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
Andy Burnham will be sworn in as Britain’s seventh prime minister in a decade on Monday, and investors and market watchers are already questioning his policy direction.
King Charles is expected to formally ask Burnham to form a government at Buckingham Palace this morning, ahead of his formal appointment as Prime Minister.
Afterwards, he is expected to deliver his first speech as prime minister and lay out his vision for the country.
US President Donald Trump has welcomed Burnham’s plans to speed up oil and gas exploration in already approved fields in the North Sea.
Writing in Truth Social over the weekend, President Trump said North Sea oil was “incalculably valuable”, adding that it would take Britain “from a poverty-stricken disaster to one of the richest countries in the world”.
Starmer announced last month that he was stepping down after a series of policy changes, scandals over personnel affairs and dramatic defeats in local elections in the UK led to calls for his resignation from within his own ranks.
Burnham had no opponent in the race for leadership of the ruling Labor Party.
He returned to parliament only a few weeks ago after winning a by-election in Makerfield, a constituency in the north of England. Only sitting MPs can stand for leadership of the Labor Party.
Before returning to Westminster, Burnham, known as Labour’s “King of the North”, was mayor of Greater Manchester, one of Britain’s largest metropolitan areas. Prior to his nearly 10-year tenure as mayor, he was a Labor MP and held cabinet positions under Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
“I’m ready,” Mr Burnham told supporters as he formally took over as Labor leader on Friday.
Earlier this year, bond markets were shaken by the prospect of Burnham, who is considered more left-wing than Starmer, to replace the incumbent prime minister. Investors in British government bonds, known as Gilt, appear to be largely supportive of Mr Starmer and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves remaining in office, citing their pledges to rein in public borrowing and spending.
In a speech on Friday, Mr Burnham promised to fix “big things” such as social security policy, criticizing the changes that have taken place in Britain over the past few decades as “political power has been centralised and economic power has been privatised”.
Rachel Behey, director of public policy at AJ Bell, said in a note last week that while much remains unclear about Burnham’s policy direction, “we are beginning to see clues as to the direction Burnham will take when he takes office.”
“Recent rumors that the autumn budget could be expanded to include departmental spending reviews suggest that whatever emerges from Burnham’s first budget could be very significant,” she said. “There is a good chance this will mean a lot of tax reform and new policies that will impact people’s finances.”
Mr Verhey added that Mr Burnham had promised to keep Labour’s manifesto pledges, such as not increasing income tax, but that he would not rule out long-term plans that contradicted those commitments.
“In the short term, there is speculation that Burnham may consider introducing ‘stronger public control’ over key services such as energy, transport and water, as well as reforming inheritance tax and council tax,” he said.
Andrew Wishart, senior UK economist at Berenberg, told CNBC’s “Europe Early Edition” on Friday that markets now appear “quite relaxed about Burnham’s agenda.”
“However, there is some concern that if what has been proposed so far is insufficient, we could end up on a path to increased government spending. That would spook markets and I think it would clearly not be the best for the UK’s economic outlook.”
Wishart said his team expects Burnham to abide by the fiscal rules imposed by outgoing Treasury Secretary Reeves, but acknowledged that many of the new chancellor’s policies are still unclear.
“I think the bigger uncertainty is around nationalization and housing construction… how is that funded?” he said. “I think it’s possible for the government to undertake bigger projects there, but if that requires issuing more gold leaf or is done by an infrastructure bank, the question for investors to finance will be whether these projects really break even or will spill over into higher general government borrowing.”
