Burnham to promise ‘more breathing space’ in first speech as prime minister

Andy Burnham will vow to give Britain “more breathing space” in his first speech outside 10 Downing Street as he takes office as prime minister. 

The former mayor of Greater Manchester, who will become the seventh prime minister in just 10 years, is expected to call for honesty and reflection. Burnham’s address is set to focus on his priorities for restoring confidence in government.

The new prime minister will say that he is “acutely conscious” of being the seventh person to walk up Downing Street in the space of just 10 years, as part of a call for more stable and responsible politics.

Burnham will describe the moment as one of “reflection and resolution”, insisting Britain must be honest about the challenges.

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Setting out his domestic priorities, Burnham will argue that political stability must deliver improvements in people’s lives.

Keir Starmer will give a final speech as prime minister at around 11:15am before his visit to the Buckingham Palace to formally tender his resignation. Burnham is then expected to address the nation outside No 10 before 1:00pm.

Starmer shared a three-minute video on social media over the weekend claiming he had left Britain in a better state than he found it. The outgoing prime minister pointed to achievements including his ongoing support for Ukraine, the Hillsborough Law, a social media ban for under-16s and action to save British Steel.

Starmer said: “I am so proud that we leave the country in a much better state than we found it two years ago, on the economy, on public services, on protection for children, on defence and security, and on our international reputation in particular.

“That’s the test for any prime minister: do you leave your country in a better place than you found it? And that test, and that answer, is a yes.”

Burnham was elected as Labour leader unopposed last week after a short contest confined to the parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) failed to produce a challenger. In the end, he secured a total 379 nominations out of a total 403 Labour MPs.

In his first speech as Labour leader, Burnham pledged to serve “people and places who have been waiting too long for politics to let them hope again.”

Addressing an audience of MPs, activists, trade union leaders and party grandees, Burnham further vowed to end Labour’s factional disputes, saying “we won’t beat Britain’s new right if we are consumed by infighting and pulling in different directions.” He referred to a “generation of politicians” who had failed to challenge “an economic model that simply doesn’t work well enough for ordinary people.”

Burnham declared: “Four decades of the neoliberalism that began in the 1980s have not been kind to the places that built our party, nor to the communities across the UK in rural and coastal areas. So we pledge today to them to be better.”

He added: “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 used the phrase ‘take back control’ – but they are the ones who gave it away in the first place.

“If we want an economy and a country that works for all people and places – which to me should always be at the very core of Labourism – then it requires a new path to the one we’ve been on for the last 40 years.”