Andy Burnham: I don't want to see Scotland left out of my regional devolution plans

Andy Burnham has said he does not want to see Scotland “left out” of his plans for further devolution to England’s city regions. The Prime Minister insisted he and John Swinney can “find a way of working together for Scotland's benefit” despite their differences on independence. "I do think we need to get more power down into more parts of Scotland,” he told reporters in Glasgow. It came as the First Minister said the pair had held “constructive” talks on Friday.

Mr Burnham met leaders from Scotland and Wales and representatives from Northern Ireland as part of the first National Economic Council for the nations. He also held separate talks with Mr Swinney, who told reporters there was “an alignment” in their aspirations for local and regional government. The First Minister is also pushing for further devolution to Scotland from Westminster. "When I say I want to do problem solving rather than point scoring, I mean it,” Mr Burnham said afterwards.

"It was great to have a positive response and a commitment now to work together to empower Scotland's regions and to get growth going everywhere. "I think it's just a good thing that the two governments that people have here, the UK government and the Scottish government, work together and find common ground rather than look for differences, and that's what we tried to do today. "Find the common ground - and there is common ground - and then work together."

The Prime Minister said he had worked with Mr Swinney “over many years”. He added: “I think I first met him, goodness me, 20 years ago when I was Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Then we had sometimes robust discussions. “But no, I’ve worked with John over many years, I've got to know him. I think we can, as I say, find a way of working together for Scotland's benefit. "I do think we need to get more power down into more parts of Scotland, to get growth going.

"My experience in Greater Manchester is that it’s when you've got power at that level, where local people can come together with businesses and start to solve things, that's when things really start to change. "Obviously, the Budget this week has made big strides on further devolution in England. We're looking at fiscal devolution to city regions, and I don't want to see Scotland left out in that. "This is an incredible place. I love coming here, great city of Glasgow.

I want it to set up in the same way, to forge its own path, be proud of its amazing culture and identity and do what it wants to do, and put it more in control of its own affairs. "That's what I'm about, and it seems we had a lot of common ground together today." Mr Swinney said the pair had “explored a number of issues of domestic significance to Scotland and also issues in relation to the devolution of further powers to Scotland in the area of employability and in the work of the Department for Work and Pensions”.

He said: “We’ve agreed to take forward the detailed work in those areas and the Scottish government will engage constructively to make sure that we secure more responsibilities to be exercised here in Scotland that advances and improves the lives of the people of our country.” The First Minister said the Scottish government is bringing forward its own plans for local government reform. “I think there is an alignment in those aspirations, which obviously helps the government taking forward our agenda within the Scottish Parliament,” he told reporters.

However, Mr Swinney made it clear he will continue to push for another independence referendum. “On the question of independence - the Prime Minister and I don’t agree on the question of independence, but I reiterate my point that I intend to apply the pressure and mobilise opinion within Scotland to secure a referendum on independence during this parliamentary term,” he said. A Downing Street spokesperson said this was “off the table”.

They said: “The Prime Minister met with the First Minister of Scotland in Glasgow following a meeting of the National Economic Council today. “The Prime Minister and First Minister agreed the meeting at the NEC had been extremely positive. They said it had been a valuable exercise in starting the process of exploring how each government could contribute to regional empowerment, reindustrialisation and achieving good growth in every postcode.

“They agreed that now there would be a policy sprint led by No10 North, involving officials from both governments, to take this agenda forward. “Outside that process, the Prime Minister said the UK government would review and respond to a range of issues raised by the First Minister. “This would not include a second independence referendum in Scotland, which the Prime Minister has repeatedly made clear, is off the table.” Defence Secretary Wes Streeting, who was also visiting Scotland on Friday, said UK ministers want to see the Scottish government transfer more control out of Holyrood.

Referring to Mr Burnham, he said: “He’s power to the people. What we’re doing in England is devolving a lot more power, responsibility and resources, not just one government to another, but right down to communities.” He said he did not want to “sound too critical of the Scottish government”, adding that the Prime Minister genuinely means it when he talks about “problem solving, not point scoring”. “I would just say to the Scottish Government, one of the critiques we have… is that for the Scottish government, devolution is often about transferring power, responsibility, resources from Westminster to Holyrood, and the challenge Andy Burnham is setting out is ‘what about devolving more power also from Holyrood to local government across Scotland’.”