Andy Burnham will become new prime minister of United Kingdom

Andy Burnham has become the new leader of the British Labour Party.

This was announced at a special conference of the ruling party in the United Kingdom by the head of its National Executive Committee, Shabana Mahmood. The broadcast is being aired live on the Sky television channel.

Given that Labour is in power, the 56-year-old politician will take the post of prime minister, which Keir Starmer previously decided to leave. The change of leaders on Downing Street is scheduled for July 20.

The period for nominating candidates for the post of leader of the Labour Party ended on July 15, but no one except former mayor of Greater Manchester Burnham put forward their candidacy. The politician was supported by 369 out of 403 Labour MPs and all trade unions affiliated with the party. Thus, he became the leader of the Labour Party on an uncontested basis, or, as British media call it, was "crowned" to this post.

In addition to Burnham, MP Catherine West was nominated for the post of Labour leader. She herself did not put forward her candidacy, but MP Neil Coyle unilaterally entered her name on the ballot. West was one of the loudest critics of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer among Labour in recent months.

"One candidate received 379 nominations. Having surpassed the established threshold of 20% of votes from the parliamentary faction of the Labour Party, he received the right to proceed to the next stage of the procedure. The other candidate received one nomination and does not meet the requirements for participation in the next stage. Among affiliated trade unions and socialist societies, the only candidate meeting the established requirements received a total of 23 nominations. These included nominations from all 11 trade unions," Mahmood reported.

"It is a great honor for me to announce that Andy Burnham has been duly elected leader of the Labour Party," she concluded her speech to applause from the hall.

Source: TASS