The next prime minister: How can Andy Burnham hit the ground running?

Introduction

The speed with which Andy Burnham has transitioned from mayor, to MP, to leader of the Labour Party – and prime minister in waiting – has been remarkable. This raises the stakes for Burnham: the job of prime minister is like no other, and he and his team clearly want to be as prepared as they can be before walking through the famous black door of No.10.

The first weeks and months of a new government are crucial. This is when they are at their most popular with the public and have the most political capital to make big changes. And Burnham has promised big changes – from greater devolution, to a new branch of No.10 in Manchester and a cultural reset of how Westminster works.

So what can the next prime minister do to ensure he hits the ground running? In this short insight, we share our advice on how an incoming prime minister can make their new government a success.

What skills does Burnham need for success?

Being prime minister is a job like no other. Burnham has much experience of government and leadership as a former cabinet minister, special adviser and regional mayor. This will be useful but there are clear differences – not least in scale – between running a city of 2.8 million people and a country with a £1tn economy. What skills will Burnham need to demonstrate as he assumes the top job?

1. Uniting his cabinet and his party

First and foremost, Burnham will need to unite his cabinet ministers around a shared vision, bearing in mind that each will arrive with their own fiercely held and often conflicting priorities. Consensus building is a task with which he has considerable experience from his time as Greater Manchester mayor; referring to working with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority's 10 constituent local authority leaders, he said he saw his role as being a “captain of 11”. As well as uniting his cabinet, Burnham will need to corral the restless Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), whose votes he will need to pass key legislation, while making good on his promise to consult rather than compel his MPs.

2. Ruthless prioritisation across policy areas 

Mayors take strategic decisions for their local areas, but largely in pursuit of a narrow aim – regional growth – and with a pre-defined budget. By contrast, as prime minister, Burnham will be juggling myriad policy aims and balancing budgets for all and each. Prioritisation will be important and, again unlike mayors, prime ministers have no higher power to blame for unpopular decisions or shortages of funding. 

3. Handling extreme scrutiny 

Burnham’s use of direct communication with the public – he recently held a Reddit ‘ask me anything’ online Q&A – suggests a proactivity around scrutiny, even if his team remained in control of which questions got through. As prime minister he will need to adapt to the fact that every decision he makes and action he takes – or neglects – will be subject to far greater scrutiny than anything he faced as mayor. As well as weekly PMQs, there will be three-times-yearly grillings by the Liaison Committee of select committee chairs – and, of course, the constant media attention that goes with being in the top job in UK politics.

How can Burnham make the centre of government work for him?

Almost all recent prime ministers, including Keir Starmer, made plain their frustrations with how the centre of government works – or doesn’t. Most could lay some of the blame for their failings, with some justification, at the door of the dysfunction found at the centre, including No.10. To avoid suffering the same fate, and to make most use of his insurgent status while he still can, Burnham should sort out the centre of government on day one.

4. Create a new Office for the Prime Minister and Cabinet (OPMC)

Plans for a ‘No.10 North’ have captured the headlines but a further, bolder move would be to address the twin problems of a weak No.10 and unfocused Cabinet Office head on by creating a new Office for the Prime Minister and Cabinet. A dedicated department that can serve the prime minister better than an overstretched No.10 and underperforming Cabinet Office and would help him set and hold the line on strategic direction.

5. Turn No.10 into a ceremonial building

A Georgian house, infested by mice, is no fit home for a modern centre of government – but the iconic No.10 Downing Street is the symbolic heart of any UK government. Burnham should repurpose No.10 for diplomatic meetings and ceremonial duties and create a modern, functional space nearby as the southern nerve centre of his operations.

6. Don’t split the Treasury

There has been much speculation that the next prime minister will move to break up the Treasury, deliberately diluting its oversized influence over the government. This would be the wrong choice. Machinery of government changes involve huge costs and considerable time, and Burnham should waste neither. The focus should instead be on bolstering the No.10 operation, giving it the strength and influence to match the Treasury.

How should Burnham work with the civil service?

In 2024, Labour made much of resetting relations with the civil service after years of friction with successive Conservative governments. And, for its first months in office, things did improve. But Keir Starmer, perhaps frustrated by a perceived lack of action from officials (by no means a feeling unique to new prime ministers) changed tack and by December 2024, in his Plan for Change speech, charged civil servants with “wallowing in the tepid bath of decline”. The state, he said, would need to be fundamentally rewired. As Burnham enters Downing Street, it is fair to say that rewiring has not been achieved, while the ‘tepid bath’ comments, followed by the abrupt sacking of Olly Robbins, have left wounds. How can the new PM work better with the civil service?

7. Embrace cabinet secretary Antonia Romeo’s review of the civil service 

Antonia Romeo has had an energetic start to her time as cabinet secretary, and has been giving the right messages to the civil service – that now is an existential moment for the institution to rebuild its relationship with ministers and improve its operating model. She has launched a wide-ranging review into how the civil service works, which Burnham should welcome. He needs to inject his own ideas into the work and ensure that it is geared towards creating a civil service that can deliver his devolution agenda and addresses longstanding capability problems. That should involve putting the civil service on a new and clearer statutory footing, a crucial underpinning move that the Institute has long called for.

