EditEverybody loves Andy – for now!
The formal announcement – ‘Burnham’s Coronation’ - as Party leader will be made later today at a Labour Party special conference
The Number 10 of the North will be based in Manchester and will be the ‘driving seat’ for Burnham’s devolution and growth agenda” rather than London’s No 10 Downing Street, writes Dick Roche.
EUalive’s columnist Dick Roche is a former Irish Minister for European Affairs. His columns can be found here.
Later today Andy Burnham, former Mayor for Greater Manchester, widely proclaimed King of the North, the newly ‘minted’ MP for Makerfield – he was sworn in on 22n June – will be declared the winner in the contest for leader of the British Labour Party. On 20 July Mr Burnham will become the seventh UK prime minister in just 10 years.
Following the result in the Makerfield by-election on 18 June there was very little doubt that Keir Starmer’s days were numbered. On 22 June, four days after the by-election, Sir Keir, speaking from a lectern placed on the road in front of 10 Downing Street – that has become an iconic political feature in recent years as the UK has churned its way through Prime Ministers – announced his intention to resign as Labour Leader and as Prime Minister.
Any questions about Burnham’s position in the leadership race quickly melted away. As of 9 July, 322 of the 403 Labour MPs in the Commons had signed up to support him. By 13 July that number had grown to 349 MEPs. When the parliamentary nomination process closed three days later Burnham was the only candidate nominated by the Parliamentary Labour Party.
For Burnham’s formal nomination process to be finalised two trade unions and one other organisation affiliated to the Labour Party were needed. Within hours of the parliamentary party nomination process closing eight of the 11 unions affiliated to Labour had indicated their support for Burnham’s nomination. Union support came with a price tag: Britain’s largest union, Unite, asked Burnham to commit his government to introducing a wealth tax, commit to more day-to-day spending, loosen government borrowing requirements, invest more in jobs and growth and rethink UK zero-carbon policies on oil and gas.
The Coronation
The formal announcement – ‘Burnham’s Coronation’ – as Party leader will be made later today at a Labour Party special conference.
On Monday 20 July Sir Keir Starmer will, as is the tradition, meet with the monarch to formally tender his resignation – Starmer phoned King Charles on 22 June before making his resignation announcement outside 10 Downing Street. When Sir Keir leaves the meeting Andy Burnham will be invited to meet the King who will, again as is the British tradition, invite him to form a government.
When Burnham accepts the monarch’s invitation – “kisses hands” is the formal description – he assumes office immediately. There is no constitutional requirement that a newly appointed British Prime Minister must appear before or seek the endorsement of the House of Commons before taking office. After the meeting with King Charles Prime Minister Burnham can immediately start appointing his Cabinet and Ministerial team.
As the House of Commons went into recess on 16 July, Burnham will not face MPs as Prime Minister until early September. By that time the Burnham Government will have been in office almost seven weeks without facing any form of Parliamentary scrutiny.
The gap between Andy Burnham’s appointment as Prime Minister and his first ‘outing’ in the Commons will be the longest hiatus between a Prime Ministerial appointment and a Commons appearance of any UK Prime Minister in the post-war period.
Since WWII only two UK Prime Ministers took up office while the Commons was in recess. Harold Macmillan assumed office as Prime Minister on 10 January 1957 while the Commons was in recess. Macmillan made his first appearance as Prime Minister on 22 January. In 1963 Alec Douglas-Home became Prime Minister on 19 October. Not only was the Commons not sitting but Douglas-Home who had joined the House of Lords in 1951 was not an MP. Douglas-Home contested and won a by-election on 7 November 1963 and first addressed the Commons as prime Minister on 12th November.
While the gap between Burnham’s appointment as Prime Minister and his appearance in the Commons is not a legal or constitutional issue it does raise political issues. Conservative and Reform UK MPs have accused the incoming Prime Minister of “running scared” from public scrutiny, a criticism that that could become problematic as the Burnham government starts to lay out its policy programme. It is not ideal for a new government to be portrayed as ‘on the run’ from scrutiny’.
The Burnham policy platform
While Burnham has not yet laid out a definitive government programme, he has identified key areas where he intends to make changes.
He has ambitious plans to effect far reaching changes to how public policy is delivered. Devolution of government is a top Burnham priority. In his first major speech after returning to parliament in June, Burnham spoke of a decade-long plan to transform Britain. This plan involves transferring power out of Whitehall – giving regions greater control.
His devolution proposals will be driven by the ‘Number 10 of the North,’ an ‘offshoot’ of the Prime Minister’s office at 10 Downing Street that is intended to act as the “nerve – centre of a rewired Britain.”
The Number 10 of the North will be based in Manchester and will be the ‘driving seat’ for Burnham’s devolution and growth agenda” rather than London’s No 10 Downing Street. The lead staff for the PM office in Downing Street and No 10 of the North are already in place and Burnham has already identified his proffered location for the new office – in the Manchester Digital Campus. There is a slight problem, the building will not be completed until 2032, but alternatives are available.
