Editorial: Andy Burnham calls for more devolution in the UK yet Stormont's use of its existing powers has been poor

​The man likely to be the UK’s next Prime Minister says he plans to oversee the biggest rebalancing of power our country has ever seen – including taking power “deeper down” in Northern Ireland.

Andy Burnham, so far the only candidate to replace Sir Keir Starmer in Number 10, believes that more devolution could “drive good growth in every postcode”.

When the Labour leadership hopeful wasn’t even in Parliament, Labour won a landslide victory on a manifesto which promised more to take more power out of the hands of Westminster.

It promised to “deepen” existing devolution settlements and extend powers to new areas of England. It didn’t promise to further devolve powers to the other UK nations.

Now, Mr Burnham says there would be “new opportunities to extend devolution in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland by taking power deeper down.

“The people of Dundee and Bangor feel just as distant from Holyrood and the Senedd as they do from Westminster” he added.

It’s unclear what exactly that would mean for Northern Ireland. Many would be nervous at the prospect of Stormont receiving even more powers, given its poor record of delivery with those it has already.

For Stormont to drive economic growth, it would surely need control of taxation – something very few people think would be a good idea.

Nor has the Executive earned the right to be given such powers, avoiding as it has any unpopular decisions and repeatedly demanding more cash from the Treasury.

If Mr Burnham means devolving more powers from Stormont to Northern Ireland’s councils, decisions may be closer to the people, but it is doubtful the local authorities – with their shocking sickness levels – are any better placed.