‘I am ready’, declares Andy Burnham as he officially takes over from Sir Keir Starmer as Labour leader

ANDY Burnham said “I have a plan” to lead the country as he takes over as Labour leader after winning the the overwhelming support of MPs. Mr Burnham was coronated at the Labour Party Special Conference after standing unopposed for the top job despite receiving little scrutiny. Andy Burnham has become the new leader of the Labour party Sir Keir Starmer lasted for just over two years as Prime Minister Credit: PA Mr Burnham said he was ready to build on the foundations laid out by Sir Keir Starmer. So far has provided few details of what he will do differently from the outgoing Prime Minister. Sign up for the Politics newsletter Thank you! The former Greater Manchester mayor will become the UK’s seventh Prime Minister in 10 years on Monday. It marks a remarkable rise from becoming an MP in June to the PM-in-waiting a month later. Mr Burnham was backed by 379 Labour MPs after emerging as the only candidate to stand for the party leadership. However, he will not officially become Prime Minister until Monday. Next week Sir Keir will travel to see the King at Buckingham Palace, where he will offer his resignation as Prime Minister. Mr Burnham will then hold a private audience with the King, who will formally appoint him as PM. Most read in The Sun Sir Keir lasted for just over two years as Prime Minister having won a landslide majority at the 2024 general election. Now Mr Burnham will inherit an intray from hell including sluggish growth, a small boats crisis, global conflict in Ukraine and the Middle East. His team have had just weeks to come up with a slew of policies to help hard-up Brits with the cost of living and sky-high energy bills. In his speech today Mr Burnham promised to run a Government which is ‘distinctively Labour’ and claimed he had a clear plan. He set out a vision for more public control of services and handing power back in the hands of local communities. Mr Burnham said: “If we want an economy and a country that works for all people and places which to me should always be at the very core of Labourism, then it requires a new path to the one we’ve been on for the last 40 years. “The Government I lead will confidently lay that path out, starting next week, and that is why this change today is the most significant change moment in our politics for 40 years. “It will take us to a country where life is more affordable, and all people and places are lifted from where they are now.” His wife Marie-France van Heel, who Mr Burnham met at university, was watching on as he made his speech. Mr Burnham committed to being a leader “for the North and the South, for Scotland, for Wales and for Northern Ireland, and for every town and every city in every nation and region of this great country”. “I mean it when I say all places. I will be a leader for the north, the south, the east and the west, for Scotland, Wales and for Northern Ireland. “Yes, the north of England has given me so much, everything, in fact. And in return I have sought to give it the strongest voice I could. That was my job. But now I do the same for everywhere.” He said that Labour must “lift Britain up” by putting people at the heart of national decision-making. The new Labour leader will argue that “Britain took a series of wrong turns in the 1980s” when “political power was centralised and economic power privatised”. He said: “The Right use the phrase ‘take back control’ but they are the ones who gave it away in the first place”. Mr Burnham promised to be a pro-business leader of the Labour party, claiming he will continue in the same vein as he did as Manchester mayor. But he promised to do this in an unashamedly Labour way. He added: “If we want an economy and a country that works for all people and places which to me should always be at the very core of Labourism, then it requires a new path to the one we’ve been on for the last 40 years. “The Government I lead will confidently lay that path out, starting next week, and that is why this change today is the most significant change moment in our politics for 40 years.” Mr Burnham has largely avoided scrutiny from the press, having conducted just one media interview since returning to Westminster. He has opted to answer questions on Reddit forums and take selected questions from the public. Mr Burnham said he was ready to build on the foundations of Sir Keir’s leader. Many Labour MPs are starting to become increasingly worried over who could be the next Chancellor. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, who is on the right of the party, is set to take over the reins in the Treasury. Last month Mr Burnham won a crunch Makerfield by-election, which set him on course to challenge Sir Keir as Prime Minister. Mr Burnham secured 24,927 votes and won by a majority of 9,231 – which returned him to Westminster for the first time in nine years. 7 comments7