FURTHER devolution would strengthen the case for a written constitution for the UK, Andy Burnham has said.
The Prime Minister previously called for a written constitution in his 2024 book Head North: A Rallying Cry for a More Equal Britain, which he co-authored with Liverpool City Region metro mayor Steve Rotheram.
In it, Burnham outlined how he believes the UK’s “antiquated” political system needs a dramatic overhaul if opportunity is to be shared equally across the four nations. However, other ideas in the book, such as scrapping the Scottish devolution funding formula, were dropped once Burnham got close to No 10.
This weekend the Labour leader has argued that his government’s programme of decentralisation, which aims to give regional English leaders much greater control over their finances, helps strengthen the argument for a written constitution.
“In the end, I think it does start to point towards a new constitutional settlement, particularly with what Steve and I were writing about with that commitment to equivalent living standards,” he said.
“I said in the speech I gave in Manchester a couple of weeks ago about 'good growth in every postcode'. It’s not just a soundbite. I actually mean that.
“We need to have a country where everyone, in the end, can live a comparable life. That should be what we’re working towards.”
The former mayor of Greater Manchester said he thought that approach should be the “cornerstone” of a written constitution.
He added: “I think there is a case for a new clear set of principles about how this country should be run and things that should be minimum basics in all parts of the country, related to essentials and connectivity.
“It’s wrong that people are left arguing for things that are just fundamental, and they’re given in other parts of the country, and the lack of a constitution disempowers places in that situation.
“What’s coming through is we’re starting to say that everywhere will have the right to be a strategic authority, everywhere will have the right to retain more of their income tax, business rates.
“That does start to take you into the realms of a very different approach to running the country.”
Unlike many countries, the UK does not have a formal written constitution document, but it is understood to have a constitution established through history by common law, statutes, and conventions.
Under devolution plans announced last week by Burnham, regional mayors across England will be able to keep a share of income tax generated in their area by early 2028.
On Saturday, two leaders from Scotland’s largest city regions demanded that the UK Government deliver a “second stage devolution” settlement for the Central Belt in a letter to the Prime Minister following the announcement of his plans for English mayors.
The SNP chair of the Glasgow City Region, Susan Aitken, and her Edinburgh and South East Scotland counterpart, Labour's Norman Hampshire, have said there was a disparity in funding which was “an inequity that only the UK Government has the ability to put right”.
Aitken outlined that the UK Government’s position on devolved administrations in Scotland is “not tenable” by claiming it has “nothing to do with them” and that it is “just for the Scottish Government to deal with”.
The UK Government has long insisted that because local government is a devolved matter, further devolution within Scotland is purely a matter for the Scottish Government, a position the two council leaders are calling on Burnham to change.
The councillors argued there is a disparity in funding which is an inequity that only the UK Government has the “ability to put right”, since integrated settlements and capital funding for English mayoral regions have “not generated Barnett Formula consequential funding for the devolved nations”.
Speaking to The Herald, Aitken said: “We're all clear that there's a big bit missing for the cities, the city regions and the devolved administrations, and that's the UK Government.
“Ironically, I think we were possibly in a slightly better position under the Tories on this.”
She added: “You need to be providing the kind of capital resource, in real cash terms, that has gone in really significant quantums to the metropolitan regions and combined authorities in England — and of course Greater Manchester is the one that has done best out of all of them.”
