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Britain must ‘stand against injustice’ over West Bank settlements, PM Burnham says

admin — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 17:25:00 +0000

Britain’s Prime Minister Andy Burnham reacts during Prime Minister’s Questions at the House of Commons in London, Britain, September 9, 2026.
| Photo Credit: House of Commons via Reuters

Britain had to “stand for something”, Prime Minister Andy Burnham told parliament on Wednesday (September 9, 2026) in a defence of his government’s decision to block imports from ‌Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Mr. Burnham, who has been in the job since ⁠July, said Britain had long endorsed the two-state solution in the West Asia, but words needed to be backed by ‌action.

“Leadership is about taking action where there is injustice, where we need to correct ‌unfairness, people being driven out of their homes,” he ‌said.

“In ⁠this difficult and dangerous world, Britain ⁠has to stand for something.”

The import ban, announced on Tuesday (September 8, 2026) by Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband alongside measures targeting settlement-linked companies and individuals, marked one of Britain’s most significant ‌policy shifts toward Israel in years. It came as part of a coordinated push with France and Canada to pressure Israel over settlement expansion that ‌the countries say threatens the two-state solution.

Israel reacted angrily to the sanctions. It ordered the closure of Britain’s consulate in East Jerusalem ⁠and barred 12 Britons from entering Israel in retaliation.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said he had thanked Kemi Badenoch, ‌the leader of the British opposition Conservative Party, for her criticism of the move.

Ms. Badenoch wrote in the Sun newspaper that the Labour government was “putting its own party-political interests ahead of our national interest”.

But she steered clear of the issue when she had the opportunity ‌to question Mr. Burnham on Wednesday (September 9, 2026) and instead chose to focus on defence spending.

Mr. Burnham, however, was keen to highlight action on an issue that had long been ⁠demanded by many of his lawmakers.

“We will always ⁠stand with the underdog and take what action we can to support them,” he said.

“That ‌is leadership on the world stage, Britain being true to what it has always been about,” he said to cheers from his lawmakers.

Published – September 09, 2026 10:55 pm IST

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U.K. to ban trade with illegal West Bank settlements to support ‘two State solution’

admin — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 12:53:00 +0000

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham attends a meeting with Jewish community leaders at Downing Street in London, Britain, on September 3, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

For one of its first foreign policy moves, the administration of U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham is banning goods from illegal settlements in the West Bank. The U.K. government has said the move is to keep alive the possibility of a ‘two State solution’. However, only a small proportion of the $8.12 billion in bilateral trade originates in the West Bank.

Israel had issued tenders for 1,200 settlements in the so-called E1 area, east of Jerusalem. Such a settlement would split the west bank into two parts, making a contiguous Palestinian state virtually impossible. East Jerusalam and the West Bank are considered occupied territory under international law. The idea of ‘E1’ was mooted in 1990 but has been held in abeyance due to pressure from other countries.

U.K. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband is set to announce the ban in the House of Commons on Tuesday (September 8, 2026). Prior to being appointed Prime Minister, Mr. Burnham had apologised for his predecessor Keir Starmer’s and Labour’s early position on the Israel-Gaza conflict, saying the party needed to do better.

Israeli President said the U.K. decision would fall “on the wrong side of history” as he accused the U.K. of interference in Knesset elections which are at the end of October.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, called the move an “irrational action” in a BBC Radio 4 interview.

Mr. Huckabee suggested that British business could suffer in some U.S. States , such as Florida, which, he said, had laws that could result in a ban on business with Britain, if the sanctions went through.

Earlier this week, Mr. Huckabee accused the British government of “Jew hate” on social media. Asked whether he was aware that Mr. Miliband himself was Jewish, Mr. Huckabee drew a parallel saying there were “some Americans who don’t like America very much”.

Published – September 08, 2026 06:23 pm IST

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Gautam Rangarajan, former Indian diplomat’s son and BBC exec appointed U.K. PM’s Adviser

admin — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 17:19:00 +0000

Gautam Rangarajan appointed as an Expert Adviser on Structure and Process. Photo Credit: Gautam Rangarajan LinkedIn

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has appointed Gautam Rangarajan, the son of a former senior Indian diplomat, as an Expert Adviser on Structure and Process, as per a Downing Street announcement made earlier this week.

