In pictures: Protesters stand outside Downing St calling on Burnham to stand up for Palestine(Reuters)(Reuters)

Bryony Gooch19 July 2026 00:00

Recap Watch: Removal van seen on Downing Street minutes after Burnham crowned new Labour leaderRemoval van seen on Downing Street minutes after Burnham crowned new Labour leader

Bryony Gooch18 July 2026 23:00

Reform lead over Labour falls to just one percentage point

Reform is leading Labour by only one percentage point in a new opinion poll for by Opinium forThe Observer.

Ahead of Andy Burnham’s start at Number 10 on Monday, polling of around 1,500 potential voters has Reform at 23 per cent, Labour at 22, and the Conservatives at 20.

The Greens are down two per cent to 14 and the Lib Dems are on 11 per cent.

Holly Bancroft18 July 2026 22:38

Burnham ‘expected to put Thames Water into special administration’

Andy Burnham is expected to put Thames Water into a special administration regime, that allows essential services to keep running until a buyer is found, in one of his first acts as prime minister, The Times is reporting.

The former mayor of Greater Manchester has pledged to take greater “public control” of the nation’s utilities.

If the new Labour government does try to nationalise Thames Water then the group of investors, who are bidding for Britain’s biggest water company, could challenge the decision in the courts, Sky reported.

The firm’s net debt is at £18.5bn and it has said it only has enough debt funding to keep the business going until the end of 2026.

Thames Water chief executive Chris Weston had his pay increased from £1.035m to £1.163m this year and £4.1m was paid out in bonuses to other directors, up from £2.8m the previous year.

Holly Bancroft18 July 2026 22:23

Burnham urged to stick to Labour manifesto on North Sea oil

Bryony Gooch18 July 2026 22:00

Andy Burnham to ditch Sir Keir Starmer’s controversial digital ID plans

Andy Burnham will signal a major break with the Keir Starmer government by ditching controversial £2bn plans to introduce digital ID, Political Editor David Maddox writes.

The policy had been strongly opposed by many Labour MPs who saw it as a waste of money, as well as an assault on individual liberty and an echo of what Tony Blair and Gordon Brown attempted to introduce previously.

Sir Keir, who claimed it was essential for preventing illegal working, had already had to U-turn on plans to make it compulsory because of internal opposition and now the scheme is set to be scrapped altogether.

The move comes as Mr Burnham is expected to ruthlessly overhaul many of the problems which left Sir Keir’s government under siege.

Sources have also said he plans to scrap the reforms to water down the right to a jury trial, and restore rebel MP Karl Turner to the parliamentary party after he was suspended for opposing the proposal.

Holly Bancroft18 July 2026 21:34

Rishi Sunak’s advice for incoming PM Andy Burnham

Rishi Sunak has stressed the importance of appointing the “most able” ministers to the jobs that most mattered to a prime minister’s priorities.

The former prime minister offered advice to Andy Burnham ahead of the start of his premiership on Monday.

While attention has focused on whether Ed Miliband or Shabana Mahmood will be chancellor, the former prime minister said it was the choice of foreign secretary that would be the most important.

He wrote in The Sunday Times: “Burnham wants to spend less time on international affairs than his predecessor did, but this will begin to be possible only if he has a foreign secretary who is sufficiently well known and respected on the global stage to stand in for him.”

But he suggested that this would only go so far, urging Mr Burnham to secure one-on-one meetings with other world leaders given “the extent to which personal relationships influence international diplomacy”.

Bryony Gooch18 July 2026 21:00

Inside Burnham’s roundabout route to No 10, according to his allies

Hearing from allies of incoming prime minister Andy Burnham, Dan Haygarth tracks the year that saw the mayor of Greater Manchester set his sights on Number 10.

Bryony Gooch18 July 2026 20:00

Watch: How much do the public really know about their new PM Andy Burnham?How much do the public really know about their new PM Andy Burnham?

Bryony Gooch18 July 2026 19:00

Burnham plots Foreign Office shake up

Andy Burnham could put energy secretary Ed Miliband into the Foreign Office in a major shake-up, which is expected to include a roadmap to return the UK to spending 0.7 per cent of GDP on international aid, Labour sources have told David Maddox.

There is now a growing belief that Mr Miliband will be made foreign secretary, with explicit permission to prioritise tackling climate goals through the department, The Independent’s Political Editor hears.

Read the full story here:

Holly Bancroft18 July 2026 18:28