Andy Burnham calls summit of Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish first ministers

The Prime Minister said he is bringing together the leaders in autumn in a bid to boost the UK’s economy.

He made the announcement ahead of a visit to Wales on Thursday morning - his first official visit to the country since taking office last month.

Mr Burnham said he wanted "every leader in this country signed up" to having "good jobs in every community".

John Swinney, Rhun ap Iorwerth and Michelle O’Neill will meet the PM at the National Economic Council in October.

Mr Burnham’s visit to Wales is part of his tour about “listening” to the public about the cost of living.

The National Economic Council was created when Gordon Brown was Prime Minister in the wake of the 2008 banking crash. It has been revived by Mr Burnham.

A previous meeting brought government ministers and English local authority mayors together.

Downing Street said the prime minister wanted to discuss "how we will drive good growth in every postcode across the UK" with the devolved nation leaders.

Reports on Wednesday suggested Mr Burnham would not be visiting Scotland on his cost of living tour.

Reacting to the news, Mr Swinney said: "I'm surprised the prime minister's decided not to come to Scotland as part of his listening tour.

"But I think if he did come to Scotland, people would be wanting to say to him that that they're deeply concerned about the fact that his government has failed to live up to the Labour election promise to cut fuel bills by £300 because, as a consequence of the price cap announcements today, bills are now £250 higher than when Labour came to office.

"Labour have totally failed to cut energy bills as they promised. And in an energy-rich country like Scotland, what that says to me is that Scotland's energy has got to be in Scotland's hands."