What will Andy Burnham do as prime minister?

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The former Mayor of Greater Manchester gave his first speech to the nation on Monday after meeting King Charles to accept the invitation to form a new government.

He has moved into No 10, with Sir Keir Starmer having moved out earlier on Monday.

Mr Burnham vowed to give people “hope back” and said he is “ready to lead” after addressing party members at a special conference on Friday.

Ahead of his conference speech, he tweeted: “The next few days are about more than changing who governs Britain. They’re about changing how Britain is governed.”

Sir Keir resigned last month and has handed over the keys to No 10.

Mr Burnham was expected to be part of a Labour Party leadership election this summer, but has found his path to power to be an easy one as he secured the backing of enough MPs to put a challenge out of reach.

Read also: Burnham to forge new path as Labour leader - with departing Starmer insisting: 'I go with pride'

What could Labour leader Andy Burnham do as prime minister?

Politics done differently

Mr Burnham has stressed that changes will be made to "how Britain is governed".

This message could be reflected with Mr Burnham looking to buy into a more working-class image than his more bourgeois predecessors in No 10.

He has also spoken of a need to defeat the far right and to end division within the UK.

In his party conference speech, Mr Burnham said: “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.”

He added: “Change starts with honesty. We must recognise that this generation of politicians, myself included, have failed to challenge a political culture and an economic model that simply doesn’t work well enough for ordinary people."

It is possible he could modify the UK's first-past-the-post voting system, with a more proportional representation brought in beyond the next election.

Northern objectives and devolution

Central to Mr Burnham's message has been the need to level up and provide more opportunities for the North of England.

“This country does not work for working-class communities like the city of my birth," said the Merseyside-born Mr Burnham. Economic power cruelly stripped with the deindustrialisation of the 1980s, as it was against so many places up and down the land.”

He went on to pledge further devolution and said local authorities could have "more power over life's essentials".

“We turn places round together," he said.

"We will take power back from Westminster and Whitehall, and give it to the place where you live – more power over life’s essentials, so you can make them work better and more affordable for people.”

On whether he would be too focused on the North, he added: “I will be a leader for the north, the south, the east and the west, plus Scotland, Wales and for Northern Ireland.

“Yes, the north of England has given me so much, everything, in fact."

Economic ambitions

Mr Burnham has said he will not raise main rates of income tax, VAT or National Insurance.

Shabana Mahmood has been touted as Mr Burnham's pick for chancellor, a financially conservative choice, which might get the backing of the markets, if not the Labour party.

Amid rife speculation about the make-up of his Cabinet, 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.”

Public services

Re-nationalisation could be on the agenda when it comes to the water and energy sectors, for which Mr Burnham has said both need "greater public control".

As Greater Manchester Mayor he has been credited for reforming the bus network, with the local government standardising the prices, routes and timetables, but private franchises bidding to control them.

There are chances he could look to do the same for national transport.

Housing

One of the bad decisions of the 1980s he spoke about was the mass sale of council houses, which he said has led to a situation of high rents and unaffordable house prices.

Mr Burnham said: “If the sell-off of council homes leaves the country chasing rents in the private rented sector through the benefits system and paying for temporary accommodation for thousands of families, as they have to do here in London and elsewhere across the country, how then will we find the money to invest in prevention and improve people’s lives? The truth is, we can’t.”

He will look to reform this system to allow more people onto the housing ladder, and one policy could be a change or even scrapping of stamp duty, with a land value tax replacing it.

He could also double down on building council houses and restrict the Right to Buy policy.

Defence and European Union membership

Mr Burnham has said he would like to see Britain resume its EU membership in his lifetime, but he is not set to hold another referendum. That said, he will likely try to strengthen ties with the continet's leaders.

He will inherit the defence spending plan that Sir Keir tried to thrash out in his weeks as PM.

The departing PM had promised a £15 billion increase to defence spending but the details will lie with Mr Burnham.

Immigration

While immigration numbers have fallen since Labour came into power, Mr Burnham has said that figures could fall further, and has outlined this as part of his rhetoric while on the road to becoming Makerfield MP.

Earlier this week, he backed Labour's controversial asylum bill, which will replace immigration judges with a system of independent adjudicators.

The bill will also see a narrowing of the EU's human rights laws that protect the right to private and family life in a bid to bring down asylum applications.