{"id":1107059,"date":"2026-07-23T18:29:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T18:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1107059\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T18:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T18:29:13","slug":"uks-burnham-tells-scotland-new-independence-vote-is-off-limits-independence-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1107059\/","title":{"rendered":"UK\u2019s Burnham tells Scotland new independence vote is off limits | Independence News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Visiting Scotland, Burnham says a new referendum would detract from efforts to grow the economy.<\/p>\n

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Published On 23 Jul 202623 Jul 2026<\/p>\n

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has closed the door on a new vote for Scottish independence, saying such a referendum is off limits.<\/p>\n

Burnham, who became premier on July 20<\/a>, made the remarks during a meeting with Scotland\u2019s First Minister John Swinney in Glasgow on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

He said a new Scottish independence referendum would detract from efforts to grow the economy and bring down the cost of living, which he has made a major priority of his new administration<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Scotland held an independence referendum in 2014 in which 55 percent of people voted to remain part of the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n

But Scotland\u2019s government has since pushed for another vote<\/a>, arguing conditions have changed with the UK\u2019s decision to leave the European Union, which 62 percent of Scots opposed.<\/p>\n

Swinney has said that Scottish independence could help bring the country out of \u201cpolitical chaos and economic stagnation\u201d and into \u201cgreater security and prosperity\u201d as an EU member.<\/p>\n

Britain\u2019s top court has ruled that the Scottish government cannot hold a second referendum on independence without approval from the British parliament.<\/p>\n

\u2018Agree to disagree\u2019<\/p>\n

Burnham reportedly told Swinney during a call on Tuesday that the two would have to \u201cagree to disagree\u201d on the question of Scottish independence.<\/p>\n

Instead, Burnham has said his government will focus on pursuing \u201cpractical measures to help people live well\u201d across \u201cevery postcode\u201d in the UK.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not focused on point scoring or discussing constitutional changes like referendums,\u201d said Burnham, in a statement shared by the UK government.<\/p>\n

In his Thursday meeting with Swinney, Burnham raised his plans for \u201cdevolution\u201d<\/a> to increase more local autonomy and power, which he believes can revive struggling economies.<\/p>\n

Downing Street said Burnham welcomed Swinney\u2019s \u201cwillingness to engage in that process\u201d.<\/p>\n

Later on Thursday, Burnham was also due to meet with Wales First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth, before attending the opening of the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Visiting Scotland, Burnham says a new referendum would detract from efforts to grow the economy. Published On 23…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1107060,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5009],"tags":[748,299,4884,37988,12,712,16,15],"class_list":["post-1107059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scotland","tag-britain","tag-europe","tag-great-britain","tag-independence","tag-news","tag-scotland","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116970716532162932","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1107059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1107059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1107059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1107060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1107059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1107059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1107059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}