Andy Burnham's first 90 days as UK prime minister: Can he deliver on his promises?

Aljazeera
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Oct 20, 2026
It's the city where Andy Burnham built up
his political profile. For nine years
he led Greater Manchester as mayor.
Now as Prime Minister he's made it his
northern base. So three months
into the job what do people here make of him?
I think there's a lot of like promises
and stuff with some like good ideas in
principle but I don't know in reality
if they'll obviously end up happening.
I think he's doing really well. He's woken the country up a bit.
He's gone for agreement rather than division.
One of the most important things is actually starting
to talk about Europe again and how we would be so much better off
if we had a stronger relationship with Europe.
Andy Burnham is the only major party leader
with a positive net approval rating in a recent poll,
eight points clear of his nearest rival.
His governing Labour Party tops the voting intention figures,
polling at 27% on average, though figures vary between pollsters.
Since Andy Burnham took over,
Labour went from trailing in the polls to taking the lead.
But with nearly three quarters of Britain saying
that the economy is in a bad state,
voters may not give him much time to deliver.
In Oldham, just a tram ride from Manchester,
the industrial heyday is long gone.
In May, the anti-immigration Reform Party won most
of the contested seats in local elections.
Here, Burnham still has people to win over.
He's talked a good talk. He's told everyone what they want
to hear and he's done nothing.
He seems a bit flaky, changed his mind a bit.
Do you think that Andy Burnham can
do something to help a place like Oldham?
A little bit. They can't bring back all the work. It's impossible.
Outside Burnham's Manchester office, a climate rally.
just one of the issues on his agenda Number 10 North
is a symbol of how Andy Burnham wants to
change the way Britain is governed now we've heard
a lot about his vision for the future from free
social care to rethinking Brexit a lot of those things
do depend on Labour winning the next general
election currently planned for just under three years time
but when it comes to decisions facing
Burnham now, from how to bring down debt to how
to increase defence spending. Well, we've
heard a lot less about how he plans to tackle that.
Burnham hasn't been in office long,
but after seven prime ministers in ten years, the British
public is increasingly restless.
