Scots cities need directly elected mayors to give them 'bigger voice', says Andy Burnham

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Scotland's biggest cities would have a "bigger voice" if they were represented by a directly elected mayor like those in Manchester or Liverpool, Andy Burnham has said.The senior Labour figure said places like Glasgow were being "held back" by not having a recognisable figurehead and were "not making their presence felt" at Holyrood or Westminster as a result.Burnham was elected as Mayor of Greater Manchester - a region that includes 10 separate local authorities - in 2017 and has since won two further landslide victories.The former UK Government minister visited Edinburgh this week with Steve Rotheram, the Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, where the pair met with First Minister John Swinney.Speaking to the Record, Burnham said: "Our perception would be, perhaps, the Scottish cities are being held back, or disempowered, and are not making their presence felt."There are currently 10 metro mayors in England with powers devolved directly from Westminster.

All of them - with the exception of London - represent combined authorities.Scottish Labour has discussed the idea of creating similar roles north of the Border - with the city regions of Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen likely candidates.Burnham continued: "You look at a great city like Glasgow, which is pretty much the same as Liverpool or Manchester in terms of its heritage, its people, and its influences.

It's a working class industrial city with strengths and challenges."We would both say, if there was an elected provost, or mayor, of Glasgow, we would be talking to that person every couple of weeks."Glasgow would have a bigger voice, I think, both in Scotland and the UK. "Bottom-up devolution works.