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LAST week John Swinney said Andy Burnham will “engage” with the Scottish Government on the possible devolution of further powers to Holyrood.
It reminds me of a time when Swinney said the relationship with Labour was "incomparably better" than it had been when the Tories were in power. Alas, a few months later he accused them of breaking their promise to reset devolution .
So are we going to see a similar scenario play out by Christmas?
I wouldn't bet against it, given Burnham has this week been accused of barring Scotland from talks about a substantial change to the UK's tax regime .
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The new Prime Minister invited the Conservative and LibDem leaders, Kemi Badenoch and Ed Davey, to cross-party talks on social care reform south of the Border.
Although health is devolved, reports have suggested that Burnham could be considering a new UK-wide tax (on income or inheritance) to fund the reforms.
It begins. Oh how we've seen this movie before.
In December 2023, The National reported how the Scottish Government was not consulted on the Rwanda Bill despite concerns from a top lawyer that it tramples on the historic rights of the country’s top civil court.
In February 2024, then-first minister Humza Yousaf revealed that the Scottish Government had not been consulted on border checks at a main point of entry for goods coming from Northern Ireland amid the restoration of Stormont.
In April 2022, then energy secretary Michael Matheson slammed the UK Government for not consulting Holyrood on a much-delayed energy strategy which would “lean heavily on Scotland’s energy resources in the years to come”.
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In October 2023, we reported how the UK Government was preparing to bypass the Scottish Parliament and give funding directly to seven Scottish councils in a devolution snub.
And not to mention all the times Scotland was not consulted when it came to Brexit.
In a memorable speech in Holyrood last year, minister Angus Robertson reeled off a list of meetings the Labour UK Government had cancelled with devolved governments on the UK-EU deal.
We should also mention that when Burnham visited Cardiff to answer questions from folk on the street before he became PM, he made commitments to changes in areas that are devolved to Wales.
So where is the evidence exactly that Burnham isn't going to be like all those that came before him?
Swinney said he had had "constructive" talks with Burnham about devolution, but it's going to take more than that to convince anyone that this new Prime Minister is not like every other that has moved into No 10.
Give us a reason we should trust him, because it's difficult to find one right now.
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