Andy Burnham defends the ties that bind the Union

Andy Burnham and John Swinney in London on August 21, the first national day for victims and survivors of terrorism Carl Court/Getty Images/AP A s John Swinney, the Scottish first minister, ­prepares to address his Scottish National Party’s annual conference in Aberdeen on Saturday, an ­English politician is setting forth to steal his thunder north of the border. Andy Burnham is making his first substantive trip to Scotland as prime minister. His aim? Officially, to discuss his plans to promote investment in Scotland and rewire the United Kingdom as a more decentralised state. Yet the broader point of such a mission is to make the UK a more attractive proposition to Scottish voters, even beyond the extra funding per capita from which they benefit under the Barnett formula. During his party conference last month, Mr Burnham spoke with unusual passion on the value of the Union as “something worth saving, something worth fighting for”. Mr Swinney’s ­assertion that Mr Burnham could be the last prime minister of the UK, he said, made him “utterly ­determined” to prove the SNP leader wrong. That is both welcome and overdue. For too long, the case for the Union has been assumed rather than defended, allowing its detractors to dominate the argument and the airwaves. Most commented 1 Ukraine ‘has run out of Patriot interceptor missiles’ Russia-Ukraine war 257 comments 2 British-made drone boats used in attack on Russian port of Sochi Defence 173 comments 3 Severe drought declared in England for first time Environment 101 comments 4 Lisa Nandy ‘minded to intervene’ in Sky’s £1.6bn deal for ITV Companies & Markets 66 comments 5 Sonay Kartal trounces Jasmine Paolini to reach Wuhan Open quarter-finals Tennis 4 comments Last month Mr ­Swinney met the first minister of Wales, Rhun ap Iorwerth of Plaid Cymru, and of Northern Ireland, Michelle O’Neill of Sinn Fein, to mark the fact that separatist parties were in government in all three nations for the first time. Yet although they claimed “momentum is behind our movements”, the electoral wind beneath their wings is not as powerful as they like to suggest. Top stories 1 US inflation hotter than expected as Iran war stokes fuel costs Economics A vote for a party that aspires to independence is not the same as voting for the reality of such a break in the immediate future. Mr Swinney is arguing for an independence referendum by 2031, yet only one in six Scots see it as the top question facing their nation. In 2014 Scottish voters were indeed asked in a referendum to determine their constitutional future, and rejected independence by 55 per cent to 45 per cent. Yet the SNP, a party explicitly devoted to such a goal, has now hung on to power for 19 years, through a succession of first ministers, scandals and feuds. The results of that dominance, made possible in part by the weakness of rival parties, can be seen in political stagnation, cronyism and markers of decline. International data shows a long-term drop in the educational performance of Scottish pupils. Scotland now records the highest drug fatality rate in Europe , along with the lowest life expectancy in the UK and western Europe. Transparency is a pipe dream: Mr Swinney has ruled out any independent inquiry into how the SNP’s former chief executive Peter Murrell, the ex-husband of the former first minister Nicola Sturgeon, embezzled more than £400,000 from party coffers over 12 years — seemingly unrestrained by party scrutiny. Advertisement Against such a backdrop, it is scarcely surprising that in the most recent YouGov poll, 53 per cent of Scots hold a negative opinion of Mr Swinney, and only 34 per cent a positive one. But what may raise SNP hackles is that — rarely for a UK prime minister — 47 per cent of Scots see Mr Burnham in a favourable light. While the Swinney slump and the Burnham bounce may not last for ever, it does lay promising ground for a warmer conversation on the value of the Union. In a rapidly changing geopolitical landscape, in which both national and economic security are more endangered and essential than ever, sticking with old friends makes far more sense than a leap in the dark.