Local champions are required across Scotland’s communities in order to deliver important change, Scottish Labour has said.
Party leader Anas Sarwar made the call alongside Andy Burnham, Greater Manchester mayor and former Labour MP, at the launch of a paper on local government reform in Glasgow on Tuesday.
Mr Sarwar suggested that Scotland could “learn the lessons” of the use of local and metro mayors elsewhere in the UK, and that by introducing such a system north of the border, communities would become more empowered.
He pointed to the work carried out by Mr Burnham in his capacity of mayor to battle homelessness in his city, as well as taking steps to improve transport integration and being able to challenge decisions from ministers during the coronavirus lockdown.
Mr Burnham said introducing regional mayors in Scotland could make a “real difference”, adding that cities risk being left behind if they do not have enough power to do things for themselves.
He told the PA news agency: “As I look at things today, you know, it’s obviously been good that Scotland’s had devolution to the national level.
Why shouldn't Glasgow be able to do exactly the same thing to help people through the cost-of-living crisis?— Andy Burnham
“But at the same time, I think cities potentially could get left behind if cities don’t have more power to do more things for themselves.
“I’ll give you a practical example. A week on Monday, I’m introducing a cap on bus fares in Greater Manchester, so it’d be two pound cap on an adult journey, one pound on a child journey, and it’s free for 16-18s.
“And then it’d be five pound cap on fares in a day, no matter how many buses people take.
“I would say, well, why shouldn’t Glasgow be able to do exactly the same thing to help people through the cost-of-living crisis?”
The Greater Manchester mayor added that it is a “good thing for proud cities like Glasgow, Manchester and Liverpool to be able to do more things for themselves and collaborate more”, and said his own city now has a “stronger voice” as a result of the mayoral system.
Mr Burnham will be meeting Scotland’s First Minister on Tuesday afternoon.
Asked what he is expecting from his conversation with Nicola Sturgeon, he said: “What we want to do is take that conversation up the north of England and Scotland to that level and say, you know, can we have better ways of talking, better ways of working?
“We have got an arrangement with the Welsh Government and I think it would be beneficial if we had something similar.
“Obviously, there was a challenge last year with the travel ban that was imposed on Manchester and Salford and that was a difficult moment.
“We resolved it at the time, but I think it does point to having more dialogue going forward.”
Mr Burnham said one such issue he seeks to have more communication on is the HS2 rail network, following the announcement earlier this year that a planned £3 billion connection between HS2 and the West Coast Main Line would be axed.
