STEPHEN DAISLEY: Perhaps Burnham will surprise us all, but I doubt it. A PM with a clue? We'd have heard about it sooner, surely

By STEPHEN DAISLEY, SCOTTISH DAILY MAIL SKETCH WRITER Published: 21:02, 19 July 2026 | Updated: 21:02, 19 July 2026 You’ve read this column before. Not this exact one, mind. I’ve not started repeating myself yet. But this is, by my count, the sixth occasion on which I’ve offered an incoming prime minister advice on what to do about Scotland. I even wrote one for Liz Truss, though her Scotland policy proved to be an academic matter rather sharpish. The very fact that a succession of prime ministers have required counsel on Britain’s second-largest nation, as though it were a far-flung and only occasionally remembered colony in the Empire, is testament to the harm devolution has done to our constitution. It has become normal for prime ministers to think of Scotland as a strange land which they govern only by the consent of the Holyrood mafia. This misconception drove David Cameron’s counter-productive ‘respect agenda’, which in six years produced 45 per cent of Scots for independence, new powers for the SNP to make us the highest-taxed place in Britain, and an emboldened nationalism. My advice to Andy Burnham is: don’t repeat your predecessors’ mistakes. The incoming prime minister should put out of his head any notion that, as an Englishman, he has less standing to govern Scotland. Anyone who enters Number 10 with the slightest niggle of doubt about the UK prime minister’s mandate to govern all parts of the UK might as well turn heel and head right back out the door. The next misapprehension Burnham should take care to avoid is the Whitehall tendency to see Scotland through a constitutional lens. Neither independence nor devolution are setting the heather alight, something that those of us who want a conversation about Holyrood’s failings must also accept. Burnham must avoid his predecessors' mistakes regarding Scotland What people are talking about in Scotland is what they’re talking about elsewhere in the kingdom: the cost of living. It cannot be overstated how tough a time the average family is having right now. A barrage of rising bills (food, fuel, utilities and the rest) has robbed them of any sense of stability, let alone prosperity. Family holidays have had to be downgraded or sacrificed altogether. Mum and Dad have been forced to eliminate treats for themselves, and sometimes more than just treats, so their children can enjoy a decent quality of life. Any approach to Scotland that doesn’t begin here is doomed to fail because it really is the economy, stupid. The number one priority for the new prime minister must be generating private sector growth, which will raise and spread prosperity as well as fund the public services everyone relies upon. One practical means of increasing the incomes and opportunities of ordinary families is by granting new licences for oil and gas exploration in the North Sea, something Burnham’s team is reportedly opposed to. Few policy choices could be as damaging, especially in the North-East of Scotland, as continuing the chokehold on domestic energy production. Doing so would send these communities a definite signal that Westminster is indifferent to the troubles they face. The new team in Downing Street must also be alert to concerns about migration and asylum. Traditionally, these have been more pronounced in England than in Scotland, but recent months have seen a marked upturn which, despite the efforts of the lanyard classes, stubbornly refuses to go away. These concerns stem not only from the inherent risks incurred by constant influxes of unvetted men from unfamiliar cultures but from experience of the pressures on social housing and services of mass immigration. Calling these people racists or ‘far Right’ has so far failed to dissuade their worries and that is unlikely to change. Many in Labour are convinced this is a communications problem; if they could only focus group better answers and buzzwords and framing. But the public want a change of direction, not of rhetoric, and their alarm will only grow unless they start to see changes, such as tighter border control and a tangible reduction in numbers. On this point, Number 10 should be prepared for the SNP pushing one of its cherished hobby-horses: devolution of visa-granting powers so the Scottish Government can attract overseas talent – i.e. low-skilled, low-paid workers for the NHS and social care sector. SNP ministers and their dutiful echoes in the media and civil society consider this proof of their progressivism, though I’ve never understood why. Luring away carers and nurses from poor countries with much greater need than ours, therefore making it even harder for people in the developing world to access healthcare, can be called many things but I’m not sure progressive is one of them. Keir Starmer’s successor should build on one of the prime minister’s few legacies worth the name: he did not treat Scotland like a political laboratory for the testing of all the latest constitutional fads and theories. There is something to be said for the noble governing tradition of leaving well enough alone. Encouraged by the Holyrood political class, Whitehall has come to think of Scotland as a constitutional issue rather than a country. New prime ministers tend to talk about us purely in terms of what additional powers can be devolved and to what level of administration. The signs from the Burnham camp are worrying here, too, their boss having made his name as a mayor and parlayed this position into a shot at running the country. But that is no reason to become bogged down in more process for the sake of it. No second referendum, no more tinkering. What Scots want is for the political arrangements they have right now to work as they are supposed to. Inventing new systems should be left to another day. I confess to having little confidence in Andy Burnham. His only ambition appears to be for his own political career. If there are any great ideas for transforming the country, they remain impressively well-hidden. Perhaps he will surprise us all and unveil a government programme that tackles the major ailments afflicting Britain today but I have my doubts. A politician with a clue? We’d have heard about it sooner. Today, Burnham will be invited by the King to form a government, and then we will see what he has in store. Should it be more of the same, Starmer with a northern accent, Burnham will swiftly find his own leadership called into question.  Voters in Scotland, like those elsewhere in the UK, aren’t as enthused as politicians are by inside-the-bubble think-tankery. They want leadership, competence and a seriousness matching the gravity of the moment. Unless Andy Burnham can live up to these expectations, someone will come along and do to him what he did to Keir Starmer. And I will find myself sitting down to write my seventh advice column to a new prime minister. We need stability promptly and prosperity desperately. We need to bring a halt to the revolving door outside Number 10. Britain’s future is on the line. The prime minister should lead in a manner that takes Scotland and the rest of Britain forward to calmer, sunnier, more advantageous times. Such a future is possible but only if the next prime minister doesn’t become distracted by the political process and chooses instead the national interest.