Burnham’s “devolution” to take powers off local councils
by In the theatre that is post-Brexit British politics, Andy Burnham has long traded on a carefully curated persona: The heroic local champion, standing atop the battlements of Greater Manchester to tilt his lance at the cold, unfeeling towers of Westminster.
For years, the mantra was simple and seductive – power to the people, power to the “regions”, power to the post codes.
In 2015, he declared that ‘it’s all about the big vision’, presenting himself as the antidote to distant, autocratic rule.
His social media posts echo this sentiment that it is time to give local people more control over their own lives.
In grand addresses, he promised “the biggest rebalancing of power our country has seen,” vowing to “give areas more power over housing and high streets” while suggesting that devolution must go even deeper.
It was a fine performance – until the curtain was yanked back, exposing a classic Westminster magic trick – calling centralisation “devolution” and hoping nobody notices the sleight of hand.
A recent ITV News article lays bare the hollow core of Burnham’s crusade.
What is being offered is not a democratic flowering, but a political paradox: a grand strategy to liberate local councils by promptly stripping them of their autonomy and sweeping their authority into the hands of a single regional mayor.
Burnham’s concept of devolution does not scatter power like seed across the fertile soil of local communities; it gathers it like a miser hoarding gold under his bed.
To call this “devolution” is akin to a fox offering to manage the henhouse security by locking all the chickens inside his own stomach.
The double standards are dazzling. On one hand, Burnham preaches decentralisation to the press, securing headlines about how “devolution can remake politics” and letting international outlets toast a potential PM-in-waiting who “presents decentralisation plans.”
On the other, he advocates for a model where individual local authorities hand over the keys to their own front doors.
True local decision-making – where elected representatives reflect the nuanced needs of their specific streets and valleys – is discarded. Instead, local councils are treated like mere administrative branches of a grand central office, expected to nod along as a mayor plays sovereign. It is centralisation in a high-vis jacket.
Contrast this illusion of empowerment with Scotland, where the SNP’s approach to local government treats local authorities not as regional fiefdoms that take power away, but as democratic partners to be elevated.
Where Burnham seeks to pull power upward into a solitary mayoral seat, the SNP has consistently driven power downward to the grassroots.
Through landmark initiatives like the Community Empowerment Act, local groups across Scotland have been given the direct legal right to take over land and buildings, turning underused public assets into vibrant community hubs.
While Burnham collects authority like executive trophies, Scotland’s participatory budgeting framework has put tens of millions of pounds directly into the hands of ordinary citizens, allowing local residents – not a lone politician in a suited-and-booted office – to vote directly on how public funds are spent in their own neighbourhoods.
Furthermore, through the Local Governance Review, the SNP government actively reshaped the balance of power to ensure decisions are taken at the lowest, most effective community level possible.
Rather than stripping councils of their statutory planning and housing powers to aggregate them under one regional Czar, Scotland has strengthened local democracy, ensuring councils remain genuinely accountable to the people who elect them.
Burnham’s “devolution” is a Trojan Horse – an impressive-looking wooden construct of reform that conceals the old, familiar appetite for Westminsterised centralised control.
True devolution is not about stripping powers away from local democratically elected councils. It is about trusting communities, empowering local councils, and scattering authority as widely as light.
On that count, Burnham’s agenda has now been completely exposed – not as a radical leap forward, but as a classic power grab wrapped in a regional banner.