8. Make better performance management of civil servants a priority

Improving performance management in the civil service is essential, and is a problem that will not be addressed until there is some jeopardy in the system for under-performers. Burnham should realise that it is time to reward high performers more generously, and make it easier to move out poor performers – for example by instituting semi-regular rounds of compulsory redundancy.

9. Address the problems with the ‘accounting officer’ model for permanent secretaries

Personal accountability of permanent secretaries to parliament for the effective spending of departments’ budgets has been an important mechanism for ensuring the proper spending of public money. But the way the model works has become an obstacle to devolution and to cross-departmental working – entrenching silos inside government. Burnham will need to find a new model that he can apply in the vitally important next spending review – one that flips the incentives inside the civil service towards cross-government working and the devolving, rather than hoarding, of budgets and power.

What can Burnham do to make his devolution plans a success?

Burnham has promised the “biggest change in our lifetimes” on devolution. He has backed this up with plans to move part of the Downing Street operation to Manchester, creating a new No.10 North from which, he says, power will flow around the country. But what will he need to do to make sure these ambitious plans become a reality?

10. Be clear-eyed about what No.10 North is really for

Burnham’s new Northern office must not be seen as a No.10 ‘for Manchester’ but one that works for the whole country. Nor should it duplicate the London functions of No.10 in Manchester: two sets of advisers claiming to speak for the prime minister, but failing to speak to each other, would spell disaster and deadlock for the rest of government.

11. Make No.10 North a strategic centre for devolution

Physically separating a part of No.10 – clearly focused on the prime minister’s priorities of devolution and economic growth – could create the space needed to do the long-term work that should be one of the core functions of the centre of government. By working on issues at the heart of the Burnham vision for the state, No.10 North would have the power and prestige to make those priorities bite on the system.

12. Consider national devolution too

In 2024 Starmer sought to reset relations between Westminster and the devolved governments in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Stormont after the fractious Brexit years. And while relations are better than they were the context has changed, with the May 2026 devolved elections returning nationalist governments in Scotland and, for the first time, Wales. Burnham is a vociferous champion of devolution in England but the nations cannot be an afterthought – and there pragmatic deals to be struck with devolved leaders to deliver ‘good growth in every postcode’.

How can Burnham pick the right people for the right jobs?

One of Keir Starmer’s failings was his revolving door of No.10 appointments. In his two years he had three chiefs of staff and four comms directors. This churn at the very centre made it harder to set a course and follow it. Burnham’s No.10 must be different – in London and in Manchester – and his other picks for key roles will be similarly important.  

13. Get his top team right from the start

Entering No.10 mid-term means Burnham won’t have the benefit of a tried and tested team forged in opposition. He must resist the tendency for Downing Street to be built around the people the incoming prime minister knows or wants to reward, rather than around the roles and personnel they will need. He should think primarily about the capabilities required – including on strategy, delivery and policy – and learn from previous administrations about the different ways such capabilities work and interact with each other.

14. Appoint a senior political figure to head No.10 North

To ensure the new office has the legitimacy and power it needs it will need a senior political figure to lead it. As prime minister Burnham will not have time to manage No.10 North’s political relationships with ministers in Whitehall, MPs and elected mayors and councillors, many of whom will come from opposition parties – nor can he rely on even very talented officials to manage relationships with politicians who pride themselves on their electoral mandate. Burnham will need a trusted deputy – either a chief secretary to the PM or a more senior deputy PM – to take on much of the political load, broker compromises, and exercise delegated power on his behalf.

15. Resist reshuffles

It is natural for an incoming prime minister to want to shape their own top team, but there is also value in consistency, particularly at the more junior level. Two years (and several reshuffles) into Labour’s first term many junior ministers will be already be working on longer-term projects, and moving them on will naturally interrupt progress on these. Where Burnham wants to change direction this may be desirable, but he will equally want to retain some of Starmer’s detailed policy agenda so should be wary of unnecessary disruption.

16. Recognise the importance of junior ministers, whips and PPSs

Starmer’s experience with parliament should have dispelled the notion that a large majority makes governing easy. To avoid getting embroiled in the same tensions with backbenchers as his predecessor Burnham must choose his whips and parliamentary private secretaries (PPSs, the bridge between departments and backbenchers) wisely. These individuals will be crucial to maintaining the relationship between the front and backbenches – something particularly important for Burnham, given his decade outside Westminster – as well as feeding back intelligence to No.10 in an era of increasingly independently minded MPs.

How can Burnham drive public service reform?

While Starmer’s government deserves credit for managing to stabilise some of the worst crises in public services, many other reforms were poorly coordinated and – in places – contradictory. That leaves some pitfalls and fewer choices for Andy Burnham, but there are still opportunities to push services in a better direction.

