UK leader Burnham gathers his Cabinet after sweeping away Starmer supporters

LONDON — New UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham gathered his Cabinet for its first meeting on Tuesday (July 21) and vowed to take a "one-team approach" despite purging allies of predecessor Keir Starmer from the government.

Burnham told his top team that he would lead a "cost-of-living government" focused on easing the economic burden felt by millions of people.

"We need to think every day, what can we do just to take that little bit of pressure off people's shoulders, to give them that little extra sense that help is coming, so they can have that bit of hope that things are getting better," Burnham said.

He made a small down payment on that pledge by announcing a tax cut on domestic electricity bills that will save the average household about 45 pounds (S$77) a year. 

The cut will take effect Oct 1, Burnham said, with the funding coming from scrapping a plan for digital ID cards announced by Starmer.

The former mayor of Greater Manchester entered Downing Street on Monday after replacing Starmer as leader of the governing Labour Party, becoming Britain's seventh prime minister since 2016. 

Starmer resigned just two years after winning a landslide election victory, forced out by his party after missteps and U-turns.

In his first speech as prime minister, Burnham pledged to ease the cost of living, decentralize political power, revitalise industry and end street sleeping by homeless people — a tall order, especially given Britain's sluggish economic growth in recent years.

Burnham acknowledged at the Cabinet meeting that the government would have to make difficult financial decisions and "take a really hard look at what our priorities are".

Starmer loyalists removed from office

After taking office Monday, Burnham set about remaking the government.

Starmer's finance minister, Rachel Reeves, was ousted, replaced by John Healey, a former defence secretary who resigned in June and accused the Treasury of failing to spend enough on the military at a time of rising threats. 

In an interview after he quit, Healey called the Treasury "a dead hand on dynamic government" and "in denial".

Healey has said defence spending, due to be 2.6 per cent of GDP next year, should rise to three per cent by 2030. Now he will have to find the money.

Wes Streeting, whose resignation as health secretary in May helped topple Starmer, took over the defence portfolio.

Other key Cabinet appointees include Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, Housing Secretary Angela Rayner and Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, who has an expanded brief that includes innovation and science.

Louise Haigh, a key Burnham ally who helped engineer his rise to the top, was named First Secretary of State and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, effectively the deputy prime minister.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, who has overseen contentious rules designed to reduce immigration, kept her job.

Burnham has huge support from the party that is desperate for a new leader to reverse its decline in popularity under Starmer. 

But there is some grumbling after Burnham removed several of Starmer's senior ministers including ex-Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, former Business Secretary Peter Kyle and Starmer's chief secretary, Darren Jones.

Foreign policy challenges lie ahead

Burnham has little experience of foreign policy and faces a stack of challenges including wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and managing relations with US President Donald Trump, who first warmed to Starmer before souring on him.

Burnham's office said he had an "extremely warm" conversation with Trump in one of his first calls as prime minister and "underlined his commitment to defence and security".

Trump posted on social media that the men had "a very good conversation" and would be "meeting in the not too distant future for topics of mutual interest".

The prime minister also spoke to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and leaders of the EU and Nato.

Burnham told Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte that putting former defence chief Healey in charge of the nation's finances "was a signal of his intent."

In a reminder of the growing international tensions Britain faces, a Russian warship carried out a live-fire weapons exercise in the English Channel on Monday, the day Burnham took office.

The Ministry of Defence said the frigate Neustrashimy was being shadowed by the Royal Navy when it conducted the exercise in international waters about 74 kilometres south of the southwest England port city of Plymouth. 

It said the navy "continues to track the vessel's activity closely and stands ready to protect UK national security".

Streeting, the new defence secretary, said the Russian ship's actions were "performative and irresponsible".

"Russia should be in no doubt about the resolve of this government and this prime minister, our resolve to stand against Russian aggression in Ukraine but also Russian aggression against all of our allies," he said at a news conference.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russian warships always acted "in strict accordance" with international and maritime law.

Asked whether the Russian government felt relations with the UK would improve under the new prime minister, Peskov said it had "no such hopes".

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