Burnham’s No 10 North will focus on three particular policies: reforming utilities, reindustrialisation, and regional regeneration. Stopping short of full nationalisation, the new administration will aim to provide greater public control over water, housing, energy, and transport.
There is no doubt as to Burnham’s commitment to driving the devolution agenda. However restructuring government systems is highly complex, takes considerable time to achieve, and will inevitably face implementation challenges. A particular challenge for Burnham, will be delivering anything that voters recognize as positive in the three years before the UK 2029 general election.
Big economic and social issues
The Burnham Government will face very significant economic challenges. The UK has experienced decades of sluggish growth creating a long-term economic stagnation problem. It has a huge national debt that is costly to service. It faces significant workforce and demographic pressures. Against this background framing policy on public expenditure, particularly on ‘big ticket areas, and on taxation will be will be particularly challenging for Burnham and his government. Again, while an overall economic policy has still to be set out Burnham has given some ideas as to his thinking in that regard
One very ‘big ticket’ area that requires controlling is the UK’s welfare bill. This has been boosted by rocketing health and disability benefit spending, the costs of catering for a growing “lost generation” of young people trapped out of work or education and the challenges that come with an aging population.
Burnham has spoken of wanting a “fair and lasting” reduction of expenditure. He intends to keep the “triple lock” policy, which raises the state pension annually by inflation, wage increases, or 2.5% (whichever is highest). He argues the welfare claimant count can be reduced by improving employment support and “in-work” mental health support. He has also said he wants 16 to 18-year-olds to have guaranteed work placements. It will be intriguing to see how the broad stroke aims translate into detailed policies.
Defence is another big ticket problem. Burnham has spoken about rebuilding Britain’s hard power through keeping the UK’s commitments to NATO and retaining the UK’s nuclear deterrent. There is however a hitch – funding. The Defence Secretary in Keir Starmer’s government resigned office in June over a funding shortfall for the UK’s Defence Investment Plan. While the Treasury agreed to some adjustments after that resignation the incoming administration will need to find a further £4.7 billion for defence in the upcoming UK budget, which will not be easy.
Turning to the funding side, on taxes Burnham has committed to sticking with Labour’s 2024 manifesto undertakings not to raise income tax, VAT, or national insurance. However, he sees room for movement in other areas. He has suggested hiking business rates on giant warehouses while exempting high street shops and pubs. This could raise revenue but has downsides.
Burnham has been talking about an “Amazon tax” on on-line purchases. Any new taxation system under this name risks political friction with the White House.
Echoing Labour’s left wing and the unions, Burnham has indicated he favours increasing capital gains taxes. He has also previously proposed replacing council tax and stamp duty with a land value tax based on market rental value. He also supports the abolition of inheritance tax favouring a “national care levy” to fund a national care service, where “the wealthiest would pay the most”.
There are three other areas where Andy Burnham has given indications of his thinking.
On housing, he has promised the largest council house building program since the post-war period – a commendable aspiration but one that will be difficult, costly, and slow to achieve. He proposes utilizing vacant public land to reduce costs, pressing ahead on high-density town developments, accelerating construction rates and reinvigorating high streets. How this is to be funded remains fuzzy.
Burnham previously indicated that he would like to see the UK rejoin the EU. Recently he has made it clear that he has no immediate intention of reopening that debate anytime soon. Burnham, who is 56, suggests that he would like to see the move back to the EU ‘during his lifetime’ giving the project a long time line.
On immigration where numbers dropped during the lifetime of the Starmer government, Burnham suggested that net migration “needs to fall further” but has not set a specific target.
On Monday when Prime Minister Burnham makes his speech outside 10 Downing Street there will probably be some more precise outline of his government’s policy agenda. It is unlikely that Burnham will go into any great detail – a full programme will be more likely to emerge after the Commons returns to office. There will however be some hints in the key appointments that he announces.
How long will Andy last?
Politics is a rough game. The defenestration of Keir Starmer after only two years in office was particularly brutal. Starmer led his party back into government after a striking election victory. His party dropped him after elections that went badly, his extraordinary error in appointing Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US and the growing dislike of his ‘style’.
The party decided to replace Starmer with Andy Burnham because of Burnham’s charisma, his capacity to reach out to the Labour Party base and the belief that he could fend off encroachment on that base from the right and the left. At the moment everybody loves Andy – the question is for how long?
Caption: A pro-EU campaigner holds up a sign of Andy Burnham outside Parliament in London, Britain, 1 July 2026. Pro-EU campaigners are hoping prime minister-in-waiting Andy Burnham will seek closer ties to the EU. EPA/ANDY RAIN
Updated: July 17, 2026 - 06:06
