Andy Burnham speech in full: Prime minister sets out first policy plans in address to the nation

Andy Burnham became prime minister and vowed to bring “hope” back to Britain.

Here is his full speech in Downing Street:

“I have just arrived from Buckingham Palace, where I accepted His Majesty the King’s invitation to form a government.

“As I do this, I am acutely aware that I am the sixth person to walk this street in the last 10 years and the seventh prime minister since 2016, making this a moment of reflection and new solutions.

“My generation of politicians need to step up our game and take on new challenges.

Follow our live updates on Burnham becoming Prime Minister HERE

“Britain needs to show the world that we can regain our stability once again, and that is our challenge – to make politics work, to make it work better.

“I know people at home are fed up with politics. I hear you and I want to be honest with you; we haven’t been good enough and we need to be better. We will be. We will make this moment a circuit breaker for Britain and bring forward the biggest changes of the last 40 years, a new political model and a new economic model.”

“Britain went down some wrong paths in the 1980s: political power was centralised, economic power was privatised, large parts of the country were deindustrialised and have still not recovered.

“Many people still feel that they are in decline and do not have the ability to turn things around. That is why we will change politics to be more collaborative, focused on problem-solving rather than scoring points.

“And we will take electricity from here and move it to every postcode in the country, so they can do more, and by doing more, we build a new economy, where we are putting the basics of life under stronger public control to make them affordable again, re-industrialising Britain using public procurement to support British industry.

“Later this year I will set out a new plan for Britain, a 10-year plan, setting out a path from where we are now to where we all want Britain to be, wherever we come from, whatever party we support.

“But now I can do something to give people some breathing room, help a bit with living costs, and from tomorrow I will be announcing some of these measures, including how we will pay them.

“We will help more young people enter working life by changing the education system, giving them more support, more mental health support, and we will build more social housing.

“This is the fair and sustainable way to roll down welfare legislation, meet our fiscal rules, and meet our advocacy commitments to our international partners.

“By building a more proactive state, by investing in people’s success rather than paying the price of failure, we will help people live well, and that work starts now.

“Soon I will pass through that door and give my first instruction to end the insomnia in our country.

“This is about putting the right values ​​and the right standards at the heart of government. I will put people’s interests at the heart of everything I do.

“I’m going to give this my all, and I ask you all to join me. Let’s build a new sense of national unity, common purpose and positivity.”

“Let’s do this when we bring back hope, when Britain starts to believe again.

“Thank you very much everyone.”