London: Andy Burnham, newly elected leader of the Labour Party, on Monday took charge as the UK’s new Prime Minister, pledging that his appointment will be a “circuit breaker” for Britain with a “new political model and a new economic model”.
In his inaugural speech at 10 Downing Street, Burnham said he would make politics more about problem-solving. He is Britain’s seventh Prime Minister in the last 10 years.
The 56-year-old leader of the Labour Party broke from prime ministerial tradition by choosing to address the nation from his new headquarters without the customary podium used by most of his predecessors.
“We will make this moment a circuit-breaker for Britain, bringing forward the biggest changes in the last 40 years; a new political model and a new economic model,” Burnham said in his first address as PM.
Accompanied by his wife Marie-France van Heel and surrounded by several party colleagues expected to be appointed among his close aides, Burnham pledged a collaborative approach and singled out “ending rough sleeping” among his priorities by building more homes.
“We will help people to live well, building a more preventative state, investing in people’s success, rather than paying for people’s failure; and that work starts now,” said Burnham.
“I will soon go through that door behind me and issue my first instruction: to end rough sleeping in our country,” he said.
The new leader has promised a new wave of public ownership in the UK and a 10-year plan for Britain, as he attacked the deindustrialisation under former Conservative PM Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s.
“In the 1980s, Britain took some wrong turns. Political power was centralised, economic power privatised, large parts of the country de-industrialised, and they still haven’t recovered. Many feel as though they’re still in decline, and they don’t have the ability to turn things around.
“And that’s why we will change politics, to make it more collaborative, more about problem solving than point scoring,” he said.
As part of his promise of unleashing “some of the biggest changes in the last 40 years”, is a pledge to “bring back hope” and stability after a decade of political upheaval.
He noted: “I am acutely conscious that I am the sixth person in the last ten years to walk up this street, the seventh Prime Minister since 2016. Making this a moment for reflection and new resolution.
“It requires my generation of politicians to raise our game, and rise to the new challenge. Britain needs to show the world that we can regain our stability once again, and that is our challenge, to make politics work, to make it work better.
“I know people at home are fed up with politics. I hear you. And I want to be honest with you. We have not been good enough, and we need to be better. We will be.”
Burnham took formal charge as Britain’s new PM after meeting King Charles III, who invited the former mayor of Greater Manchester to form a new government following the resignation of Keir Starmer moments earlier to mark the formal handover of power.
“His Majesty received in audience the Rt. Hon. Andrew Burnham MP and requested him to form a new administration,” a Buckingham Palace statement said.
Burnham “kissed hands upon his appointment as Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury”, the palace said a reference to the symbolic royal tradition that forms part of Britain’s constitutional monarchy.
Elected Labour leader unopposed last week, Burnham will now get to work instantly as PM by announcing his picks for Cabinet.
Earlier, Starmer delivered his final address from 10 Downing Street as Britain’s Prime Minister before making his way to meet the King to formally tender his resignation. “My work is done,” he said.
The 63-year-old Labour MP, who announced his decision to step down last month, said he was “passing the baton” to Burnham, who had his “full support”.
“I go with good grace, I go with a smile and I go proud of everything that we have achieved,” said Starmer.
His Cabinet colleagues and officials lined up to applaud his departure from Downing Street after two years, having won a landslide election for Labour in the July 2024 general election.
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