- Andy Burnham was officially appointed as the British Prime Minister on Monday.
- He replaced Keir Starmer.
- EU chief Antonio Costa congratulated Burnham.
Britain’s King Charles III on Monday appointed Andy Burnham as Prime Minister after outgoing Keir Starmer officially tendered his resignation, the palace said.
“Andrew Burnham MP accepted The King’s offer and kissed hands upon his appointment as Prime Minister,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement, adding the king had asked him to form the next government.
Keir Starmer departed Downing Street on Monday, insisting his two years in office had made Britain a better place as he stepped down as prime minister to make way for Burnham.
“I am confident that Britain is now stronger and fairer than it was two years ago,” Starmer told reporters in his farewell speech outside his No 10 office in central London.
“I go with good grace, I go with a smile, and I go proud of everything that we have achieved,” he added, before heading to Buckingham Palace, where he offered his resignation to King Charles III.
READ | King Charles meets ‘King of the North’ Andy Burnham, 7th UK premier in 10 years
The 56-year-old is the sixth prime minister to enter Downing Street in the last 10 years.
EU chief Antonio Costa congratulated new British Prime Minister Burnham on taking up the job on Monday, and said he hoped to press on with efforts to improve ties between Brussels and London.
European Council president Costa posted online:
In the last two years EU-UK relations gained a new, positive momentum. I look forward to continuing to further deepen our cooperation for the benefit of our citizens and businesses. The United Kingdom and the European Union are stronger together.
Burnham will face an overflowing in-tray with challenges and little time to make his mark.
In an interview with The Times published late on Sunday, Burnham said he wanted to draw a line under a decade of political turmoil.
“What we’ve been doing hasn’t been working. That’s the way I see it,” he said.
“I am going to try and do things in a different way.”
Reuters reported that Burnham used his speech to illustrate the challenges ahead of him.
“I have just come from Buckingham Palace, where I have accepted His Majesty the King’s invitation to form a government,” he said, breaking with tradition and speaking with no lectern.
“I am acutely conscious that I am the sixth person in the last ten years to walk up this street. The seventh Prime Minister since 2016. Making this a moment for reflection and new resolution.”
“Britain needs to show the world that we can regain our stability once again, and that is our challenge: To make politics work, to make it work better,” Burnham said.
“We will make this moment a circuit breaker for Britain, bringing forward the biggest changes in the last 40 years. A new political model and a new economic model.”
Burnham then went on to set out some of his early plans.
He said he would use public procurement to reindustrialise Britain.
“Later this year, I will bring forward a new plan for Britain, a 10-year plan,” he added.
“I can do something to give people some breathing space now, some help with the cost of living. And I will set out some of those measures starting tomorrow, including how we pay for them,” he added.
