This opinion piece criticises new Prime Minister Andy Burnham for his handling of a Scottish independence question during Prime Minister's Questions, arguing his inexperience in national politics has inadvertently given the SNP fresh momentum for another referendum. The author contrasts Burnham's nine years as Mayor of Manchester, focused on local matters such as bus reforms, with the demands of national leadership, suggesting he was unprepared to counter a well-worn constitutional argument from the SNP.

The piece centres on an exchange at PMQs, just 51 days into Burnham's premiership, when SNP MP Chris Law asked why Scotland should not have the same referendum rights as Northern Ireland under the Good Friday Agreement. Rather than deploying standard rebuttals used by past prime ministers, such as citing the 2014 independence vote or the SNP's own "once in a generation" pledge, Burnham reportedly said the position in Scotland was "exactly the same" as in Northern Ireland, a comment the author says has reinvigorated the SNP's independence push.