Andy Burnham elected Labour Party leader, set to be next UK Prime Minister

2 min readUpdated: Jul 17, 2026 05:00 PM IST

UK’s Andy Burnham is now leader of the labour party. The Makerfield MP was confirmed to be the party leader at a special conference in central London, before he becomes PM on Monday, BBC reported.

In his first speech as leader of the Labour Party, Burnham tells the crowd he’s “ready to lead the party and to build on the foundations laid by Keir Starmer,” BBC reported. He said that under Starmer the party went from its worst defeat to their best victory and put Labour in a position to change people’s lives.

He cites a number of his predecessor’s achievements, including falling NHS waiting times and rebuilding Britain’s reputation on the world stage.

Burnham pays tribute to Starmer

“I am ready to lead and to build on the foundation laid by one person more than any other. Under Keir Starmer’s leadership, we went from our worst defeat to one of the best victories in our history,” Burham said in his speech.

Keir put Labour back in a position to change people’s lives and that is what we have been doing these last two years, he added.

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