Burnham to visit Scotland during SNP conference

Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Andy Burnham has told John Swinney that an independence referendum is "off limits"

Prime Minister Andy Burnham is to visit Scotland during the SNP conference.

While John Swinney's party assembles in Aberdeen for its annual get-together later this week, Burnham will discuss his plans to devolve power to local areas during a trip to the central belt.

Swinney is expected to promote his renewed push for independence in his keynote conference speech on Saturday.

It will come less than three weeks after Burnham told the Labour Party conference that he was determined to prove wrong Swinney's claim that he would be the UK's last prime minister.

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However, the Supreme Court has ruled that the Scottish government is unable to do so without the consent of Westminster.

Burnham has said there is no consensus for a second referendum, and told Swinney at a meeting in Glasgow in the summer that such a vote is "off limits".

During a debate in the House of Commons this week, the prime minister told MPs that he was "looking forward to visiting Scotland later this week".

Asked about Brexit harming Scotland's economy, Burnham said that the "status quo" was "not good enough for Scotland or for Britain".

The SNP's Chris Law pressed the Labour leader on whether the UK government would discuss a legal route to a second independence referendum.

Burnham replied: "The discussions that I am having with the Scottish government and will have later this month are on a model of deeper devolution for Scotland that can get growth going in all parts of the country.

"That is where my priority lies and that is what I will do."

The SNP has invited the prime minister to its conference, which starts on Thursday.

The party's deputy leader, Keith Brown, said: "Andy Burnham made Scottish independence the focus of his conference speech with his time in Downing Street fast becoming defined by the UK's constitutional future – it is the central question on these islands."

He added that the conference was the "perfect and natural place" for the Labour leader to set out Scotland's route to a second referendum.

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