“Gautam brings significant experience in corporate strategy and transformation,” the statement said. Mr. Burnham, who was earlier the Mayor of Greater Manchester, has plans for a major restructuring of the the U.K. Government. He has vowed to take political power out of London and its bureaucratic heart — Whitehall — and distribute it across the regions. The new Prime Minister has also launched a hub-office, called ‘ No.10 North’ in Manchester.

Mr. Rangarajan’s new role could potentially involve helping restructure the U.K. Government along the lines of Mr. Burnham’s promises. He has over three decades of experience at the BBC, including as Group Director, Strategy and Performance. He was responsible for the BBC’s strategy for more than a decade, including overseeing its digital transformation. Mr. Rangarjan is also a singer and was earlier a music producer at the BBC.

Mr. Rangarajan’s late father, L. N. Rangarajan, who had roots in Kumbakonam, was a senior Indian diplomat and served as India’s Ambassador to Norway, Greece, Sudan, Tunisia, and Iceland. He also authored books, including a translation of Kautilya’s Arthashastra. His mother, Joyce Millward, was a musician from Lancashire. His brother, Vijay Rangarajan, is currently the Chief Executive of the U.K.’s Electoral Commission, having held other positions, including Director at the U.K. Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

Published – August 13, 2026 10:49 pm IST

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U.K. PM Burnham signals support for written constitution

admin — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 15:55:00 +0000

Britain’s Prime Minister Andy Burnham looks on, as he meets with members of the Home Office and of the Coastguard, during a visit to HM Coastguard Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre, in Dover, Britain, August 2, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Britain’s new Prime Minister Andy Burnham has signalled his support for a written constitution for the U.K., which unlike most countries, does not have one authoritative document.

Since entering office just two weeks ago, the former Mayor of Greater Manchester has made devolution of power to regional authorities a focus of his administration.

“In the end, I think it does start to point towards a new constitutional settlement,” Mr. Burnham said of his devolution plans on the weekend.

Calling for a “new clear set of principles about how this country should be run”, Mr. Burnham said there was a need for a written Constitution — something he has called for before he was Prime Minister.

“It’s wrong that people are left arguing for things that are just fundamental… and the lack of a constitution disempowers places in that situation,” said Mr. Burnham.

Unlike most countries around the world, Britain does not have a written Constitution, and is instead governed by a patchwork of statutes, common law judgments, and treaties.

The push for a written Constitution is fairly recent, with Labour’s Gordon Brown, who was Prime Minister from 2007 to 2010, an early proponent of the overhaul.

Mr. Burnham served as a Minister in Mr. Brown’s government.

A parliamentary committee considered options for codifying the Constitution in a five-year review, which concluded in 2015 that there was no clear consensus.

Any serious attempt to codify the Constitution by Mr. Burnham would be a years-long process likely requiring a major public inquiry and consultations.

Mr. Burnham on Friday (July 31, 2026) announced plans to allow regional Mayors in England to keep a share of taxes collected in their area, part of his drive to transfer power out of the highly centralised nation’s capital.

The UK — comprising England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland — saw significant constitutional reforms in the late 1990s that created devolved Parliaments in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast.

But England itself remains one of Europe’s most centralised nations, despite the creation of some regional Mayors and other bodies in the last decade, experts say.

Published – August 02, 2026 09:24 pm IST

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Ten years and 7 PMs later, did Brexit make a difference?

admin — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 20:35:00 +0000

When Andy Burnham took charge as the U.K.’s Prime Minister on July 20, he became the seventh occupant of 10 Downing Street since the country decided to exit the European Union (EU) by a narrow margin in the Brexit referendum held in June 2016.

The fact that the U.K. has never seen these many Prime Ministers in any 10-year period in at least the last five decades speaks to the political volatility the country is witnessing. Although one cannot attribute the unprecedented revolving door of Prime Ministers to Brexit alone, the instability provides the backdrop to test whether the U.K.’s exit from the EU — which legally came into force in January 2020 — made any difference in meeting the objectives it purportedly wanted to achieve.

