A DUNDEE MP has slated Andy Burnham after he claimed the people of the city "feel distant" from Holyrood.
In a speech from Manchester on Monday, the Makerfield MP and apparent prime-minister-in-waiting said he would offer "new opportunities to extend devolution in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland by taking power deeper down".
He added that the people of Dundee and Bangor "feel just as distant from Holyrood and the Senedd as they do from Westminster".
Dundee is known as the "Yes City" having voted in favour of independence during the 2014 referendum and regularly votes SNP, with the city currently represented by two SNP MPs and two SNP MSPs.
It is also only 90 minutes away from Holyrood, with MSPs not offered accommodation in Edinburgh because it is too close to the Parliament.
Dundee Central MP Chris Law suggested Burnham hadn't "looked at a map" and told The National the city "needs no lessons" from Burnham.
He said: "Scotland's ‘Yes City’ of Dundee is represented by two SNP MPs and two SNP MSPs and has had a SNP council delivering Dundee’s regeneration largely since 2012 from a previous Labour administration which had completely ran out of ideas.
"Perhaps if Burnham had looked at a map, he may have also found that Holyrood Parliament is only 90 minutes away and has a SNP government that has been delivering for Scotland for the last 18 years, despite Westminster austerity, Westminster's support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza and Westminster's rejection of Scotland's voice on its own future delivered in Holyrood by the people of Scotland.
"Dundee needs no lessons from Westminster's next likely prime minister. What it needs is the ability to choose its own future and the opportunity of being an independent nation once again and within the EU."
Burnham's speech largely focused on plans for more regional devolution in England via a so-called "Number 10 North" based in Manchester, which would see "power flow into the Midlands, into the south-west, into the east of England" and "into London."
SNP Westminster leader Dave Doogan said there was "nothing of substance" for Scotland in Burnham's proposals, adding it was "telling" he had not involved devolved governments in the conversation about redistributing power.
Burnham gave his speech to an audience of around 100 supporters with the front row taken up by English regional mayors including Steve Rotheram, Mayor of Liverpool City Region, Oliver Coppard from South Yorkshire, Richard Parker, from the West Midlands and Tracy Brabin, from West Yorkshire.
Dundee City East MSP Stephen Gethins added: "Dundee is an international outward looking city. It’s also not that far away from Edinburgh, some of us even commute.
"In the words of Belle and Sebastian – has he ever seen Dundee? If he hasn’t then I hope he will come soon. Andy can get the bus or the train from Edinburgh, there are plenty of options."
Other Scots picked up on Burnham's odd reference to Dundee with Stirling University academic Hannah Graham posting on Twitter/X: "Dundee is bit of an odd choice by Burnham for emphasising 'distance'?
"It's just over an hour by train to Holyrood. Dundee votes for SNP in elections.
"Andy Burnham may risk becoming known as ''King of the North' – "no, not that North" – if he struggles to acknowledge our Highlands, islands, north east, (and, equally, South of Scotland) in his decentralisation and localism agenda. He could've picked other towns or cities to name."
Cross-party group Building a Local Scotland has welcomed Burnham's commitment to "the biggest rebalancing of power ever seen" but insisted Scotland must go further than the English model of mayoral city regions if communities are to be "genuinely re-empowered".
Angus Hardie, convener of Building a Local Scotland and former chief executive of the Scottish Community Alliance, said: “Whilst we applaud the prospective Prime Minister for finally putting decentralisation at the heart of a political project, it must go farther than city regions like Greater Manchester, which in any case involves co-operation between 10 local councils.
"Andy Burnham should not legislate for Scotland; but his plans for England can spark debate about how to re-empower Scotland’s local communities – a debate that is long overdue, since decentralisation was promised by all parties 27 years ago, when the Scottish Parliament was re-established."
