Andy Burnham, «King of the North», promised in his first speech as Prime Minister to «make this moment a turning point for Britain».
Britain’s new Prime Minister stood outside his new home at 10 Downing Street without notes or a lectern. The new leader of Labour promised that he would «carry out the biggest changes in the last 40 years». Among other things, the homeless are to be helped. For this purpose the government will earmark 340 million pounds, around 4.4 billion NOK.
«We shall help people to live a good life, build a more preventative society and invest in people’s success, instead of paying for people’s failure. And this work starts now. I shall soon walk through the door behind me and give my first instruction: to put an end to people having to sleep rough in our country.»
He began his first day as Prime Minister by visiting a homeless charity in central London.
Shadow Housing Minister Sir James Cleverly fears that other plans will have to be «sliced up in salami slices» to finance the promise – and reminds that Burnham failed to achieve the same goal in Greater Manchester.
«In his speech in Downing Street Burnham promised that he would ‘walk through the door behind me and give my first instruction to put an end to rough sleeping in our country’. But there are very few details about how this is to be financed. Burnham must be honest about which other MHCLG programmes [Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government] have been cut in ‘salami slices’ to cover the shortfall.»
Among the reasons for the acute housing shortage are the massive immigration, as well as housing construction that is delayed by state regulations, climate requirements and other obstacles. But Burnham is criticised by Zia Yusuf, Reform UK’s Home Affairs spokesperson.
Yusuf accused the Prime Minister of showing no willingness to take action to stop illegal immigration. So far Burnham has only listened to his party colleagues on the back benches in the House of Commons who advocate open borders, according to the former leader of Reform, who handed over the reins to Nigel Farage in June 2025.
Burnham called for a «new national feeling of togetherness», but continued mass immigration will hardly contribute in that respect. Perhaps the new government must do something about all the problems coming across the English Channel.
They should perhaps also start by reforming the police and the justice system, which persecute and punish countless Britons for unacceptable statements on social media. Freedom of speech clearly needs to be dusted off, or rather reintroduced.
At the same time prisons are being emptied of large numbers of serious criminals such as paedophiles and rapists, to make room for those imprisoned because of «wrong» opinions.
2500 voldtektsmenn og pedofile løslates fra britiske fengsler
Furthermore Burnham promises to tackle the economic crisis Britain is facing, and has promised to make an important economic announcement tomorrow about his tax and spending policy.
«I can do something to give people some breathing space now, some help with the cost of living. And I will present some of these measures from tomorrow onwards, including how we shall finance them.
We shall help more young people into the education system… and we shall build more council houses. That is the fair and sustainable way to reduce welfare spending, to comply with our fiscal rules and to fulfil our commitments to our international partners in the defence area.»
Earlier today Burnham condemned the «terrible» attacks on Ed Miliband in recent days. The Energy Minister is, as is well known, on the list of possible Chancellors of the Exchequer in Burnham’s government.
Ed Miliband gir opp kampen mot oljeutvinning i Nordsjøen for å bli finansminister
Much of what he points to marks classic Labour policy leaning towards the left wing of the party. This is reinforced by his earlier statements that he wants to tax the wealthy more highly. This will be well received by classic Labour voters, but a good number of Labour representatives in the House of Commons want to go even further to the left than Burnham.
The new Prime Minister says that Britain took a wrong direction in the 1980s when «economic power» was privatised. Burnham does not, however, want nationalisation; he would rather introduce new regulations, since he believes this will be a cheaper solution overall.
He also mentioned the constant changes of Prime Ministers over the last ten years.
«I am very aware that I am the sixth person in the last ten years to walk up this street, the seventh Prime Minister since 2016, and this makes this a moment for reflection and new decisions. It requires that my generation of politicians must sharpen up and meet the new challenge.»
The task Burnham faces is not only to get the Labour Party back on its feet. More important will be to regain the trust of millions of disillusioned voters. How does he intend to do that? asks Steven Swinford, political editor at The Times.
His approach to renewing Britain consists of two main lines. The first is long-term reforms, with a ten-year plan for Britain. The public sector is to be given greater control over «the necessities of life», and he wants to start a comprehensive programme for building council houses.
As Burnham said in Downing Street:
«We shall take the power from here and devolve it out to every postcode in the country, so that they can do more – and by doing more build a new economy, where we once again place the necessities of life under stronger public control to make them affordable for you again.»
The problem is that the concept of public control is very vague, according to Swinford.
The second main line concerns taking control of the economy in the short term, as mentioned above.
French President Emmanuel Macron congratulates Burnham on X, and says that he hopes the good cooperation between Britain and France can be further strengthened.
J’adresse mes félicitations à @AndyBurnham pour sa nomination comme Premier ministre du Royaume-Uni.
Face aux défis qui nous rassemblent, je forme le vœu que nous approfondissions la relation au service de nos peuples et en donnant un nouvel élan au partenariat…
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) July 20, 2026
Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney, who is a former Governor of the Bank of England, also chose to congratulate Burnham in French.
«Canada and Britain share a common history and enduring connection, and our two peoples have strong bonds with each other.
I look forward to working with Prime Minister Burnham to strengthen security, stability and prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic.»
Félicitations à Andy Burnham pour avoir été nommé nouveau premier ministre du Royaume-Uni.
Le Canada et le Royaume-Uni partagent une histoire commune et des liens durables, et nos deux peuples ont des affinités profondes.
Je me réjouis à l’idée de collaborer avec le premier…
— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) July 20, 2026
Burnham concluded his speech by dreaming of new hope for the British.
«Let us make this the moment when Britain begins to believe again. Let us restore hope.»
He himself must start with cleaning up the government. It is these decisions that will ultimately define his time as Prime Minister.
From there everything will only get harder. Burnham will be under considerable time pressure, and must take heavy decisions on climate policy, immigration and the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. He must consider whether Israel and the United States shall remain Britain’s friends or not. Whatever he chooses, he will face massive criticism.
Regarding Ukraine, Burnham made it clear to Sky News earlier today that he has no plans to change Britain’s strategy.
«I shall later today make it completely clear to President Zelenskyj that nothing has changed; I will stand 100 per cent behind him, just as Keir Starmer has done.
I have worked with Ukrainian mayors in recent years, I have built up a support network for Ukrainian mayors, and I bring all this experience into my new role. President Zelenskyj will be in no doubt that Britain’s support is unwavering, it is resolute, it will be there for him, and I will also be there for him personally.»
Shortly before 16.30 Norwegian time, British media report that Burnham has spoken on the phone with US President Donald Trump.