Andy Burnham confirmed Labour leader, set to become UK PM next week

London,UPDATED: Jul 17, 2026 18:26 IST

Andy Burnham was on Friday confirmed as the new leader of the UK's governing Labour Party, making him the prime minister-designate ahead of his move into 10 Downing Street next week. The 56-year-old MP for Makerfield in northern England is set to become Britain's seventh prime minister in a decade.

In his first speech as party leader, Burnham said this was Labour's “last chance” to deliver the change promised at the general election in July 2024. He said, “We are going to give people hope back,” and added that he was “ready to lead, building on the foundations laid by Keir Starmer”, while thanking the outgoing leader for his “service to the country”.

Burnham was the sole candidate in the leadership race after Starmer announced his resignation last month. He said he would “set Britain on a new path” with a less toxic political climate and a bigger shift away from centralised power at Westminster in London. “I will be a leader for every region and nation in this great country, and this party will be unashamedly Labour in our priorities and in the decisions we take,” he said.

Setting out his approach, Burnham said more power should go to local areas. “We want to give your area more power to build the council and social homes that you desperately need, more power to improve your high street, backing local businesses such as the pubs and the shops that bring them to life... more power to re-industrialise,” said the PM-in-waiting.

The former mayor of Greater Manchester also signalled a shift in leadership priorities by criticising the Opposition Conservatives' “sweeping privatisation agenda”, which he said began under former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, as he pointed to plans for greater nationalisation. “Britain took a series of wrong turns in the 1980s. Political power was centralised and economic power was privatised. The country surrendered control of the essentials, housing, water, energy, transport and left people exposed to higher costs. The Right use the phrase ‘take back control’ but they are the ones who gave it away in the first place,” he said.

Burnham said that an economy that works for all people and places lies at the “very core of Labourism” and needs a “new path to the one we've been on for the last 40 years”. He said, “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.”

He also said he had not finalised decisions on his Cabinet, but promised that his top team would include MPs from all sections of the Labour Party in an effort to bring unity. Promising to govern on behalf of “forgotten places everywhere”, he said: “From here we do it differently. We win by being us, boldly, confidently, authentically us. Labour. That's how we win.”

Earlier, Labour's Executive Committee chair Shabana Mahmood announced the result of the leadership election at a special party conference in London. “There was only one nominated MP hardly a nail biter,” she said. On Monday, Burnham will be invited by King Charles III to form a new government after outgoing Prime Minister Keir Starmer formally tenders his resignation to the British monarch, completing the transition in Labour's leadership.

With PTI Inputs

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