Party conferences always have a lively fringe.  A chance for activists to ventilate concerns.  A chance for stakeholders to persuade the powerful. 

But the SNP event this weekend in Aberdeen is a little different.  Their extended fringe consists of the Prime Minister and the Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch.  Plus, of course, Gillian Mackay of the Scottish Greens as a guest on stage, welcomed by most in the SNP. 

Just what is the PM up to, visiting Scotland for a significant speech in the middle of the SNP gathering?  Partly it is finding space in a tight diary.  Partly it is meeting a political need, a sense that Scotland has been a little neglected.   

But let’s not muck about.  This Prime Ministerial visit is also part of a party power struggle with John Swinney.  That struggle, over the future of Scotland and the UK, moves forward this weekend with a demarcation dispute over local and regional governance. 

It would appear that the PM is exercised, personally and emotionally, by the renewed campaign for Scottish independence.  At his party conference, he was passionate in defending the Union.  Further, he is affronted by the SNP suggestion that he will be the last PM of the UK. 

So that is the big fight.  But the first exemplar of that contest lies in local and regional governance.  Andy Burnham says he wants to work with the First Minister to transform economic development opportunities in Scotland, building upon the Manchester model he advanced as mayor. 

Read more by Brian Taylor:

Andy Burnham slipped up on a new independence referendum - and SNP pounced

Why Kemi Badenoch’s Conservative comeback may struggle north of the Border

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