Andy Burnham officially becomes British prime minister

by · UPI

July 20 (UPI) -- Britain has its seventh prime minister in 10 years. Andy Burnham took over the role Monday, suceeding Keir Starmer and promising political change.

The new PM started off by appointing John Healey, the former defense secretary, as chancellor, replacing Rachel Reeves. Angela Rayner, a former Starmer Cabinet member, returns as housing secretary. Jonathan Reynolds is now business secretary.

Shabana Mahmood remains home secretary, Ed Miliband is now foreign secretary and Pat McFadden continues as work and pensions secretary. Bridget Phillipson remains minister for women and equalities but is no longer education secretary. Lucy Powell takes over in that role. Other Cabinet appointments are expected.

In his first speech, Burnham said he would "put the care of people at the heart of everything I do."

"I know people at home are fed up with politics," he said to supporters Monday. "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."

On Monday morning, Burnham had a private audience with King Charles III at Buckingham Palace, at which the king asked the former Manchester mayor to form a government.

Outgoing Prime Minister Keir Starmer gave a farewell speech outside No. 10 Downing Street in which he wished Burnham "every success" and called serving as PM the "privilege of my life."

Burnham is the country's seventh prime minister in 10 years. He is the fifth leader installed in Downing Street by their respective parties without initially winning a mandate from the electorate.

He takes over two years after Starmer led the party to a landslide general election victory that returned Labour to power after 14 years in opposition.

In his first speech, Burnham also pledged to end "rough sleeping," or homelessness, and honor defense pacts with international allies.

Burnham inherits a daunting in-tray of complex, deep-seated problems to tackle that Starmer was perceived as failing to get to grips with or failing to do so with sufficient pace, which led to his downfall.

Those issues include cutting spending on welfare, sickness and disability benefits which is projected to rise from its current $78 billion to $105 billion by 2030, finding $12.1 billion a year to fund the outgoing administration's Defense Investment Plan, fixing the "social care" system that looks after the elderly in the community or in retirement homes, meeting a 300,000 a year house-building target, and getting over a million 16-24 year-olds into work.

What little specifics Burnham has set out include ditching a national digital ID scheme, easing a ban on new oil and gas drilling in the North Sea by allowing existing fields to expand into adjacent untapped areas, some form of public control of water utilities, and cuts to taxes on local businesses funded by major multinational corporations which currently pay a lower rate.

Emma Burnell of the LabourList website told the BBC that while the mood within the party was upbeat, members of the Parliamentary Labour Party believed it was their last chance to get it right.

"It's going to be a long, hard project. I don't think he's going to be able to do it overnight, he will need to show that there is real, tangible progress being made," she said.

In a letter to Burnham posted on X on Sunday, Conservative opposition leader Kemi Badenoch accused Burnham of lacking "a clear plan on any of the issues facing our country" and avoiding legitimate questioning regarding his intentions.

"You have refused calls to come to Parliament for questions from MPs, and you have not submitted yourself to serious media scrutiny. This is not a promising start."

She vowed the Conservatives would back any bid to slash benefits, saying the country was in danger of becoming "a welfare state with a country attached" and called on Burnham to rule out tax rises and to grant new licenses to drill for oil and gas in the North Sea.

"Where we support your agenda, I will say so. But I will always stand against the instincts of Labour MPs for higher taxes and more spending," wrote Badenoch.

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