New UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham took power Monday promising a 10-year plan to ease cost-of-living pressures and restore political stability, signalling a leftward tilt for his ruling Labour party.
Burnham, 56, pledged to re-industrialise Britain and end sleeping rough on the streets after he met King Charles III at Buckingham Palace to become the head of government after Keir Starmer stepped down.
Accompanied by his wife Marie-France van Heel, Burnham arrived at Downing Street to resounding applause from supporters and acknowledged he was the country’s seventh prime minister since the start of 2016.
Britain needed to show the world it could “regain stability”, he said, as he vowed to create “a new political model” and “build a new economy”.
Shortly after walking through the famous black door of No. 10, Burnham had a phone call with US President Donald Trump, a UK government official and White House official confirmed on condition of anonymity.
Earlier, Burnham told broadcasters he would offer reassurance to Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky later Monday that “I will be with him 100 per cent”.
In his brief speech outside Downing Street, the new Labour leader said he would “bring forward a new plan for Britain, a 10-year plan,” without giving specifics.
Starmer had similarly talked of his intention to lead a “decade of national renewal” before Labour MPs ditched him last month in favour of Burnham, who only returned to parliament four weeks ago.
Naming short-term goals, Burnham promised to “give people some breathing space now, some help with the cost of living,” which he said he would start to announce on Tuesday.
He also said his first instruction would be a pledge to “end rough sleeping,” a measure he attempted to implement as a regional mayor in northern England, although it was not fully successful.
Other announcements included a vague promise to re-industrialise Britain through public procurement and to build more public housing.
He repeated his belief that “in the 1980s Britain took some wrong turns,” as he pledged to decentralise power away from Westminster and “put life’s essentials back under stronger public control to make them affordable”.
‘Stronger, Fairer’
Starmer departed Downing Street earlier, insisting his short time in office had made Britain a better place.
“I am confident that Britain is now stronger and fairer than it was two years ago,” he said in his farewell speech.
Burnham will face an in-tray overflowing with challenges with little time to make his mark with a nationwide election due in 2029.
Rachel Reeves announced she was departing as finance minister, while deputy PM David Lammy said he was also leaving government.
The former mayor of Greater Manchester, nicknamed the “King of the North,” has been parachuted in by the Labour Party after Starmer resigned on June 22, with MPs viewing him as the party’s best chance of reining in Nigel Farage’s anti-immigration Reform UK party.
‘Bigger, Bolder’
Among Burnham’s most urgent challenges will be a tepid economy, high government borrowing costs, a ballooning welfare bill and irregular migrants arriving in small boats that have fuelled support for Reform.
Unpredictable energy prices due to the US-Iran war and volatile relations with the United States under Trump also threaten to buffet his premiership.
Starmer led Labour to a landslide election victory in July 2024 after 14 years of Conservative rule, but his premiership became characterised by a string of scandals, missteps and policy U-turns.
Burnham has little room to manoeuvre amid sluggish economic growth, high public debt and strict financial rules requiring him to balance government spending against tax revenue.
Burnham was an MP between 2001 and 2017, serving as a minister in the governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
But Burnham’s swift “coronation” as Labour leader without a contest, and now prime minister by virtue of Labour’s huge parliamentary majority, has raised questions about how he will achieve his aims.
He is also facing calls from opposition politicians to call a snap election.
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said she looked forward to working with Burnham “to strengthen the EU-UK partnership,” and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz invited him to visit Berlin to mark “the deep bond between us”.
French President Emmanuel Macron also sent congratulations, and urged him to “give new momentum to the partnership between the United Kingdom and the European Union”.
AFP
