There is so little substance to Andy Burnham that it seems almost churlish to attack the one area where he amounts to more than ambition, sentiment and unfathomable vanity, but his big policy idea happens to be one with which I have some familiarity.

In his speech this week at the People’s History Museum in Manchester, the soon-to-be prime minister pledged ‘new opportunities to extend devolution in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland’ and the devolution of employment support to mayors in England. He complained about government departments opposing ‘our legitimate requests to improve our places by devolving a fraction of the power and resources they hold’, and warned them: ‘The days of Whitehall fighting the devolution of power into the regions and nations are over, for good’.

A truly radical government would accept that devolution has failed

A truly radical government would accept that devolution has failed

This again. Devolution is to the managerial centre as communism is to the radical left. No matter how much is devolved, it’s never enough, and should anyone point out that devolution has not led to significantly better outcomes for those living under it, the answer is simply that not enough was devolved last time. For political elites, real devolution has never been tried.

As his latest speech confirms, Burnham believes it’s devolution or barbarism. He vows to take more powers from central government and relocate them closer to those affected by their exercise. What this means, of course, is an expansion of the apparatus of the state – more politicians and more officials. Power is not devolved in the........

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