[reece(:]

Gordon Brown is returning to front-line politics to help Labour push power out of Westminster closer to the British people.

The former Prime Minister will advise Keir Starmer on his plans to devolve more responsibility to towns and communities across the UK.

The Labour heavyweight, a staunch defender of the Union, has come on board to help boost the party’s fortunes in Scotland ahead of next May’s elections.

His appointment come ahead of Labour launching a constitutional commission early next year to draw up plans to devolve “power, wealth and opportunity”.

The Government has promised a “levelling up” agenda across the regions of the UK but has had little to say on transferring real power to local areas.

In a major speech Sir Keir will say that the already urgent case for more devolution has had “rocket boosters” put under it by the pandemic.

“A national crisis on this scale should have been the time for central government to work with and empower local communities to bring the country together,” he will say.

“But too often the UK Government’s approach has been to pit council against council, town against town, city against city, mayor against mayor.

“It’s no surprise that the many local leaders I’ve spoken to have felt distanced and ignored on decisions that have had huge consequences on people’s jobs, lives and their communities. This has got to change.”

Sir Keir will promise that Labour’s plans will be just as radical as moves under Tony Blair to transfer large swathes of power to the nations and regions. But he will add: “This won’t be an exercise in shifting power from one Parliament to another, of moving a few jobs out of London or to ‘devolve and to forget’.

“This will be the boldest project Labour has embarked on for a generation and every bit as bold and radical as the programme of devolution that Labour delivered in the 1990s and 2000s.

“It will consider all parts of the United Kingdom and it will focus on delivering real – and lasting – economic and political devolution across our towns, our communities and to people across the country.”

But Labour’s most immediate challenge remains next year’s Scottish elections where they are lagging far behind in the polls.

In his speech, Sir Keir will try to set out a “fresh and tangible offer” to the Scottish people in the face of rising support for the SNP and Tories.

“It is Labour’s duty to offer a positive alternative to the Scottish people. To show that you don’t have to choose between a broken status quo and the uncertainty and divisiveness of separatism,” he will say.

“It is our duty – my duty – to make the alternative case for a devolved and a socially just Scotland in a modern United Kingdom.”

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politi...-line-23196825

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...sh-voters.html

Brilliant move as we know Brown is such an expert in winning elections .