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  "path": "/2026/06/29/andy-burnham-set-plans-changing-country-devolution-28966591/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-06-29T09:36:23.000Z",
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  "textContent": "Andy Burnham is expected to be Prime Minister by the end of next month (Picture: Peter Powell/PA Wire)\n\nIn exactly three weeks’ time, Andy Burnham is expected to walk through the door of No 10 as the UK’s new Prime Minister.\n\nBefore then, though, he needs to set out his vision for the country. That will come later this morning in a speech at the People’s History Museum in – where else? – Manchester.\n\nLong-time Burnham aficionados won’t be surprised to hear much of his pitch centres around a single idea: devolution.\n\nHe’ll pledge to use his time in power to change how the UK is governed, not just who governs it.\n\nBut what would devolution involve, and would it actually change anything?\n\n## What does devolution mean?\n\n##  Everything is changing, all the time\n\nCut through political noise and understand how the Westminster chaos actually affects your life with Metro's politics newsletter Alright, Gov? Sign up here.\n\nDevolution is the process of handing down (or ‘devolving’) powers from central government to decision-making bodies further down the constitutional ladder.\n\nThe standout example of this in recent history came after Tony Blair came to power in 1997, with the creation of devolved legislatures in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.\n\nThese governments (or assembly, in the case of Northern Ireland) are able to make decisions in devolved areas such as education and health.\n\nThe Scottish Parliament was established in 1999 (Photo by Ken Jack/Getty Images)\n\nBut the government in Westminster retains control of areas such as immigration and defence – and can also veto certain decisions, as it did with Holyrood’s gender recognition reform bill in 2023.\n\nA smaller-scale version of devolution has also been playing out over the past 15 years or so in English combined authorities.\n\nThis is where Burnham comes in. He wants to kick off the ‘biggest transfer of power out of Whitehall in modern times’, arguing that regions and local communities should be making more of the decisions that affect them.\n\nThat means more powers for combined authorities, devolved governments- and mayors, the role Burnham held until a little under two weeks ago.\n\n## What is Andy Burnham’s devolution platform?\n\nAs the now-former Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham is evangelical about the positive impact of spreading power across the country.\n\nIn his 2024 book Head North, written with Liverpool Mayor Steve Rotheram, he calls for a ‘federal UK’.\n\nThat would mean a system of government more similar to the US or Germany, where individual states have roughly equal status to the central government even if not all powers are devolved.\n\nBurnham writes that the UK must ‘complete the process of devolving power out of Westminster to all parts of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to allow all the nations and regions to do much more for themselves’.\n\nKeir Starmer and Rachel Reeves also talked a lot about devolution (Picture: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire)\n\n‘Only then,’ he adds, ‘will we usher in a new era where people and places can be masters of their own destiny, and free to collaborate, without everything having to pass through the distorting lens of Westminster.’\n\nAt his speech today, Burnham will say that replacing the ‘centralised, top-down model’ with a local focus will result in ‘good growth in every postcode’.\n\nIf you’re wondering how he could get away with such major changes when he’s just been parachuted into Parliament via a by-election, the good news for Burnham is this was largely promised in his party’s 2024 manifesto.\n\nIt says: ‘Labour will transfer power out of Westminster, and into our communities, with landmark devolution legislation to take back control.’\n\nBurnham’s moves would also mean more power for top Reform mayoral figures such as Andrea Jenkyns (Picture: Oli Scarff /AFP)\n\nIn fact, the government has already passed the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 to hand down more powers to authorities around the country.\n\nCommunities Secretary Steve Reed said on Sky News yesterday that Burnham would put ‘rocket boosters’ under the devolution that began under Sir Keir Starmer.\n\nSuch a move would also mean handing more power to the Reform mayors of Greater Lincolnshire and Hull and East Yorkshire, as well as the Conservative mayors of Tees Valley and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.\n\nAnd it risks voters blaming the new PM if they are disappointed in how their local bodies are handling complex new areas.\n\nThis appears to be the central idea behind Burnham’s upcoming term in power – so he’ll be hoping everything works out as planned.\n\n******Get in touch with our news team by emailing us atwebnews@metro.co.uk.******\n\n**For more stories like this,** check our news page.\n\nComment now Comments \nAdd Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source\n",
  "title": "Andy Burnham to set out his plans for changing the country – what is devolution?"
}