Andy Burnham Becomes UK’s Seventh Prime Minister In 10 Years

Andy Burnham has officially become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland after being invited to form a government by King Charles III at Buckingham Palace on Monday.

He succeeds Sir Keir Starmer, who earlier tendered his resignation to the King.

Burnham, the Labour Party leader, is the seventh person to serve as Prime Minister in the past decade.

In his first speech outside 10 Downing Street, he said he wanted to make his appointment a “circuit breaker for Britain”.

“I know people at home are fed up with politics,” he said.

He pledged to focus on issues people care about, including the cost-of-living crisis and poorly performing public services.

Burnham said he will bring forward a 10-year plan later this year that will set out “a path from where we are now to where I believe we all want Britain to be, wherever we’re coming from, whatever party we support”.

The plan will include putting “life’s essentials back under stronger public control to make them affordable again” and “reindustrialising Britain using public procurement to back British industry”, he said.

“This will be the biggest change in the last 40 years – a new political model and a new economic model,” he said.

He said his first instruction inside No.10 will be to end rough sleeping. Following his speech, Downing Street announced an extra £340 million for rough sleeping.

Burnham said he will set out further measures on Tuesday to “give people some breathing space now, some help with the cost of living”.

He also pledged to help more young people into work by changing the education system, providing more mental health support and building more council homes.

He said this was “the fair and sustainable way to bring the welfare bill down, to meet our fiscal rules and to honour our commitments on defence to our international partners”.

His government would “help people to live well, building a more preventative state, investing in people’s success rather than paying for failure”, he said.

He added: “It’s about putting the right values and the right standards at the heart of government. I will put the care of people at the heart of everything I do. I will give this my all, and I ask you all to pull with me.

“Let’s build a new national sense of unity, of common purpose, and positivity. Let us make this the moment when Britain starts to believe again – the moment we bring back hope.”

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