LONDON
\nBritain\u2019s King Charles III on Monday appointed Andy Burnham as prime minister after outgoing Keir Starmer officially tendered his resignation, the palace said. \u201cAndrew Burnham MP accepted The King\u2019s offer and kissed hands upon his appointment as Prime Minister,\u201d Buckingham Palace said in a statement, adding the king had asked him to form the next government.
\nBurnham became Britain\u2019s sixth prime minister to move into Downing Street in 10 years, with an in-tray overflowing with challenges and little time to make his mark. Media reported that a large crowd of supporters erupted into applause as Burnham stepped onto Downing Street for his first speech.
\nDelivering his address, Burnham promised to set out new measures to help with the cost of living this week before setting out a new 10-year plan for the country later this year. \u201cBritain needs to show the world that we can regain our stability once again,\u201d Burnham said. \u201cWe have not been good enough, and we need to be better.\u201d
\nPromising Britons \u201csome breathing space now\u201d, he said the government would set out some measures to tackle the high cost-of-living, and how it plans to fund them. Further out, he said: \u201cWe will help more young people into work by changing the education system and giving them more support, more mental health support, and we will build more council homes.
\n\u201cThat is 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.\u201d The new leader takes over from the unpopular Keir Starmer just two years after the outgoing prime minister led the Labour Party to power in a landslide election victory after 14 years of Conservative rule.
\nBurnham said his first calls would include US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, adding that Britain\u2019s support for Ukraine would remain unchanged under his leadership. In a clip recorded before he was officially appointed as British leader but released after his speech in Downing Street, Burnham was asked who he would contact first and whether that would be Trump, Zelenskiy or another world leader.
\nHe replied by saying those two would be among his first calls. He said he would make clear to Zelensky that there would be \u201cno change\u201d in Britain\u2019s backing for Ukraine and that he would support the Ukrainian leader \u201c100 per cent\u201d as his predecessor had done.
\n\u201cPresident Zelensky will be left in no doubt whatsoever that Britain\u2019s support is steadfast, it is resolute. It will be there for him, and I will be there for him personally too,\u201d Burnham told reporters. An announcement on his senior cabinet appointments was also expected on Monday, with all eyes on who will replace Rachel Reeves as finance minister.
\nThe former mayor of Greater Manchester, nicknamed the \u201cKing of the North\u201d, has been parachuted in by the Labour Party after Starmer resigned last month, with MPs viewing him as the party\u2019s best chance of reining in Nigel Farage\u2019s anti-immigration Reform UK party. Starmer departed Downing Street on Monday morning, insisting in a farewell speech that his two years in office had made Britain a better place.
\n\u201cI am confident that Britain is now stronger and fairer than it was two years ago,\u201d Starmer told reporters outside his central London office.\u201cI go with good grace, I go with a smile, and I go proud of everything that we have achieved,\u201d he added. Congratulations pour in As soon as Buckingham Palace\u2019s statement came in, leaders from across the world began extending their best wishes for the new UK PM.
\nEuropean Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she looked forward to working with Burnham to strengthen the partnership between the European Union (EU) and the UK.\u201cFor the security of our shared continent. And the prosperity of people on both sides of the Channel,\u201d she wrote on X.
\nEU chief Antonio Costa said he hopes to press on with efforts to improve ties between Brussels and London.\u201cIn the last two years EU-UK relations gained a new, positive momentum,\u201d European Council president Costa posted online.
\n\u201cI look forward to continuing to further deepen our cooperation for the benefit of our citizens and businesses. The United Kingdom and the European Union are stronger together,\u201d he added. In an interview with The Times published late on Sunday, Burnham set out his ambition for change, saying he wanted to draw a line under a decade of political turmoil.
\n\u201cWhat we\u2019ve been doing hasn\u2019t been working. That\u2019s the way I see it,\u201d he said.\u201cI am going to try and do things in a different way.\u201d Deputy Labour Party leader Lucy Powell said on Sunday that Burnham\u2019s mayoral experience away from the London centre of government meant he understood the \u201cbigger, bolder measures\u201d needed to deliver on Labour\u2019s election manifesto promises.
\nUnpredictable energy prices due to the US-Iran war and a volatile American president in Trump also threaten to buffet his premiership.Burnham told The Times he would take a \u201cdifferent approach to public spending, and to running the economy \u2014 more focused on early investment, early intervention, setting people up for success, and much less paying for failure\u201d.<\/p>\n
Among Burnham\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
He promised \u201cearly moves to help\u201d with the cost of living, saying that while campaigning he heard the \u201cpressure people feel around their finances\u201d.Starmer announced that he would resign as prime minister and Labour Party leader in late June after a string of scandals, missteps and policy U-turns blighted his leadership.
\nBut Burnham, who only returned as a member of parliament four weeks ago, 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. \u2018Last chance\u2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LONDON Britain\u2019s King Charles III on Monday appointed Andy Burnham as prime minister after outgoing Keir Starmer officially tendered his resignation, the palace said. \u201cAndrew Burnham MP accepted The King\u2019s offer and kissed hands upon his appointment as Prime Minister,\u201d Buckingham Palace said in a statement, adding the king had asked him to form the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":557450,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-557440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n