Andy Burnham speech latest: PM blames Brexit for ‘decade of low growth’ in first address to MPs

In his statement, Mr Burnham also laid out his other key priorities:

• He paid tribute to Sir Keir Starmer, who announced he was quitting as an MP after being ousted from Downing Street
• He recommitted the UK’s support for Ukraine and praised his Tory and Labour predecessors in providing the leadership to take on Vladimir Putin
• Insisted he would not back down from net zero policies in the wake of the climate crisis being responsible for the major flash flooding tragedy in Nepal
• But he ducked questions from Tory leader Kemi Badenoch on defence spending, taxes and cutting the welfare bill
• And he hinted electoral reform could be on the cards after Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey called for a national commission to change politics

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Andy Burnham has vowed to “stick to” the Good Friday Agreement, as he defended his previous comments on an Irish unification referendum.

SNP MP for Dundee Central Chris Law claimed Mr Burnham had “already attempted to unilaterally defy the legally binding Good Friday Agreement”, when the prime minister last month told reporters that a border poll was “off the table”.

Mr Law asked: “Does the prime minister recognise he has no mandate to defy the constitutional wishes of the people of Northern Ireland, the people of Scotland or the people of Wales, and that any written constitution or devolution agenda must include a pathway for each of those nations to choose their own future?”

Responding, Mr Burnham told the Commons: “I think (Mr Law) has misunderstood what I actually said.

“I answered a media question on a visit to Northern Ireland before meeting the various parties and the question was that a proposal was being put to the meeting about a border poll.

“And my answer was that the purpose of the visit was to get functional government in Stormont because, in my view, that would most serve the people of Northern Ireland right now – and I wasn’t there to distract onto other issues.

“I’m very aware of every word in the Good Friday Agreement. I will stick to it 100 per cent as prime minister.”

Andy Burnham has condemned Russia’s “egregious and reckless attack” on a German airport last month and backed the country’s retaliatory measures.

The prime minister said in a statement: “The United Kingdom stands in full solidarity with Germany following Russia’s egregious and reckless attack in Leipzig.

“Russian attempts to undermine our united resolve and our willingness to support Ukraine are futile and doomed to fail.

“As I made clear in Kyiv last week, our commitment to supporting Ukraine from Russia’s illegal invasion is ironclad.

“The strong measures taken by the German government show action against any attack of this nature will be met with a clear response.

“We will not waver in our resolve to deter attacks on our freedom and security.”

Andy Burnham has committed to bringing forward a Commonhold and Leasehold Bill in this parliamentary session, to reform the “unfair system”.

Mr Burnham told the Commons: “I’m looking at every facet of the cost-of-living crisis and where people face unfair charges that they can’t avoid, and this area of leasehold is absolutely in that territory.”

He added: “It is my intention, the intention of the Government, to bring forward that Commonhold and Leasehold Bill, so that finally we can reform this unfair system, and we will do that in this session.”

Andy Burnham has said he is “prepared to look at” electoral reform, including changes to the voting system, as he called for the current Parliament “to be a circuit breaker for this country”.

He was responding to Liberal Democrats leader Sir Ed Davey, who told the Commons that “the reason so much is broken in our country and never gets fixed is partly that our political system concentrates too much power in the wrong hands – in Westminster, in Whitehall, in big multinational companies”.

Sir Ed added that “more fundamental change is needed” and urged Mr Burnham to “launch national commission to change politics”.

Responding, Mr Burnham told MPs: “I am interested in political reform – I am interested in looking at how we restore trust in politics. I am prepared to look at all of those issues, alongside the voting system, too.”

The prime minister added: “I believe that this Parliament does need to be a circuit breaker for this country.

“I do not believe we can carry on as we are – we are losing the trust and faith of the public.”

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused Andy Burnham of “living in the past” and urged him to “start taking this job seriously”.

In their first exchange in the Commons, Mrs Badenoch said: “The prime minister said in his statement that everything has gone wrong since the 1980s, still complaining about Margaret Thatcher. He is living in the past, and he wants to take us back to the 1970s.”

She added: “His diagnosis is completely wrong. His theory of growth is completely wrong. He thinks that if government spends more money, we will all get richer. That is not how this works.”

The leader of the opposition warned : “This is a very different job to being mayor of Manchester, where he did not have to pick winners and losers, and he did not have to make difficult trade-offs. He did not have to worry about our national security. He does now.”

She also criticised Mr Burnham for changing his position on the early release scheme, saying: “He has had five different positions on early release in six weeks, putting the victims through hell with his indecision.”