Burnham says devolution requires written constitution

Andy Burnham has argued that Britain needs a written constitution following the government's devolution push. The Mayor of Greater Manchester told GB News that the UK's lack of a codified constitution "disempowers" citizens.

The Guardian reports Burnham believes devolution plans strengthen the case for constitutional reform. The Independent carries his claim that current arrangements leave power too centralised. The Daily Express frames the intervention as part of a broader political strategy.

The timing is deliberate. The government is negotiating devolution deals with combined authorities across England - more power to mayors, less to Westminster departments. But the machinery contains a paradox: Parliament remains sovereign and can revoke any devolved power by simple majority. Scottish and Welsh devolution statutes can be amended or repealed the same way any other law can. A written constitution would entrench those powers beyond the reach of a future government's majority.

The word doing work here is "disempowers". Burnham means the voter cannot hold power to account when it sits in Whitehall departments answerable only to ministers. But a written constitution transfers that power to judges interpreting text - the voter loses the one mechanism they have, the ballot box that can sack a government. The trade is accountability for entrenchment.

What to watch: whether other metro mayors join the call, and whether Labour's constitutional convention includes this question when it convenes.