This is Labour's 'last chance', says Andy Burnham in first speech leader

Andy Burnham during his acceptance speech | Yui Mok/PA Wire

Andy Burnham has said that this is Labour’s “last chance to change” in his first speech after being confirmed as the party’s new leader.

The Makerfield MP promised to give people “hope back” and return “the Labour they once knew” at the special conference in London on Friday afternoon.

He was confirmed as Labour leader as he was the only candidate to replace Sir Keir Starmer. He will take over as Prime Minister on Monday.

In his speech he vowed to give people optimism and to end factionalism with the Labour Party.

Mr Burnham said: “I will work to build a new politics. The country is crying out for it.

“We might enjoy the point scoring against others. The public don't.

“How can politicians point fingers when living standards are falling, and politics as a whole isn't working for them?

“It infuriates them and makes them switch off.

“In Makerfield, I decided to make a break with this. I said we hadn't been good enough. I told people what I would do to fix it.

“You know what? People started to listen again. They gave us a fair hearing, as the great British public always do, and then another chance.

“But let's be honest, everybody: this is a last chance to change, and we must take it together, united together.”

He said the Labour movement which backed him “heard the call from the people of Makerfield on behalf of forgotten places everywhere up and down this country for a return of the Labour they once knew.”

“And now we answer that call,” he said.

“We will be that version of Labour again.”

He continued: “We are united and we put the power that comes from that unity at the service of people and places who have been waiting too long for politics to let them hope again.

“That’s what we’re going to do, everybody. We’re going to give them hope back.”

The former Greater Manchester mayor returned to Westminster as Makerfield MP last month and gained overwhelming support from Labour MPs to take over from Sir Keir as party leader after he announced his resignation.

Mr Burnham, who stood in the by-election with the intention of ousting the Prime Minister, said he wanted to eradicate “infighting”, the “insidious briefing culture” and the “factionalism” that has “bedevilled” the party.

Insisting he had “supported all our Labour leaders in my lifetime”, the new leader said: “We won’t beat Britain’s new right if we are consumed by infighting and pulling in different directions. That is, and always has been, an indulgence that falls heaviest on the people who need Labour most.”

Mr Burnham said he would seek more cross-party consensus, saying that could make political discourse “that little bit less toxic”.

He pledged to “set a direction that is distinctively Labour”, adding: “We won’t try to outgreen the Greens or out-Reform Reform, or doing what we’ve done in the past of wearing too many Tory clothes.”

Mr Burnham also vowed to reverse the “path we’ve been on for the last 40 years” and said “this is the most significant change moment in our politics for 40 years.”

Mr Burnham said: “If we want an economy and a country that works for all people and places, which to me should always be at the very core of labourism.

“Then it requires a new path to the one we've been on for the last 40 years.

“The government I lead will confidently lay that path out starting next week, and that is why this change today is the most significant change moment in our politics for 40 years.

“It will take us to a country where life is more affordable, and all people and places are lifted from where they are now.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, in her role as chairwoman of Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee, confirmed the results of the leadership contest.

Mr Burnham was backed by 379 of the party’s 403 MPs and all 11 unions affiliated with the party.

He will enter No 10 Downing Street on Monday to become the UK’s seventh prime minister in a decade.

The new Labour leader said his cabinet - expected to be announced on Monday, would include all parts of the party.

Amid rife speculation about the make-up of his top team, Mr Burnham said: “I haven’t made any decisions yet about who will be in that top team, but I will soon, and when I have, you will see it reflects all parts of our party, all communities, and it will reflect your own place within this great party of ours – a stronger, more united Labour Party lifting up a stronger and more united Britain.”

First Minister John Swinney said: “I congratulate Andy Burnham and I intend to do everything I can to build a constructive relationship with him in order to improve the lives of people in Scotland.

“The UK faces serious challenges on a number of fronts. Flatlining living standards, weak economic growth and years of austerity have left households, public services and businesses struggling – made worse by the revolving door at 10 Downing Street and bad decisions taken by Westminster against Scotland's wishes.

"If Andy Burnham is serious about a genuinely new approach that can properly address these challenges, he will find in me and the SNP a willing partner. But that relationship must be based on a recognition that the political landscape across the UK is changing, and that Westminster does not have the right to dictate Scotland’s future.

“I look forward to speaking with the next Prime Minister in the coming days.”