Britain gets a new leader: Burnham takes over Labour and announces a major shift

Andy Burnham will officially become the leader of Britain&rsquo;s governing Labour Party on Friday, removing the final obstacle before he takes over as prime minister next week.Labour will announce the result of the internal party election to choose a successor to outgoing Prime Minister Keir Starmer, with Burnham having been the only candidate.By Thursday evening, he had received the backing of 379 out of 403 Labour MPs in the House of Commons.The former Mayor of Greater Manchester had been widely regarded for weeks as the next prime minister, but he has so far revealed few details about his political priorities.After winning a parliamentary seat in a by-election a month ago, he pledged a politics based on unity and hope, as well as an economy that would distribute growth more evenly across the country.His office said that in his first speech as Labour leader, he would present part of his plans and promise to have the courage to fix major problems that politics has neglected.Among his priorities will be economic renewal, greater public oversight of key sectors and the creation of new modern industrial jobs. He has argued that Britain made a series of wrong turns during the 1980s, when political power became centralized and economic power was privatized.He has also announced that one of his priorities will be addressing unequal access to social care for people who need support due to old age, illness or disability.At the same time, he will face many of the same challenges that confronted Starmer, including a slowing economy, rising living costs driven by wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, and overstretched public services.Starmer announced his resignation last month after two years in office, a period marked by decisions and assessments that weakened his position within the party and among the public.He will remain in office until Monday, when he will formally submit his resignation to King Charles III, after which Burnham will be invited to form a new government.Under Britain&rsquo;s parliamentary system, the governing party can change its leader and therefore the prime minister without holding a general election, which does not have to take place before 2029.

Britain gets a new leader: Burnham takes over Labour and announces a major shift

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