Andy Burnham, Labor MP for Makerfield, celebrates after being sworn in at the Houses of Parliament in London, England on June 22, 2026.
Dan Kitwood | getty images
As Andy Burnham is set to become Britain’s seventh Prime Minister in a decade on Monday, investors and market watchers are already questioning his policy agenda.
King Charles will formally ask Burnham to form a government at Buckingham Palace this morning ahead of his official appointment as Prime Minister.
After that, he is expected to deliver his first speech as prime minister and set out his vision for the country.
US President Donald Trump has welcomed Burnham’s plan to rapidly explore for oil and gas in already licensed areas in the North Sea.
Writing on Truth Social over the weekend, Trump called North Sea oil “priceless”, and said it would take Britain from a “poverty-stricken disaster to one of the richest countries in the world!”
Starmer announced last month that he would step down from office, following a series of policy U-turns, scandals over staffing appointments and a dramatic defeat in Britain’s local elections that led to calls for his resignation from within his own ranks.
Burnham had no rival in the race to lead the ruling Labor Party.
He returned to Parliament just a few weeks ago, after winning a by-election in Makerfield, a constituency in the north of England. Only sitting Members of Parliament can run to lead the Labor Party.
Before returning to Westminster, Burnham – who was nicknamed Labour’s “King in the North” – served as mayor of Greater Manchester, one of Britain’s largest metropolitan areas. Before his nearly decade-long mayoral tenure, he was a Labor MP and held cabinet posts under Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
“I’m ready,” Burnham told supporters on Friday when she officially became Labor Party leader.
The prospect of Burnham, considered more left-leaning than Starmer, replacing the sitting prime minister caused jitters in bond markets earlier this year. Investors in Britain’s government bonds, known as gilts, appeared largely supportive of Starmer and his finance minister, Rachel Reeves, who remained in her roles because of her commitment to reining in public borrowing and spending.
In her speech on Friday, Burnham promised to fix “big things” such as social care policy, and criticized the changes that have taken place in Britain over the past few decades following “the centralization of political power and the privatization of economic power”.
In a note last week, Rachel Vahey, head of public policy at AJ Bell, said that while much remains unclear about Burnham’s policy path, “there are indications of what direction Burnham will take when she takes office.”
He said, “Recent rumors that the autumn budget could be expanded to include a departmental spending review suggest that what comes out of Burnham’s inaugural budget could prove extremely important.” “It’s entirely possible that this could mean a number of tax reforms and new policies impacting people’s finances.”
Wahi said that while Burnham Weighting has committed to upholding Labour’s manifesto promises, including not raising income tax, it does not rule out long-term plans that run counter to those promises.
He said, “In the immediate term, there has been speculation that Burnham might consider introducing ‘stronger public control’ over key services such as energy, transport and water, along with reforms to inheritance tax and council tax.”
Andrew Wishart, senior UK economist at Berenberg, told CNBC’s “Europe Early Edition” on Friday that the market now appears “fairly relaxed about the Burnham agenda.”
“But there is a slight concern that ultimately if what has been proposed so far is not good enough, they will take that higher government spending route, which I think will unsettle the market, and certainly will not be the best thing for the UK economic outlook,” he said.
While Wishart said his team is expecting Burnham to follow the financial rules imposed by outgoing Finance Minister Reeves, he acknowledged that many of the new Prime Minister’s policies remain unknown.
“I think the biggest uncertainty is around nationalisation, housing construction… how is it financed?” He said. “I think it is possible for the government to undertake big projects there, but if it requires issuing more gilts or it is done by an infrastructure bank, then the question for funding investors will be whether these projects are really loss-making, or will this spill over into higher general government borrowing?”