PRIME Minister Andy Burnham risks worsening the disconnect that many Scottish voters already feel from Westminster by avoiding a “key aspect of a functioning democracy”, a leading Scottish media expert has said.
Professor Catherine Happer’s warning comes after Burnham, his Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh, Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander, and Welsh Secretary Stephen Kinnock all came to Scotland on official visits on Thursday but all declined to speak to any Scottish media.
The blocked access continued a pattern started under Keir Starmer, which saw leading ministers including former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, former chancellor Rachel Reeves, and Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy all visit Scotland but refuse to speak to the Scottish press lobby.
Happer, the director of the Glasgow University Media Group, told The National that “politicians do need to speak to journalists who will scrutinise their policies and vision".
“Going direct to social media influencers, as Burnham seems to be doing, to simply promote the message is side-stepping this key aspect of a functioning democracy,” she went on.
“Refusing to speak to journalists in Scotland in particular will not look good as they are often cut out of the London-centric media and political class anyway, and this of course will be seen in the light of Burnham’s recent comments about independence being ‘off limits’.
“It will look from the outside as if Burnham is keeping his inside circle even tighter, with Scottish voices kept out, and that will further exacerbate the disconnect that many groups in Scotland already have with Westminster politicians.”
Asked for a statement on Happer’s warning, Downing Street responded within two minutes to refuse to issue one.
However, the Glasgow University professor had also said that Burnham’s pivot away from speaking to mainstream media outlets could be viewed as a good thing “in terms of breaking the circuit of neoliberalism”.
“In his first week as Prime Minister, Burnham has set out his vision of a political reset, to end ‘40 years of neoliberalism’ and to do politics differently,” she said. “He’s bringing his brand of ‘Manchesterism’ with him which was as much a distinctive style of communications as much as it was a policy programme – a less formal, more approachable, 'authentic to Andy’ social media-first approach.
“For the first time in a long time, the mainstream media waiting outside of Downing Street on Monday hadn’t been leaked key Cabinet roles in advance. In terms of breaking the circuit of neoliberalism, keeping these journalists who have been so detrimental to politics in the UK on the outside can be seen as a good thing.”
Gillian Mackay, the co-leader of the Scottish Greens, said that the UK Cabinet Secretaries had shown a lack of respect for the country.
“Four of the most senior figures in the UK Government came to Scotland, used our country as a backdrop, and then refused to answer a single question from Scottish journalists,” she said. “That is how little respect this government has for Scotland or for basic democratic accountability.”
Mackay went on: “In contrast, my friend and colleague Zack Polanski made a point of holding a press conference with Scotland’s media when he visited during our record-breaking election campaign earlier this year. That is how Burnham should treat Scotland: by showing respect, facing scrutiny and listening to what people here have to say.
“The Prime Minister promised a new kind of politics, but shutting out Scotland’s media is the same old arrogant Westminster playbook.
“His Energy Secretary is making decisions that could determine the future of Scotland’s energy industry, our climate and thousands of jobs, while the Scottish Secretary’s entire purpose is supposedly to represent Scotland in government.
“Scotland needs to get out of this tired trope of Prime Ministers coming to Scotland and pretending to care about the people who live here. If Andy Burnham genuinely cared about Scotland, he would stop blocking our democratic right to choose our own future.”
On Thursday, First Minister of Scotland John Swinney and First Minister of Wales Rhun ap Iorwerth were also in Glasgow for the opening of the Commonwealth Games. Both made themselves available to the Scottish press lobby.
