This article appears as part of the Unspun: Scottish Politics newsletter.

It didn’t take long for Andy Burnham to rule out the prospect of another Scottish Independence referendum. Two weeks before he moved into Downing Street, the Makerfield MP told his Labour colleagues that he “would not consider” a second vote. This decision was relayed to John Swinney on the new Prime Minister’s first visit to Scotland last month.

There was a time not so long ago when such a blunt rebuff might have bogged down an incoming Labour leader. Burnham, however, got off scot-free as the First Minister passed up an early opportunity to skewer the ‘King of the North’. His muscular unionism was met not with the combative nationalism one might expect of an SNP administration recently returned for a historic fifth term, but rather a tepid agreement to disagree.

Swinney’s response was a telling indication of the extent to which Burnham’s ascendancy has paralysed his party. In this sense, Keir Starmer’s demise was awful news for the SNP. The former Prime Minister left office as the least popular political figure in Scotland, boasting a net favourability rating of -47. His Mancunian successor is still unpopular, but Burnham’s approach has already nudged the Scottish Government out........

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