Andy Burnham wants to run the country, but he might want to invest in a better atlas first.
The Greater Manchester Mayor, currently eyeing a swift transition to Downing Street following Keir Starmer’s exit, recently tried to pitch his grand vision of a "rewired Britain". He took to the pages of the press to court voters outside of England, specifically targeting Scotland and Wales. You might also find this related article insightful: What Most People Get Wrong About The Ontario School Board Deficits.
The problem? His pitch was riddled with basic, embarrassing errors about how devolution actually works.
WalesOnline and senior political figures across the Celtic nations quickly dismantled his claims, revealing a massive blind spot in the frontrunner's understanding of the very system he claims he wants to champion. If you want to decentralize power in the UK, you should probably know who holds that power in the first place. As discussed in recent reports by The New York Times, the effects are notable.
The Pitch That Fell Flat
Burnham’s core argument sounds great on paper if you don't look too closely. He claims that places like Dundee in Scotland or Bangor in Wales feel just as isolated from Holyrood and the Senedd as they do from Westminster. His solution is to take devolution "deeper down," bypassing national devolved governments to hand power directly to local councils.
It is a classic English metro-mayor perspective forced onto nations with entirely different constitutional setups.
When Burnham attempted to outline this in an article aimed at Scottish voters, he stumbled into a factual minefield. He repeatedly bungled basic facts regarding which powers are held by London and which ones belong to Edinburgh and Cardiff.
For a man positioning himself as the ultimate champion of local control, showing a shaky grasp of current constitutional realities is a terrible look.
Why Cardiff and Edinburgh are Fuming
The reaction from the devolved nations wasn't just mild disagreement. It was outright hostility.
Nationalist and devolved leaders view Burnham's "deeper down" approach not as local empowerment, but as a thinly veiled attack on their existing institutions. By suggesting Westminster should work directly with local councils, Burnham is playing a game that bypasses the Senedd and Holyrood entirely.
Plaid Cymru’s Liz Saville Roberts pointed out that this feels like a continuation of the "muscular unionism" that damaged Labour's standing in Wales previously. A senior Scottish Government source was even more blunt, stating that if Burnham thinks Manchester represents the far north, he needs to look at a map. To them, his manifesto reads like the speech of a politician who wants to be the First Minister of England, completely oblivious to the nuances of the other three nations.
"If Burnham thinks Manchester is the north, I've got a map to show him. To us, it sounded like the first-ever speech by a first minister of England." — Senior Scottish Government Source
The U-Turn on Funding
The frustration goes beyond bad geography and sloppy article editing. It is about money.
In his 2024 book, Head North, Burnham explicitly called for the reform or abolition of the Barnett formula. The formula dictates how Treasury funds are distributed to Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Burnham argued back then that funds should be distributed based on social need rather than rigid, outdated calculations.
Now that he has a real shot at No. 10, he has gone quiet on that promise.
With Stormont facing brutal budget pressures and Cardiff demanding control over its own rail infrastructure and the Crown Estate, Burnham’s apparent backtracking feels like a betrayal to Celtic leaders. They worry his "No. 10 North" plan is just a way to funnel cash into English regions while keeping the devolved nations on a tight leash.
What This Means for the Next Government
If Burnham takes over later this month as expected, he inherits a fragile union. You cannot treat Scotland and Wales like oversized versions of Greater Manchester. They are nations with distinct legal, political, and cultural identities, not mere administrative regions.
Treating them like local authorities is an easy way to trigger a constitutional crisis. If Burnham wants his UK-wide devolution drive to succeed, he needs to fix his strategy fast.
- Acknowledge the errors: He must explicitly fix the factual gaps in his platform regarding devolved powers to rebuild trust with Cardiff and Edinburgh.
- Engage with national governments first: Bypassing Holyrood and the Senedd to fund local councils directly will be seen as an aggressive, anti-devolution move. He needs to work through these parliaments, not around them.
- Clarify the Barnett formula stance: Leaders in Belfast, Cardiff, and Edinburgh deserve a clear answer on whether his past promises to reform funding based on social need are dead or alive.
