Exclusive:'There's no limit to what John Swinney and I can achieve together', says Andy Burnham

What we did at the Budget this week reflects this intent, with £600 million in extra funding from the UK government that the Scottish Government can choose how to spend. That’s £18 billion extra to the Scottish Government since July 2024.

That comes alongside the breathing space we’re giving Scottish families by extending the VAT cut on electricity bills and investment in Scotland’s future, strengthening defence, research and clean energy.

In England, we’re giving £100 to every council taxpayer between band A and D. My message to Holyrood is simple – match our offer in Scotland and put money back in the pockets of hard-working Scots.

But we also need to face the truth that, for too long, Westminster and Holyrood haven’t been working well enough together, or for the people of Scotland. Too much power has been hoarded centrally.

Too much time spent scoring political points instead of solving the problems people face. And the result, just as we’ve seen in England, is a country where some places have raced ahead while others have been left behind. A situation that politicians of all stripes have been too willing to accept.

I am determined to change that. When I became Prime Minister, I said I wanted to do politics differently. Place first, not party first. And I meant it.

John and I won’t agree on everything. But we share important ambitions for Scotland’s future. Not least the need to reindustrialise, create good jobs and give our young people a future they can see themselves in.

So why wouldn’t we work together to achieve them? That’s the spirit I’ll be taking into today’s meeting. And it’s the basis of the offer I’ll be making to the Scottish Government too.

Making it work will require something from both of us: a willingness to give up power. Scotland led the way on devolution – and rightly so. But devolution was never supposed to stop at the doors of the Scottish Parliament. It was always meant to go deeper, with power being pushed down and out until it reached every postcode.

Instead, we’ve ended up with the bizarre situation where the most devolved nation in the UK is itself one of the most centralised in Europe.

And I don’t think that’s right. Think of a young person growing up in Motherwell, where I gave a speech earlier this month. This proud steel making town helped build Britain. But when Ravenscraig closed, thousands of jobs disappeared, because of decisions made hundreds of miles away by people who never had to live with the consequences.

More than 30 years on, young people growing up there shouldn’t have to talk about their town’s opportunities in the past tense. They should have the power and resources to seize the opportunities of the future right where they are – opportunities they will understand far better than anyone sitting behind a desk in Edinburgh ever could.

We’ve already started the work of shifting power closer to local people in England. We’re giving mayors more control of transport, skills, and employment support for young people. We’re giving them a bigger share of the money they raise in their areas. And, already, we’re seeing the difference trusting our regions can make to the lives of people living there.

I don’t want Scotland to be left behind as English regions finally start to get on. Of course, the next stage of Scottish devolution is a decision for the Scottish Government. But I want to work with John to develop a new model of regional empowerment that works for Scotland. One that builds on the progress already made through the city deals and gives local people the tools they need to properly shape their own future.

And there’s one area where I believe we can make a difference straight away. Today, one in six young people in Scotland are not in education, employment or training. That’s an enormous waste of potential, and we owe those young people a better shot than they’re getting.

So, at today’s meeting, I’ll be offering to work with the Scottish Government to devolve more employment support for young people so that it can match other services like skills and education. We want to make sure that reaches down into Scotland’s regions and communities. Helping someone into work isn’t just about ticking a few boxes in the capital, it’s about understanding the person behind the number. It’s about understanding the barriers they face and the support they need.

It’s also about creating opportunities for the future. I want to make sure we are building on regional innovation strengths with a greater local say over investment to boost growing sectors - from the world leading video games industry in Dundee to the new space industry across the Highlands and Islands.

None of this requires John and I to agree on every political question. It only requires us to agree that Scotland’s people and places finally deserve a proper say in their futures. And if we can agree on that, I think there’s no limit to the amount we can achieve together.

So, my offer today will be a genuine one. Let’s push the old politics aside, let’s push power out of Westminster and Holyrood, and let’s put the full force of both our governments behind Scottish people in every postcode.