Andy Burnham promises to unite Britain after becoming Labour leader
Andy Burnham sys he will speak up for all parts of the UK after being named Labour leader.
The new Makerfield MP has been announced as Sir Keir Starmer’s successor at the top of the party during a special conference in London.
In his first speech, he said he would offer ‘hope’.
He said the Labour movement that backed him ‘heard the call from the people of Makerfield on behalf of forgotten places everywhere up and down this country for a return of the Labour they once knew.’
‘And now we answer that call’, he said.
‘We will be that version of Labour again.’
Burnham will become Prime Minister on Monday.
During his speech, he said he hadn’t decided who was going to be in his cabinet, adding: ‘I will soon, and when I have you will see it reflects all parts of our party, all communities, it will reflect your own place within this great party of ours – a stronger, more united Labour Party lifting up a stronger and more united Britain.’
The former Manchester mayor won the overwhelming support of Labour backbenchers to replace Sir Keir as leader, just weeks after returning to Parliament in the Makerfield by-election.
Deputy Labour leader Lucy Powell kicked off proceedings at the central London event, before Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood delivered the results of the party’s leadership contest.
Burnham’s plans for office
He told the party Labour had a ‘last chance to change’ and pledged to build ‘a new politics’.
He said: ‘The country is crying out for it.
‘We might enjoy the point scoring against others. The public don’t.
‘How can politicians point fingers when living standards are falling and politics as a whole isn’t working for them? It infuriates them and makes them switch off.
‘In Makerfield, I decided to make a break with this. I said we hadn’t been good enough. I told people what I would do to fix it.
‘And you know what? People started to listen again. They gave us a fair hearing, as the great British public always do, and then another chance.
‘But let’s be honest, everybody: this is a last chance to change, and we must take it together, united together.’
He also insisted he would speak up for all parts of the UK, adding: ‘I will be a leader for the north, the south, the east and the west, plus Scotland, Wales and for Northern Ireland.
‘Yes, the north of England has given me so much, everything, in fact.
‘And in return, I have sought to give it the strongest voice I could.
‘That was my job, but now I do the same for everywhere, because I see the same challenges everywhere I look.’
Politics Editor
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