Scotland city regions demand UK devolution funding deal

Speaking at a community centre in Sheffield, Mr Burnham said the plan would give mayors "more in their hands" to lift up the country's "forgotten places".

He also spoke of wanting to build a "one-team feeling" across the UK, insisting the new No 10 North hub in Manchester was as much for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as for the regions of England, and that a similar forum would be set up for the leaders of the three devolved nations.

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.

However, in a letter to the new Prime Minister, seen by The Herald, the councillors said there was a disparity in funding which was "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".

(Image: Newsquest)

Cllrs Aitken and Hampshire told Mr Burnham they had been "hugely heartened" by the new government's commitment to devolution and local growth.

"Over the past 25 years devolution to Scotland has been a real force for good," they write, "but we believe, as you develop your thinking for further devolution from Whitehall, that Scotland's two biggest city regions must be part of that early conversation."

Speaking to The Herald, Cllr 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.

"In the early days [of the Labour government], when Ian Murray was Secretary of State for Scotland, he was really engaged, really interested, and we had really good conversations with him.

"Then it ground to a halt, and the position was taken that this was nothing to do with them, that it's just for the Scottish Government to deal with. That's just not true, and it's not tenable.

"It's not just Glasgow saying this, and it's not just Scotland saying this. All of the Celtic city regions are saying to the UK Government yes, it is something to do with you, and you need to be part of this.

"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."

Cllr Aitken added: "I'm slightly concerned that the Secretary of State for Scotland continues with his position, and that he's briefing the Prime Minister that this has nothing to do with him. I'd hope that the facts speak for themselves."

"It's not the case that this is Nat Glasgow arguing this," she said. "That's not it at all. Equally, the leader of Cardiff city council is a Labour councillor, as is the chair of that city region.

"So none of us are making this case on a party political basis. If anything, it's very much about place above politics. Within the Glasgow city region there's currently a majority of Labour-led administrations, but we are as one. We've got a very clear view on this."

Kevin Rush, Glasgow's Director of Regional Economic Growth, said the region was in a good place to do more: "There's been a bit of frustration for some of us with the public discourse around this.

"It's presented as if the leap from Glasgow to Manchester is a quantum leap, but the reality is that where we are as a region, the work we've done, we're not as advanced as Greater Manchester, there's no point pretending otherwise, in terms of collaboration and regional working, because they've been empowered to do this, but actually, in terms of our capacity, capability and coherence, we're up there with the other combined authorities.

"We just need that next step, and funding from the UK level would make the big difference.

"But we're not bumpkins. We're not sitting here as some kind of poor Glasgow who doesn't know what it's doing.

"We're far more advanced, and the feedback we've been getting from the English combined authorities is that we're ahead of a lot of them on a lot of this stuff."

Prime Minister Andy Burnham (centre left) and Chancellor of the Exchequer John Healey (centre right), during a visit to a family centre in Sheffield (Image: Annabel Lee-Ellis/PA Wire)

Elsewhere on Friday, Chancellor John Healey announced he will deliver his first budget on October 28, pledging plans "built on fiscal discipline" that would "meet our fiscal rules" while giving businesses and families "some of the stability they need to plan for the future".

He said the fortnight since Mr Burnham took office had seen the new government "working fast to restore hope and back Britain's communities".

But Mr Healey faces a tight fiscal picture as he looks to fund Mr Burnham's devolution drive alongside a string of other early spending pledges including a VAT cut on energy bills, reduced business rates for pubs, and an expansion of technical training in schools as well as £5 billion in defence spending from May's Defence Investment Plan, which he has yet to say how he will pay for.

Economists at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research warned this week that the Iran conflict would fuel more persistent inflation and higher interest rates, leaving little room for extra borrowing.

Niesr's Stephen Millard suggested Mr Healey may need to look at the welfare bill or the pensions triple lock, or consider raising income tax a move that would breach Labour's 2024 manifesto pledge.