Andy Burnham to Become UK Prime Minister on July 20

Andy Burnham is scheduled to take office as prime minister on July 20 after being declared Labour leader next week. The vast majority of Labour MPs nominated him to replace Sir Keir Starmer. Miatta Fahnbulleh, the Labour MP for Peckham and a former junior minister for communities, has been advising Burnham on policy.

She told the BBC she expects people at the bottom will have more money in their pockets under a Burnham government. Fahnbulleh said any policy decision will be up to Burnham but added that ways must be found to give people respite through money in their pockets. In an LBC interview last week, Burnham said the government needed to be serious about putting more money back into people's pockets.

He said there was some room for movement on tax and suggested he would look at reducing business rates for some high street businesses. Burnham has said he wants greater public control of the water and energy sectors, emulating the bus network he oversaw in Greater Manchester where private operators bid to run services on a franchise basis.

Fahnbulleh resigned as a junior minister for communities following Labour's results in May's local elections.

Speaking on the BBC's Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg, she said essentials such as housing, energy and transport were too expensive and there was a need to make them more affordable through public control. Conservative shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride said the outgoing prime minister damaged the economy and that the markets feel things could get even worse under Andy Burnham.

Stride said Burnham will be a prime minister who is clearly going to lean more into tax and will inherit Labour backbench MPs who are not capable of taking tough decisions on the welfare bill.