Andy Burnham has made his inaugural speech as prime minister, giving the nation more detail on his plans and vision for his time in office.
The former Greater Manchester mayor ran uncontested for the position after securing the backing of 349 Labour MPs, making it impossible for anyone to stand against him.
He became Labour leader on Friday, and met with King Charles today to form a government after Sir Keir Starmer formally resigned.
In his inaugural speech, Mr Burnham laid out a bold vision to undo economic policies brought in by the Thatcher administration in the 1980s and bring forward “the biggest changes in the last 40 years”.
His tenure in No 10 has been highly anticipated for many months, with his path to Downing Street having been virtually without obstacle since his by-election win last month.
During his campaign trail and since returning to parliament, the prime minister-in-waiting has delivered a number of speeches laying out his policy intentions.
Here are the policies Mr Burnham has announced or hinted at on the road to Number 10:
Cost of living
Mr Burnham has indicated that tackling the cost of living will be one of his top priorities, promising today that households will have more “breathing space” against the rising cost of living.
The former mayor said he will set out his measures to tackle the cost of living tomorrow, including “how we pay for them”.
In the days before becoming prime minister, Mr Burnham revealed he was scrapping the government’s Digital ID scheme, with a spokesperson saying that the funding “will go instead to where it's most needed, such as helping with the cost of living”.
One of the most widely-rumoured plans would see energy bills reduced through the removal of some policy levies from bills. This would cost taxpayers around £3.2bn a year but save every household around £130 a year, according to think tank Nesta.
Housing
Mr Burnham also used his inaugural speech to say that his “first instruction” will be to “end rough sleeping in our country.”
In an address in Manchester last month, the former mayor said that “the country is in a housing trap” and called for a huge “council house building programme” to be brought in.
He vowed that a Burnham government would oversee the “biggest council house building programme since the post-war period”, using vacant public land to reduce costs.
The new prime minister has indicated that he will focus on higher-density development in existing towns, to both reinvigorate high streets and protect green spaces from development.
Devolution and public ownership
Mr Burnham has long been a champion of devolution, having called for it to go further repeatedly during his time as mayor of Greater Manchester.
Speaking outside of Number 10, he criticised political power in Britain becoming “centralised”, and added that he plans to “take power out of here, and carry it into every postcode in the land”.
This will entail putting essentials “under stronger public control”, he said, which he has suggested in the past includes sectors like water, transport and housing.
One of his flagship proposals is the creation of an outpost of Downing Street based in Manchester, dubbed “No 10 in the North”, which he said would serve as the “nerve centre” through which to deliver priorities including reindustrialisation and regeneration.
Mr Burnham said that the unit would have three “clear tasks” of reforming essential utilities, reindustrialisation and regeneration of places.
Short of full-scale nationalisation, Mr Burnham said his government would “ensure that all parts of the UK are able to take greater public control of essential services”.
Taxes
Speaking on the weekend before his coronation, Mr Burnham indicated he would take action on the income tax personal allowance freeze at £12,570 that has been in effect for five years, and was extended by Rachel Reeves at Labour’s last Budget.
Mr Burnham said on Sunday that this issue was “the thing I heard most on the doorsteps” in Makerfield. Speaking to The Times, he added that the issue is “lodged in my mind”.
In an interview earlier this month, Mr Burnham also suggested there is “some room” in the Labour manifesto for “movement on tax”. He has also declined to rule out introducing a wealth tax and suggested the government “might be having to ask for a little more” at some point to balance Britain’s books.
He has previously signalled he may look at hiking business rates on the large warehouses – like the ones operated by retail giants such as Amazon – while lifting high street shops and pubs out of having to pay the business rates.
But he also said that he plans to stick to Labour’s 2024 election manifesto promises of not raising income tax, VAT or national insurance personal contributions.
Mr Burnham has declined to rule out a wealth tax, telling former footballer and presenter Gary Lineker earlier this month that his government may “ask for a little more”.
He has also previously suggested that council tax and stamp duty could be replaced, and has instead advocated for a land value tax. This could see property taxed on its market rental value.
EU
Mr Burnham previously said he would like the UK to rejoin the EU within his lifetime.
But since standing to become an MP, he said he will not try to return the UK to the EU, arguing that the country would be stuck in a “permanent rut if we’re just constantly arguing”.
However, he said that he wants to work more closely with Europe on defence, writing in The Times: “I want to consolidate the progress made on the existing UK-EU negotiations and make further progress quickly, including by strengthening our co-operation on illegal migration, economic security and the broader resilience of our societies to external threats – from terrorism to AI-driven disinformation.”
Social care
Mr Burnham has said that fixing adult social care is one of his priorities, telling reporters last week that he would “grasp the nettle” on reform.
He said: “I’ve got personal experience of the system at the moment. My dad has Alzheimer’s, and you see what the staff have to put up with.
“It’s not their fault, the system’s broken. You can’t leave social care like this.”
The former mayor added that he believed in a publicly-funded “national care service”, a policy which he announced as health secretary in 2009 but was dropped by the following Conservative government.
Defence
Mr Burnham has set out several priorities on defence, the first being to ensure stability by retaining the UK’s commitment to Nato and to the country’s nuclear deterrent.
He also pledged that his government would rebuild Britain’s hard power by upgrading current military equipment through the defence investment plan. This could have the bonus effect of creating economic growth and jobs in communities “that have seen opportunities drain away.”
However, he faces a £4.7bn black hole to fill as the outgoing prime minister’s £15bn plan only identifies £10.3bn of funding, while the remaining £4.7bn will be “confirmed at Budget 2026, in a fair and balanced way”.
Immigration
Mr Burnham’s allies have long hinted that the Makerfield MP would continue to support Shabana Mahmood’s controversial immigration reforms if he became prime minister.
The former mayor’s focus in the lead up to his coronation has largely been on issues like the cost of living and devolution, while his views on issues like immigration and foreign policy have been less regularly explained.
However, on Monday Mr Burnham supported the government’s asylum changes, voting in favour of legislation to reshape the appeals process and remove barriers to deportation.
It is also strongly rumoured that he will appoint Ms Mahmood as his chancellor on Monday, in what would be the surest sign yet that he backs the approach she has taken in the Home Office.