17. Keep the best of Starmer’s reforms

There has been welcome progress towards a more preventative children’s social care system, the rebalancing of local government funding, place-based budgeting pilots and a national police service. The Starmer government also took the right approach to sentencing reform, and the introduction of longer-term budgets to allow services to plan spending more effectively has gone down particularly well. These reforms should all be continued, under the Burnham government.

18. Focus on a small number of priorities and explain why

Burnham has limited room to increase funding for public services if he sticks to current spending plans. So, he should focus on a small number of priorities to ensure that funding is not spread too thinly to drive noticeable improvements. This means being honest about the trade-offs this will involve – not every service will be able to return to 2010 performance levels by the end of this parliament (it is currently unclear that any will). Unlike Starmer, Burnham must communicate clearly when that is the case and where and why he’s focusing attention.  

19. Articulate a coherent vision for public services

Starmer’s hands-off approach to many reforms meant a lack of oversight about how public services should hang together as a whole. This was seen perhaps most starkly in the abolition of NHS England, a hugely complex and costly reorganisation designed specifically at bringing decision making back into the central department – despite a clearly stated aim in the 2025 spending review to devolve decision making in public services as much as possible. Burnham has an opportunity to correct that mistake by articulating a more coherent vision for public services as a whole and ensuring that departments then follow it.

How should Burnham manage the economy?

Andy Burnham and whomever he chooses to be his chancellor will inherit the same difficult fiscal position that has constrained the Starmer government. His approach to these fiscal constraints will define his premiership. He cannot wish them away and pretend there is plenty of money to fund every priority without borrowing more or increasing taxes substantially – but there are ways he can set a better course on the economy than his predecessor.

20. Be honest about trade-offs in his spending plans

Labour’s original sin in the election campaign was to pretend that its plans for public services were deliverable on the spending plans set by Jeremy Hunt. Further, Starmer and Reeves pledged not to raise any of the main taxes: income tax, (employee) national insurance contributions or VAT. Even without the external shocks of President Trump’s trade wars or war in the Middle East this would have boxed them in; in the event it paralysed them. Burnham has, so far, made the same commitment. Whatever he decides to do on tax and spend, he must be honest about the trade-offs involved.

21. Act early to set out a bold, but credible, fiscal strategy

Starmer and Reeves also missed a big opportunity in 2024 to use their first months in office, when governments are at their most popular, to make the bold changes they wanted to help deliver their priorities. Burnham should not repeat this mistake. Breaking a manifesto commitment on tax would be politically unpalatable, but if he wants to make any drastic changes to Labour’s 2024 manifesto offer he will need to prepare the pitch carefully for an overhaul of tax strategy – and put forward his plans soon into his premiership.  

22. Be prepared for a difficult first budget

Coming just days after the start of the US/Israel–Iran war erupted, and so not factoring in its economic effects, Rachel Reeves’s 2025 spring statement felt out of date almost as she delivered it in parliament. Growth is now expected to be lower, and inflation and interest rates higher, than she anticipated then. This means the fiscal forecasts at the Burnham government’s first budget, whenever it is called, may well be disappointing. Add in Reeves having frontloaded many departmental budgets, and the fact that many public services are at best treading water, and Burnham may find he needs to raise additional revenue just to maintain, let alone boost, performance.

How can Burnham deliver his priorities for constitutional reform?

Burnham has a long history of commitment to constitutional reform – having argued for a wide range of changes that he says would redistribute power and accountability in the UK and increase the legitimacy of key institutions. But since he became nailed on as the UK’s next prime minister, he has not set out his priorities for constitutional change. Given what he says he wants to achieve, how should he go about delivering it alongside his other policy priorities?

23. Learn the lessons of electoral reform

Burnham has previously advocated for electoral reform, but the Labour Party is divided on the merits of proportional representation. The lesson of the 2011 alternative vote referendum is that the in-principle benefits of reform are easy to negate through a focus on the complexity and cost of the mechanism. Burnham should also learn the lessons of the various forms of (mostly ‘preferential’ rather than proportional) electoral systems  that have been tested around the country in devolved and local systems (with which he will be familiar having contested mayoral elections) and seek to generate a public conversation that builds the case for any specific system he concludes is right for the UK for inclusion in the next election manifesto.   

24. Create a public mandate for constitutional change

Burnham has made the case for reform of the House of Lords, but the Starmer government has been the latest to experience the resistance of the upper house even to small-scale change (and how this can delay a wider legislative programme). This is just one example several areas where Burnham could make use of the tools for public deliberation and engagement to create a public mandate for a specific proposition for change. Assisted dying is another example of a thorny policy area with which representative democracy has struggled, where handing the question to a citizens’ assembly could help create political momentum for or against a specific proposition.

25. Give the Commons control over its agenda and sitting

Burnham has told his parliamentary colleagues that he intends to change the way politics is practiced at Westminster. The most concrete way he could do this would be to give away two aspects of excessive executive control over the House of Commons by allowing the Commons to vote on its agenda each week and its sitting dates (both of which are currently controlled by the government – unlike in many other parliaments) and by creating a mechanism by which backbenchers could prompt a recall during parliamentary recesses, without waiting for the government to allow the Commons to sit.