Andy Burnham has vowed to give people “hope back” and “the Labour they once knew” as he officially became the party’s new leader.
He said he is “ready to lead” as he took the governing party’s reins at a special conference at the Trades Union Congress headquarters in central London on Friday, the final step before replacing Sir Keir Starmer as prime minister next week.
In his acceptance speech, Burnham said he would offer “hope”.
He said the Labour movement which 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.”
He continued: “We are united and we put the power that comes from that unity at the service of people and places who have been waiting too long for politics to let them hope again.
“That’s what we’re going to do, everybody. We’re going to give them hope back.”
The former Greater Manchester mayor returned to Westminster as Makerfield MP last month and gained overwhelming support from Labour MPs to take over from Sir Keir as party leader after he announced his resignation.
Home secretary Shabana Mahmood, in her role as chairwoman of Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee, confirmed the results of the leadership contest in which Burnham was backed by 379 of the party’s 403 MPs and all 11 unions affiliated with the party.
Burnham will enter No 10 Downing Street on Monday to become the UK’s seventh prime minister in a decade, with all eyes on his policy agenda and who he will appoint to his Cabinet.
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