The two key arguments made in favour of the exit were to control migration and enable the U.K. to chart its own path in trade by freeing the country from the “unfair” regulations imposed by the EU.

Taking back control of borders

The ‘Vote Leave’ campaign used the famous slogan “take back control”, meaning in part to increase control over the U.K.’s borders and break free from the EU’s free movement programme, which allows citizens of member countries to live and travel across other member countries without a visa.

Seven months after the referendum, the then Prime Minister Theresa May said, “Brexit must mean control of the number of people who come to Britain from Europe.” The Conservative Party manifesto for the 2019 election, which Boris Johnson won to become the Prime Minister, promised that there would be fewer lower-skilled immigrants and that overall immigration would come down. Instead, the data show that net migration (immigration minus emigration) moved in the opposite direction, although immigration from EU countries fell.

After free movement between the U.K. and the EU ended in January 2021, net migration reached 8,91,000 in 2022 and 8,48,000 in 2023, more than three times the 2016 level. In fact, the total net migration of 2.7 million in the five-year period from 2021 to 2025 was more than double the 1.27 million recorded in the five years before the Brexit vote (2012-2016).

Brexit campaigners had promised to cut overall numbers by replacing EU free movement with a common system covering migrants from everywhere. While a unified system was put in place, the trends for EU and non-EU migrants diverged sharply.

In the 2012-2016 period, net migration from EU countries to the U.K. marginally exceeded the country’s overall net migration figure. For instance, in 2016, net migration from EU and non-EU countries stood at 2,53,000 and 90,000 respectively, while 94,000 U.K. nationals left the country. This left the U.K.’s net migration in 2016 at 2,49,000. The trend has since reversed: from mid-2022, net migration from the EU to the U.K. has been negative. Thus, Brexit did not reduce migration but altered the composition of migrants.

Mixed outcomes in trade

Trade tells another complicated story. Brexit campaigners touted leaving the EU as a chance to reduce dependence on the bloc’s regulations and expand commerce with the rest of the world while continuing to have full access to the European market.
The COVID-19 pandemic coincided with the U.K.’s formal exit from the EU and the U.K.-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement. The agreement was a last-ditch free trade deal to continue zero tariffs and avoid reverting to the World Trade Organization’s rules, which Ms. May claimed would allow “for the freest possible trade in goods and services between Britain and the EU’s member states.”

Though the U.K.’s exports to countries in the EU, in current prices, have grown year-on-year since 2021, its trade deficit has also widened due to higher imports from these countries.

Across each year from 2012 to 2025, the U.K. ran a trade deficit with EU countries and a surplus with non-EU countries. Though the pattern held, the U.K.’s trade deficit with the EU as a percentage of its exports to the bloc increased from 13.5% in 2021 to 23.5% in 2025. At the same time, the country has not been able to significantly improve its trade surplus with other countries, indicating that Brexit perhaps did not help the U.K. in any considerable measure on the trade front.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the resulting spike in energy prices benefited the U.K., which re-exported gas to EU countries. The Office for National Statistics reported that European demand, combined with Britain’s regasification infrastructure, which converted imported LNG back into pipeline gas, nearly tripled gas exports to record levels in April 2022 — possibly explaining the peak of £202.9 billion worth of goods exported to EU countries in 2022. However, U.K.’s goods exports haven’t recovered to their 2019 pre-pandemic peak. Inflation-adjusted goods exports remained weaker in 2025 than before the pandemic and before the U.K.-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement took effect in 2021.

On services, the U.K.’s exports to EU and non-EU countries follow largely parallel trends. Though services exports fell sharply during the pandemic, they have recovered since, suggesting that Brexit did not derail them — although sectors dependent on moving staff, particularly in EU countries, faced higher regulatory costs.

Source: Office for National Statistics, Government of the U.K.

Published – July 30, 2026 08:00 am IST

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Zelenskyy visits Britain as new PM signals more support for Kyiv

admin — Mon, 27 Jul 2026 23:28:00 +0000

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived Monday (July 27, 2026) in England for a meeting with Prime Minister Andy Burnham, a visit the British leader said is intended to signal the country’s “unwavering” support for Kyiv.

