Andy Burnham on Monday became Britain’s seventh prime minister in a decade with an in-tray overflowing with challenges that have trounced his predecessors.

The new leader takes over from the unpopular Keir Starmer just two years after the outgoing prime minister led Labour to power in a landslide election victory after 14 years of Conservative rule.

Starmer made his farewell speech outside 10 Downing Street, telling ​supporters that “my work is ‌done” and that he was leaving with “good grace” and a “smile”.

King Charles III asked Burnham to be prime minister after Starmer formally tendered his resignation. 

In his first speech as prime minister, Burnham will set out “priorities for restoring confidence in government and giving Britain more breathing room” amid the cost-of-living crisis, his team said. Delivering growth and devolving power to regional communities are also expected to feature.

An announcement on his senior cabinet appointments is also expected on Monday with all eyes on who will replace Rachel Reeves as finance minister.

The former mayor of Greater Manchester, nicknamed the “King of the North”, has been parachuted in by the Labour Party, after Starmer resigned last month, with MPs viewing him as the party’s best chance of reining in Nigel Farage‘s anti-immigration Reform UK party.

‘Bigger, bolder’

Deputy Labour Party leader Lucy Powell said on Sunday Burnham’s mayoral experience away from the London centre of government meant he understood the “bigger, bolder measures” needed to deliver on Labour’s election manifesto promises.

Among Burnham’s 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.

Unpredictable energy prices due to the US-Iran war and a volatile American president in Donald Trump also threaten to buffet his premiership.

The new prime minister wanted to “radically” rewrite an “over-centralised” political system and an economic model that had put vested interests ahead of ordinary people, Powell told BBC television.

“It’s about giving ordinary people security in work, security in their home, a home they can afford and live in a community that they can feel proud of and knowing that their children are going to have opportunity for the future,” she said.

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.

But 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.

‘Last chance’

Burnham was an MP between 2001 and 2017, serving as a minister for the governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

He has since reinvented himself as a man of the people, melding a relaxed, folksy style with slick social media videos.

But he has only three years to turn things around, with Reform tipped in polls to win the next general election expected in 2029.

Burnham told supporters on Friday his Labour takeover was the “last chance” for the party to get things right.

Critics have accused Starmer’s government of being under-prepared for power when he was elected in July 2024.

Burnham has insisted he has a “plan”.

But his swift “coronation” as Labour leader has raised questions on how he will achieve his aims.

His first policy announcement came on Saturday when he scrapped Starmer’s flagship nationwide digital ID scheme, estimated to cost £1.8 billion over three years. The policy would have required all employees to hold a digital identity document as a measure designed to tackle irregular migration. 

But a cross-party committee of lawmakers denounced it as a “fiasco”.

More attention will be paid to Burnham’s subsequent decisions, particularly on taxation and spending, oil and gas, and underperforming utilities companies, which ⁠he wants to see under stronger public control.

Powell suggested that Thames Water, a debt-stricken utility, could be brought under “special measures”, ⁠meaning it would operate ​under government control.

A spokesperson said the time and resources would be diverted “to where it’s most needed, such as helping with the cost of living”.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)