Burnham to deliver speech in Scotland on devolution – UK politics live

Scottish independence is “bigger than any party”, the Scottish Green co-leader, Gillian Mackay, said. But she cautioned that votes from Green and SNP supporters will not be enough to win a second referendum. Mackay is due to speak at the SNP’s annual party conference in Aberdeen tomorrow on a panel discussion about Scottish independence, which has not gone down well with some SNP members, according to the Press Association.

Still, Mackay said she was “delighted” to be speaking at the SNP conference, adding she would be “discussing how we can best take the independence movement forward”. But she stressed: “Independence is bigger than any party. SNP supporters and Green supporters alone are not enough to secure a sustained pro-independence majority and to secure the referendum that we need. “We need to reach beyond our own parties, bring more people with us and build the broadest possible movement for Scotland’s right to choose our own future.”

John Healey is poised to tax Britain’s banks in his 28 October budget, to help offset the damage inflicted on the public finances by war in the Middle East, the Guardian understands. The chancellor is in Bangkok, where the International Monetary Fund has praised the UK’s progress towards balancing the books, urging him to “stay the course”.

To keep the Treasury’s deficit reduction plans on track in the face of rising government borrowing costs, the Guardian understands Healey has decided to tap the financial sector for additional revenue. One option understood to be under discussion – reversing cuts to the bank surcharge made by Jeremy Hunt – would raise upwards of £2bn a year.

Lenders have been logging strong earnings on the back of rising interest rates, with the UK’s four largest lenders – HSBC, NatWest, Barclays and Lloyds Banking Group – alone having generated £200bn in pre-tax profits over the past five years. Thinktanks and trade unions have repeatedly urged Healey to tax Britai

Good morning and welcome to our UK politics live blog. Prime minister Andy Burnham is in Scotland today where he is expected to invite Scotland’s first minister, John Swinney, to collaborate on devolving decision-making powers away from both Westminster and Holyrood and pushing control further down to Scottish regions and towns.

The newswires have reported an extract of his speech, which he is expected to deliver in Lanarkshire around midday: During my first week in office, I told the first minister that I wanted to work with him to spread opportunities to communities across Scotland’s regions and cities. Through No10 North, we are rewiring the state and I want to make sure regions in Scotland are fully part of this.

This is me making an offer to the Scottish government. With us working together, there is no limit to what we can achieve for the Scottish people.” Burnham’s visit coincides with the SNP’s annual party conference in Aberdeen, which the party has said will launch the bigges

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