LONDON (AP) 鈥� was officially declared leader of Britain’s governing Labour Party on Friday, promising to bring hope to the British people and purpose to the floundering government as he cleared his final hurdle to take office as prime minister next week.
The former mayor of Greater Manchester was the only contender in the center-left party’s leadership contest to replace departing , who was forced out by a rebellion within his party. Friday’s announcement was a foregone conclusion after Burnham secured nominations from 379 of the 403 Labour lawmakers in the House of Commons.
Burnham pledged to serve 鈥減eople and places who have been waiting too long for politics to let them hope again.鈥�
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to give them hope back,鈥� he told an audience of lawmakers, party activists and trade union leaders in his first speech as leader. 鈥淚 am ready.鈥�
鈥淚 have a plan,鈥� he added, in a bid to reassure a party that has seen its popularity nosedive since winning a landslide election victory two years ago. He pledged to end Labour’s factional disputes, saying 鈥渨e won鈥檛 beat Britain鈥檚 new right if we are consumed by infighting and pulling in different directions.鈥�
The prime minister in waiting is about to take office
Burnham has been for weeks, since for a seat in Parliament a month ago, but he has revealed little detail about his policy priorities. He will arrive in Number 10 Downing Street largely unknown to voters outside Manchester.
He sketched out some priorities in Friday’s speech, promising to deliver 鈥渉ope in every heart鈥� and 鈥済ood growth in every post code,鈥� in part by transferring power from central government in London to local leaders in cities and regions.
鈥淲e will take power back from Westminster and Whitehall and give it to the place you live,鈥� he told the audience. 鈥淢ore power over life鈥檚 essentials so you can make them work better.鈥�
Starmer announced last month that he would resign after in office marred by missteps and judgment errors that eroded his standing with his party and the public.
Labour regularly trails behind anti-immigration party in opinion polls, and the governing party had catastrophic results in local elections in May, triggering pressure on Starmer to step down that he couldn鈥檛 resist.
Burnham deemed a better communicator than Starmer
Burnham brings a more relaxed style of leadership than the rather stern Starmer, and is regarded as one of the Labour Party鈥檚 best communicators. But he faces as his predecessor, including a sluggish economy, a cost-of-living squeeze fueled by wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and .
And his promises of a new, less divisive politics are not too different to what Starmer pledged when he took office in 2024.
鈥淚 will work to build a new politics. The country is crying out for it,鈥� Burnham said. 鈥淗ow can politicians point fingers when living standards are falling and politics as a whole isn鈥檛 working for them? It infuriates them and makes them switch off.鈥�
He said he would have the 鈥渃ourage to fix the big things that politics has neglected,鈥� such as tackling the patchy access to social care for those who need it because of age, illness or disability. It鈥檚 a pressing issue in a country with an aging population, and one that has foxed previous Labour and Conservative governments.
Burnham says he’ll reverse 40 years of bad decisions
He highlighted plans to focus on economic renewal, more public control of key sectors and creating new modern industrial jobs, arguing that Britain took 鈥渁 series of wrong turns in the 1980s鈥� when 鈥減olitical power was centralized and economic power privatized.鈥�
That鈥檚 the decade when Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher oversaw policies of privatization, deindustrialization and political centralization that transformed the U.K. economy.
鈥淪lowly, at times imperceptibly, over four decades, political and economic power drained away out of our communities in every region and nation of the U.K.,鈥� Burnham said, calling Britain’s change of prime ministers 鈥� for the sixth time in a decade 鈥� 鈥渢he most significant change moment in our politics for 40 years.鈥�
Starmer will remain prime minister until Monday, when he formally tenders his resignation to . The king will then ask Burnham to form a government.
Britain鈥檚 parliamentary democracy allows governing parties to change leaders, and thus prime ministers, without the need for a general election. The next national election doesn鈥檛 have to be held until 2029.
New prime ministers have come with increasing frequency in recent years. Burnham will be since 2016.
He faces strong and sometimes conflicting pressures.
Unions welcomed his focus on living standards but said the test would be whether he can deliver. Business group the Confederation of British Industry praised his emphasis on economic growth, but also aid that 鈥渢he challenge is execution.鈥�
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Associated Press Writer Brian Melley contributed to this story.
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