UK's next prime minister: Burnham begins to set out policies for new government — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00He is Labour's new hope. After two
2. 0:03failed attempts to lead the UK governing
3. 0:06party, Andy Burnham will now replace
4. 0:08Keir Starmer as Prime Minister next
5. 0:10week.
6. 0:11>> We are united and we put the power that
7. 0:15comes from that unity at the service of
8. 0:18people and places who have been waiting
9. 0:20too long
10. 0:22for politics to let them hope again.
11. 0:25>> In his first speech as party leader,
12. 0:27Burnham promised more public ownership
13. 0:29of water companies, transport, and
14. 0:30housing, while at the same time saying
15. 0:33he will be pro-business. What he didn't
16. 0:35say is how he plans to do this.
17. 0:38With Parliament currently on a summer
18. 0:40break, Andy Burnham won't have to face
19. 0:42MPs in the chamber until most likely
20. 0:44September. For now, he's got
21. 0:46overwhelming support within his party,
22. 0:49but that's before most Labour MPs have
23. 0:51seen the detail of his plans and before
24. 0:54he's had to make any difficult or
25. 0:57unpopular decisions.
26. 0:59>> When I said I was going to do politics
27. 1:00differently, I meant it.
28. 1:03>> But Burnham's warm and relaxed style has
29. 1:05won over many.
30. 1:06>> We had a game most weekends.
31. 1:08>> His old football teammate says that
32. 1:10approach is genuine.
33. 1:12>> When I first met Andy Burnham in a in a
34. 1:14in a football changing room in the late
35. 1:161990s, I thought, "Wow, a normal person
36. 1:19involved in high-end politics." When you
37. 1:22see his love of football, his ease with
38. 1:24ordinary people he meets in the streets,
39. 1:26all that is completely real. That is how
40. 1:28he is. That's not an act.
41. 1:31>> I think we had a slightly longer
42. 1:32journey.
43. 1:33>> He may be a more natural communicator
44. 1:35than his predecessor, Keir Starmer, but
45. 1:37he will face the same challenges with
46. 1:40Britain's sluggish economy and high cost
47. 1:42of living.
48. 1:45Whether his charisma can help him keep
49. 1:47his MPs and the public on side will be
50. 1:49the real test. Milena Sekulic, Al
51. 1:52Jazeera, London.