Labour’s big beasts failed to ‘pick up the torch’ in Scotland, says Burnham

A former Labour leadership candidate has blamed Scottish Labour’s woes on a lack of patriotism and a failure to “invest” in devolution.

Andy Burnham, the MP for Leigh who is standing down to run for mayor of Manchester, said Labour’s “big beasts” had failed to “pick up the torch” after the creation of the Scottish Parliament.

Labour first ministers Donald Dewar and Henry Mcleish gave up ministerial careers to become MSPS, but other senior Scottish figures stayed at Westminster, which Burnham claimed damaged the 0 Andy Burnham said Labour must invest in devolution party’s standing. Speaking to the House magazine, he said: “In Wales, Labour invested in devolution – we called it ‘red shirt Labour’, a very patriotic approach.inscotland,nobody was left here to pick up the torch when Donald Dewar died and consequently we left a space for others to fill. The lesson is that Labour’s got to invest in devolution.

“I remember that call being made in the government years. There were voices from Scotland saying, ‘Why is no Labour figure coming here?’

“Jim [Murphy] did do it eventually, but if he’d done it earlier maybe that would have been better. That was a mistake in retrospect because Labour didn’t put its stamp all over it.

“This can be powerful if we invest in it … more change will come through that route rather than a broken Westminster system.”