World leaders congratulate Andy Burnham as he becomes Britain’s PM

Andy Burnham makes his first speech as British prime minister in Downing Street on Monday. Photograph: Tejas Sandhu/SOPA Images/Shutterstock View image in fullscreen Andy Burnham makes his first speech as British prime minister in Downing Street on Monday. Photograph: Tejas Sandhu/SOPA Images/Shutterstock World leaders congratulate Andy Burnham as he becomes Britain’s PM Beyond the diplomatic platitudes global media focuses on the ‘immense’ scale of the challenge he faces in the job UK politics live – latest updates World leaders have warmly congratulated Andy Burnham on his entry into 10 Downing Street as Britain’s seventh prime minister in a decade, but international media largely focused on the scale of the challenges awaiting him. Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, said he hoped for a deeper relationship “in the service of our peoples, and by giving new momentum to the partnership between the UK and the EU” rekindled by Burnham’s predecessor, Keir Starmer. The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, who spoke with Burnham on Monday evening including about continued support for Ukraine, said Germany and the UK were close partners and he looked forward to working together. The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen , said she looked forward to “strengthening the EU-UK partnership”. A “very good first discussion” had revealed a common commitment to “bringing the EU and UK closer and closer”, she later added. Andy Burnham vows to ‘bring back hope’ as he unveils his cabinet Read more Beyond the diplomatic platitudes, however, media coverage focused on Burnham’s regional persona – and the huge task awaiting him. France’s Public Sénat said the new prime minister came from “the working class of the north of England”. He had managed to “build an image as an ‘everyman’, appearing without a tie, very often in a T-shirt”, the political TV channel said on its website, standing out as “a politician on the ground, close to everyday concerns”. Italy’s Corriere della Sera said the UK was experiencing “profound unease, instability and social resentment” and “needs a push” forward, but Burnham’s nationalisation, state intervention and reindustrialisation plans suggested he saw the past as a model. The UK “appears incapable of imagining and planning for the future and prefers to take refuge in a backward-looking Eden”, it argued, even though the pre-Thatcher years were marked by “energy rationing, rubbish in the streets and IMF bailouts”. 8:31 Andy Burnham becomes Britain’s new prime minister - The Latest The Irish Times noted that Burnham may be “a breath of fresh air” but the challenges that brought down Starmer – “a budget unable to meet desperately needed demand in defence, housing, welfare, care for the aged, and training for the young” – remained. The new prime minister, the paper said, would be “hamstrung by a commitment to abide by strict fiscal rules. His instinct may be to tack to the left, but he is already trying to prove that … he w