THE Scottish Government says it has been totally left in the dark on a new “council of regions and nations” announced by Keir Starmer.
On Tuesday, the Prime Minister promised to set up a new council bringing together both regional and national leaders across the UK.
He made the announcement during a meeting with English mayors after travelling to speak with the leaders of the UK’s devolved administrations over the weekend.
During the meeting inside Downing Street, the Prime Minister said: “We will set up a council for regions and nations.
“Now I don’t want to overly formalise it, but I do want a degree of formality so that it’s a meeting that everybody knows is a meeting where business is done, where decisions are properly recorded and actioned.
“And where people know that we will all be there and we won’t be sending substitutes, or missing the meeting.”
He added that the forum would be used to discuss “shared challenges” and “opportunities”.
Tuesday's meeting was attended in person by 11 mayors from England, with Mayor of South Yorkshire Oliver Coppard absent through ill health.
Among those present were London mayor Sadiq Khan, Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, and Liverpool City Region mayor Steve Rotheram.
However, the Scottish Government told The National that it had not been given any details on the new council.
Indeed, it’s unclear whether the leaders of Scottish city councils will be invited nor where the meetings will take place.
The idea appears to come from Gordon Brown’s Commission on the UK’s Future.
The report published in 2022 said the UK needed “a new and powerful institution to drive co-operation between all its governments – a Council of Nations and Regions”.
It added: “This should be a statutory body, explicitly linked to the requirement for co-operation in the solidarity clause, with an independent secretariat which has the power to call meetings and set agendas.
“It would not be a wholly new body but an upgraded version of the Joint Ministerial Committee, and should therefore draw upon existing staffing and resources.
“It would be tasked with managing relations between the UK government and the Commission on the UK’s Future devolved administrations, with an internal structure able to develop over time, especially as English devolution grows.”
Scottish Labour pointed The National towards their manifesto, which suggests the meetings will take place between the Prime Minister, the leaders of devolved administrations, and English mayors.
It stated: "Labour will renew opportunities for the Prime Minister and Heads of Devolved Government to collaborate with each other.
"As recommended in the Report of the Commission on the UK’s future, we will establish a new Council of the Nations and Regions.
"This will bring together the Prime Minister, the First Ministers of Scotland and Wales, the First and deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, and the Mayors of Combined Authorities."
The Cabinet Office have been contacted for comment.
