Andy Burnham and John Swinney held talks on extending devolution in Scotland during a first face-to-face meeting in Glasgow today.
The Prime Minister wants to grant more powers to local areas but gave assurances to the First Minister that he would not “bypass” the Scottish parliament or government.
They met ahead of their attendance at the opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Games and Mr Swinney used the occasion to help reset the relationship with Westminster.
It followed a telephone call on Tuesday in which Burnham is reported to have told Mr Swinney that they will have to “agree to disagree” on Scottish independence.
According to a Scottish Gorvernment statement on today’s meeting, Mr Burnham “firmly agreed that the way in which the UK Government engages with the devolved governments must improve.”
The pair agreed to a further conversation on constitutional matters, where powers lie across the UK, and what will work for Scotland. The First Minister made clear that this must be built on respect for Scotland’s right to choose its own future.
He was clear that he will continue to advance the democratic argument for independence, after the mandate he secured at the elections in May, and the recent vote in the Scottish Parliament.
The two leaders also discussed and agreed on the importance of economic growth to tackling the cost of living challenges faced by the public and supporting investment in public services.
There was a brief discussion on oil and gas in which the First Minister raised the Energy Profits Levy as “the biggest obstacle to investment in the North East of Scotland”, and they discussed a number of potential economic investments north of the border.
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