Andy Burnham live: PM-in-waiting to become Labour leader as Starmer says he can win next election

Andy Burnham live: PM-in-waiting to become Labour leader as Starmer says he can win next election Andy Burnham will become Labour Party leader today ahead of entering Downing Street on Monday after Keir Starmer announced he was stepping down Andy Burnham will today be crowned Labour Party leader ahead of becoming PM on Monday. The Makerfield MP - who only returned to Parliament last month - sailed through uncontested after no other challengers put themselves forward to replace Keir Starmer. Mr Burnham is expected to name his cabinet in the coming days, with Shabana Mahmood widely expected to replace Rachel Reeves as Chancellor. Mr Burnham is to be confirmed as Labour leader at a special conference at noon. He is expected to then make a speech at an event at around 2.30pm. In a graceful message to his successor, Mr Starmer said he believes Mr Burnham can win the next general election. He told The Mirror in his final newspaper interview as PM: "There is now I think a sound footing, a sound foundation, and the party can go on and win a second term, which is what I always thought we could do." Follow our liveblog below for the latest updates Key Events Andy Burnham will promise to be "unashamedly Labour" when he officially becomes the party's leader on Friday before taking over from Sir Keir Starmer as Prime Minister next week. The former Greater Manchester mayor will enter No 10 on Monday. He will say in a speech that his government will have the "courage to fix the big things that politics has neglected" and the "conviction to argue for our plans". The former Greater Manchester mayor, who returned to Westminster last month as Makerfield MP, will be confirmed as Labour leader in a special conference and then enter No 10 on Monday. Mr Burnham will set out plans to focus on economic renewal, more public control and reindustrialisation. And he will say that Britain took "a series of wrong turns in the 1980s" when "political power was centralised and economic power privatised". Keir Starmer says Labour can win the next general election under his successor after turning the party's fortunes around in his six-year stint as leader. The Prime Minister said he was "proud" of what he achieved in office and said he hands over a party in "good shape" as he prepares to bow out of Downing Street on Monday after just two years. He will be replaced as Labour leader by Andy Burnham on Friday, and will quit No10 on Monday after handing his resignation to the King. In his final newspaper interview as PM, he told The Mirror that he believed Labour would be able to win a second term in office under Mr Burnham, as his own time in office was cut short. He said: "I will go with good grace. I want my country to thrive, and therefore I'll do everything to make sure there's an orderly transition and give my full support to Andy Burnham and the whole of the government. I want the government to succeed, I want the country to succeed. And therefore my last acts as Prime Minister will be doing what I can to do that. "There is now I think a sound footing, a sound foundation, and the party can go on and win a second term, which is what I always thought we could do. We've built the platform to go on and win in 2029. We hand over the country and the party in good shape after six and a half years from a state where the party, as I say, it was a question of whether it would exist. "So I will now support the government and do everything I can to make sure that we go forward in good shape." Click here to read the full story