LONDON (AP) — Andy Burnham took office Monday as Britain’s new prime minister, promising a 10-year plan to restore political stability and revive the economy while acknowledging that six other U.K. leaders have tried and failed to do so in the past decade.
Speaking outside 10 Downing St. minutes after being formally appointed by King Charles III, Burnham pledged to ease the cost of living for ordinary people, decentralize political power, revitalize industry and end street sleeping by homeless people. He said he would deliver a “circuit breaker” for a system that has taken wrong turns since the 1980s, when public services and utilities were privatized and local government eroded.
“We will take power out of here and carry it into every postcode in the land so that they can do more and in doing more, build a new economy where we put life’s essentials back under stronger public control to make them affordable to you again,” he said.
Burnham said he was “acutely conscious” of the political revolving door he was walking through.
“This a moment for reflection and new resolution,” he said. “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.”
Burnham became the seventh U.K. prime minister since 2016 in a now well-rehearsed handover after replacing Keir Starmer as leader of the center-left governing Labour Party on Friday. Starmer announced last month he would resign.
Starmer left office just two years after winning a landslide election victory, forced out by his own party after a series of missteps and U-turns.
Britain’s parliamentary democracy allows governing parties to change leaders, and thus prime ministers, without the need for a general election. The next national poll does not have to be held until 2029, though Burnham can call one sooner if he wants.
Burnham was the only candidate in a contest to become the party’s new leader, securing nominations from 379 of the 403 Labour lawmakers in the House of Commons.
He will confront many of the same struggles as his predecessor: a sluggish economy, a cost-of-living crisis, overstretched public services, concerns about migration and foreign affairs that include wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
The former mayor of Greater Manchester previously pledged to make politics “less toxic,” improve living standards across the country and “bring back the hope we have all been missing.”
Burnham said he will set out a 10-year plan for Britain later this year. Before that, he will lay out first steps “to give people some breathing space now, some help with the cost of living.”
“And I will set out some of those measures starting tomorrow, including how we pay for them,” he said.
After his speech, he told reporters that he has “always taken a very prudent approach” to the economy in previous jobs, and will not take any economic risks now.
Joshi Herrmann, who has followed Burnham’s career as founder of Manchester news site The Mill, said Burnham's plans “only will work if you can generate significant economic growth, because it’s the lack of growth that’s really holding the country back.”
Burnham was expected to appoint his Cabinet later Monday. Several senior members of Starmer's team posted messages on social media saying they had been fired, including Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy and Treasury chief Rachel Reeves, the architect of many of Starmer's economic plans.
In the rapid-fire world of British political transitions, Burnham entered Downing Street only minutes after Starmer left.
“I go with good grace. I go with a smile, and I go proud of everything that we have achieved,” Starmer said before heading to Buckingham Palace to offer his resignation to the king. It was an offer the king “was graciously pleased to accept,” the palace said in a statement.
Starmer became Labour leader in 2020 after one of the party's worst election defeats, and he led Labour to a landslide victory four years later. But he was soon defeated by the challenges of governing.
At his final Prime Minister’s Questions session Wednesday in Parliament, Starmer defended his government’s record on the international stage — especially its support for Ukraine — and its domestic policy achievements. He mentioned stronger protections for working people, a reduction in child poverty, a law designed to stop official cover-ups after tragedies and higher defense spending.
“It has been the privilege of my life to serve you and this great country as prime minister,” Starmer said before leaving Downing Street, hand-in-hand with his wife, Victoria. “I am confident that Britain is now stronger and fairer than it was two years ago.”
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Associated Press journalists Sylvia Hui, Pan Pylas and Danica Kirka contributed.
