at the Manchester-Scotland travel ban” and that “she was doing to Greater Manchester what she had criticised UK Ministers of doing to Scotland – which was taking decisions without consultation or warning”.

Yet here we have him in a paper that is published in Scotland ‘making a suggestion for Scotland’s future without consultation or warning to the current FM in Scotland’.

This article in The Herald is Burnham’s way to “create” supposed “closer ties” with Scotland , via Glasgow, and other cities throughout the UK and Ireland.

So basically our business in Scotland is also the business of the Labour Metro Mayor for Manchester however Scotland’s FM must ask permission and/or inform the Manchester Metro Mayor if he or she is making any decision or suggestion that involves Manchester.

Got it.

In August 2022 the Holyrood online wrote an article that stated:

“Anas Sarwar and Andy Burnham vow to foster cross-border Council collaboration”.

The article stated “Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and Greater Manchester’s Labour mayor Andy Burnham have pledged to encourage cross-border co-operation between council leaders as part of a plan to hand greater control to local authorities” (in England and Scotland that is).

So the Labour leader of the third party at Holyrood and the, checks notes, Manchester Mayor , have decided that is what they want for Scotland in the future.

However did Burnham, in 2022, first contact the then Scottish FM Nicola Sturgeon to advise her of his and Sarwar’s future intentions/plans for Scottish Councils “without first having a consultation or giving a warning” to her as Scotland’s FM.

Fair’s fair surely , as if he wanted “consultation or a warning” prior to the reasonable Scotland-Manchester travel ban during Covid then why is he not also delivering this same courtesy to her on his proposed future plans for, checks notes, Scotland’s councils.

The article went on to state “Speaking at a launch event in Glasgow, Sarwar said the aim is to empower (Scottish) councils to make decisions that work best for their particular area, including electing a “local champion” in a role such as Mayor, with Sarwar noting that the vision is to have “more Andy Burnhams” in place”

So does that “vision” mean more Metro Mayors or more Labour Metro Mayors in Scotland , to bring us in line with England on this , which seems to be the only (lack of) ambition Anas Sarwar has for Scotland.

The five cities within the UK and Ireland that were noted in this article in 2022 are the same cities noted in The Herald today which are Glasgow , Manchester, Liverpool , Dublin and Belfast.

The Herald today , is now reintroducing Burnham’s plan , as in regurgitating what he previously stated in 2022 in relation to this “five city collaboration” to still include Glasgow?

Where Burnham and Sarwar are seemingly seeking a closer alliance for Scotland with the rest of the UK on everything , with this suggestion/plan (whatever) by Burnham as an English Metro Mayor , whose own anger is raised should any SNP politician ‘be seen by him as interfering in his business as the Manchester Metro Mayor without first consulting him’.

The article also stated that “Scottish Labour is arguing for a Barnett-style funding formula so local authorities receive a predictable and set proportion of the Scottish budget each year”

Which was pretty much what the Tory UK government planned, as in to take money and control away from the Scottish devolved government in the Scottish parliament and so give these money and control directly to the councils in Scotland.

Burnham seems to be a popular source for the online Holyrood magazine as in the previous month, July 2022, they had another article from Andy Burnham entitled:

“We need to rewire Britain and avoid the rupture that independence would mean”.

Where within this article Burnham again moaned about the Covid travel ban between Scotland-Manchester that he considered this action by Nicola Sturgeon as being “straightforward arrogance” and he said that ‘Sturgeon’ was treating the North of England “with contempt”.

Meanwhile his proposed plans for a Scottish councils to appoint Mayors like England is not to be seen as his “straightforward arrogance” or him treating Scotland or our past and current FM’s “with contempt”.

Also in this article they noted that he reiterated this comment when he was on the Andrew Marr show when he said “The SNP are treating the North of England with the same contempt in bringing that in (travel ban) without any consultation with us”.

Hypocrisy much Mr Burnham ?

Also Burnham stated to the Sunday Mail on 28 August 2022, in an interview that “he was disappointed not to have met with Sturgeon as he asked to meet her but got no response”.

However Nicola Sturgeon refuted this claim made by him in the Sunday Mail when she tweeted, on the same day as this article was published in the paper, 28 August 2022 , that it was a….

“Interesting interview with Andy Burnham in today’s @Sunday_Mail I was a bit perplexed by this part of it tho – Andy and I met on Wednesday afternoon in St Andrew’s House and had a constructive discussion about a range of issues”

(She then circled the part of his interview in the Sunday mail where he claimed he got no response about meeting with her).

Burnham then had to respond to her tweet in him saying that the interview had occurred before the meeting had been confirmed.

He wrote: “We certainly did Nicola – it was good to see you. This interview took place before the meeting had been confirmed.”

However was Burnham not aware of him having said this incorrect statement in the newspaper interview thus could he then not have asked for it to be retracted before they, the Sunday Mail, published his interview , as he met with Ms Sturgeon on the Wednesday prior to this article being published ?

I think that is what is called being ‘caught out’.

Is this what Sarwar intends to do if he becomes the next Scottish FM, give over all control and decisions for Scotland to a Manchester Metro Mayor , who it seems has a tendency to be somewhat economical with the truth if it makes the SNP look bad that is?

Seems so ,and God forbid if any SNP politician should suggest any plans they see as worth either exploring or adopting for Manchester.

As it always , within the UK, seems to be a one way flow, where our business is always considered by politicians down South as their business too , but when it comes to their business and politics concerning English matters only , well then our politicians in Scotland are told to remember the rule is always EVEL as in Butt Out .

It is very much a case of ‘Do as I say not as I do’ ….as a rule that pro UK political parties , especially those who represent English constituencies, expect to be adhered to by SNP politicians only.

So………

Vote SNP in 2026.

Liz S

Support Scots Independent, Scotland’s oldest pro-independence newspaper [98!] and host of the OBA (Oliver Brown Award) at: https://scotsindependent.scot/FWShop/shop/

The Oliver Brown Award for advancing the cause of Scotland’s self respect, previously awarded to Dr Philippa Whitford, Alex Salmond and Sean Connery: https://scotsindependent.scot/?page_id=116

About Oliver Brown, the first Scottish National Party candidate to save his deposit in a Parliamentary election: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Brow