Burnham uses first PM speech to renew devolution pledge, tackle rough sleeping

King Charles III invited Burnham to form a new government on Monday (20 July), following the resignation of Sir Keir Starmer.

Speaking outside Number 10 Downing Street after meeting with the King, Burnham said his new administration would be a "circuit breaker" for Britain, bringing about "the biggest changes in the last forty years".

He said he would introduce a new political model and a new economic model, adding: "In the 1980s, Britain took some wrong turns. Political power was centralised, economic power privatised, large parts of the country de-industrialised, and they still haven’t recovered.

"Many feel as though they’re still in decline, and they don’t have the ability to turn things around. And that’s why we will change politics, to make it more collaborative, more about problem solving than point scoring.”

Burnham said he would oversee the “biggest rebalancing of power our country has seen” in a separate speech last month ahead of his appointment.

Reaffirming his commitment to devolution on Monday, he said: "We will take power out of here and carry it into every postcode in the land so that they can do more. And in doing more, build a new economy where we put life’s essentials back under stronger public control to make them affordable to you again."

The newly appointed PM committed to building more council homes, and said his first instruction would be to end rough sleeping.

He also said he would use public procurement to back British industry and "re-industrialise" the country.

His Government will publish a 10-year plan for the country later this year, he added.

Adam Carey