Prime Minister’s office and Greater Manchester mayor have indicated a desire to reset strained relations between Whitehall and the devolved institutions, with Andy Burnham said to want to "draw a line" under past disputes.
At the daily lobby briefing, officials in Downing Street framed the approach as an opportunity to pursue improved working arrangements and said the government envisages a "model of deeper devolution in Scotland and Wales." The comments were offered alongside other routine briefing items and reflected an apparent push to repair links with regional leaders.
Downing Street also used the briefing to pay tribute to the actor Sir Patrick Stewart following his death. The prime minister’s spokesperson said the reaction was more extended than the usual No 10 comment when a major British figure dies because, they added, "Andy Burnham feels strongly about the importance of actors."
The spokesperson said: "The prime minister was very sad to hear of the passing of Sir Patrick Stewart. As a former culture secretary he knows how much Britain’s greatest actors mean to the country, and Sir Patrick was one of the very best."
Officials also sought to put devolution discussions with Wales in context, stressing that administrative "regions" differ in population and density across the UK. The briefing noted that in an English context a region typically covers between 1.5 million and 3 million people, while Welsh regions are generally smaller: the Swansea Bay city region was cited as covering about 700,000 people and North Wales around 690,000.
The spokesperson added a characterful aside about rural population density in Wales, saying that in Mid-Wales "sheep outnumber people by 7:1," and that only the Cardiff city region is comparable to English tiers, and then only at the lower end with around 1.5 million people. The briefing ended before further detailed proposals for implementing the government’s stated model of deeper devolution were set out.