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A proposed devolution plan is being framed as an opening move toward something the United Kingdom has never formally adopted: a written constitution.
Andy Burnham made that argument explicitly, connecting what is typically a debate about regional governance to a far larger question about how British authority should be codified.
What Burnham is arguing Burnham's position draws a direct line from devolution to constitutional change. As he has put it, the proposed plan creates a pathway toward a written constitution for the United Kingdom.
As a framing device, it lifts a policy conversation about regional administration into territory that successive governments have approached with caution and often set aside.
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