Andy Burnham to face first PMQs today
The Prime Minister will answer questions from MPs at Prime Minister's Questions
Andy Burnham is due to face his first Prime Ministers Questions today after taking up the role of PM in July.
He returned to the dispatch box for the first time in nearly a decade yesterday to give a statement to the house, but today he'll answer questions from MPs across the Commons.
When Parliament is sitting, PMQs takes place on Wednesdays at 12pm, and typically lasts 30 to 45 minutes.
The last PMQs took place when Keir Starmer was still in office on July 16th.
Burnham is expected to be grilled by all opposition parties, with freshly re-elected Nigel Farage back in the chamber after being sworn in as an MP on Tuesday and Kemi Badenoch having re-shuffled her shadow cabinet.
What did Andy Burnham say in his first parliamentary speech as Prime Minister?
Here are some of the topics Andy Burnham covered yesterday in his first Commons address as Prime Minister:
- Said Britain must be "blunt" about what went wrong, criticising 1980s deindustrialisation and privatisation, and the impact of austerity and Brexit on regions outside London and the South East.
- Argued these policies "took control out of the hands of communities up and down Britain".
- Put taking back public control of services and utilities at the centre of his growth plans, calling the water industry "a leaking monument to that approach".
- Pledged a 10-year plan for Britain later this year, making the case for "stronger public control over these essentials".
- Said leading Greater Manchester had given him "a clear theory of growth" he would apply across the UK.
- Announced work with Cornwall Council on a devolution deal "with or without an elected mayor", extending the offer to other areas.
- Called for "a more intentional approach" to reindustrialisation, built on a "triple helix" of business, academia and Government.
- Confirmed he will attend the Cop 31 climate summit in Turkey in November, pledging to "meet the climate challenge".
- Paid tribute to his predecessor Sir Keir Starmer, praising his work on a Hillsborough Law and support for Ukraine.
- Said "problem-solving over point-scoring" would characterise his time as PM, as he set out changes to the prisons early release scheme.