This locates Andy Burnham’s new No. 10 North fairly and squarely in the south of the UK.
It is, however, in the north of England. And this tells us everything we need to know.
Burnham had 36 Scottish Labour MPs to choose from. Only one made the Cabinet – representing just four per cent of the overall makeup. Scotland makes up around a third of the landmass.
When appointing junior ministerial roles, he apparently struggled to find any talent. Anas Sarwar made the cut, though; the man who had overseen the worst result for Labour in the Scottish Parliament since devolution. All he needed was a wee promotion to the House of Lords so he could bypass democracy.
Burnham’s UK Labour Government is made up of 125 ministers. Just eight are Scottish. Only six are elected and can be held to account. We are massively underrepresented.
It’s an utter hypocrisy coming from a man who has made taking power away from London his mantra. It’s crystal clear that Burnham’s passion for devolution doesn’t extend to Scotland.
John Swinney was re-elected with a huge mandate. He has more than three times the number of MSPs as the next largest party. The SNP put independence at the heart of our election campaign and a majority of MSPs at Holyrood support independence. The status of the constitution is very much an open question, one which has recently been put on the table through democratic means.
And yet Burnham, with absolutely no mandate himself as Prime Minister, told John Swinney he wouldn’t even discuss it.
We are marginalised in the UK Government, where huge decisions are made about our lives. And yet we are not allowed to choose to make our own decisions. The Prime Minister won’t even discuss the circumstances through which the people of Scotland could express their desire for independence.
This is untenable from Burnham.
We have every right to determine our own future. The more we’re told we’re not allowed, the more the people of Scotland will demand it.