Mr. Zelenskyy’s visit is the first by a foreign leader since Mr. Burnham took office a week ago. His predecessor, Keir Starmer, was in Kyiv less than two weeks ago in his last overseas trip before leaving office.

Mr. Burnham will be the fifth British Prime Minister to deal with Mr. Zelenskyy since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

“Russia should be in no doubt of our resolve, and we will not back down until we achieve long-lasting and just peace for Ukraine,” said Mr. Burnham, who has spent the past nine years as mayor of Greater Manchester and has little foreign policy experience.

The trip to a naval base in Portsmouth on England’s south coast comes a day before Mr. Zelenskyy is expected to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington.

Mr. Zelenskyy posted on X that he had arrived in Britain for the meeting with Mr. Burnham “as well as with our warriors” in the UK. He and Mr. Burnham will meet more than 200 Ukrainian military personnel who have spent three weeks in Britain for an exercise aimed at strengthening their fighting capabilities and measures to counter mines in the Black Sea, the U.K. government said.

The U.K. will give Ukraine the intellectual property behind its new “Stone Cloak” electronic warfare system, which is capable of jamming Russian air defenses to stop drones from being detected, Mr. Burnham’s office said.

Ukraine has expanded its campaign of frequent drone attacks deep inside Russia that have targeted oil facilities, military factories and, most recently, logistical centers, bringing the war home to millions of Russians and raising pressure on President Vladimir Putin.

The raids have shattered Mr. Putin’s narrative of the conflict as something that doesn’t affect the lives of ordinary people in his country. But he has remained undeterred, and Russia has ramped up its aerial campaign, regularly bombarding Ukraine with missiles and drones.

Russia and Ukraine exchange more drone attacks

Russia again attacked Ukraine overnight with 147 long-range drones, according to the Ukrainian air force, which said it intercepted or jammed 123 of them.

In Zaporizhzhia, one person was killed and two injured in attacks on the city that damaged a high-rise residential building and several private residences overnight, according to regional administration head Ivan Fedorov.

A Russian strike on the town of Balakliia in the Kharkiv region killed one person and wounded eight, according to Vitalii Karabanov, head of the city military administration.

In the Nikopol district of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Russian strikes damaged a kindergarten, residential buildings and infrastructure, injuring a woman and a 6-year-old boy, according to administration head Oleksandr Hanzha.

In the eastern Kharkiv region, a regional council member said Russian forces destroyed every gas station along the highway between Kharkiv and Poltava, a distance of about 150 kilometres (93 miles). Oleksandr Skoryk said the situation is becoming more critical daily, but the region is not facing a fuel or food crisis.

The highway is a key supply route linking Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city and a regional hub close to the Russian border, with central Ukraine. Russia has intensified strikes on gas stations, power facilities and other infrastructure this year as part of a broader campaign to strain Ukraine’s logistics and energy networks.

Romania’s Ministry of National Defense said a drone briefly entered its airspace before crossing the river border into Ukraine, where explosions were subsequently reported. It said two F-16 fighter jets were deployed to monitor airspace.

The drone’s incursion into Romanian airspace marked the fourth such incident in as many days. The three previous drones were all shot down by the NATO member.

In Moscow, Russia’s Defense Ministry said air defenses downed 276 Ukrainian drones overnight.

Rostov regional Gov. Yuri Slyusar said five people, including a child, were killed when a Ukrainian drone hit an apartment building in Rostov-on-Don. Ukraine’s military General Staff said Ukrainian forces struck an export terminal in Rostov-on-Don, setting it ablaze.

The Ukrainian military said other strikes in the Moscow-held part of the Kherson region targeted a ground relay station used to control drones and a bridge over the Henichesk Strait that Russia uses for military logistics. Russian fuel and supply depots were also hit.

In the city of Belgorod in southwestern Russia near the border with Ukraine, a Ukrainian drone attack injured 12, including two children, according to regional emergency officials.

Iran vows retaliation after Ukrainian attack on ship

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Ukraine struck an Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea, killing a sailor.

In a statement on X on Sunday (July 26, 2026), Mr. Araghchi denounced the attack as a “blatant UN Charter violation done at Israel’s behest to drag Europe into its war.” He said he made it clear in calls with the European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that the attack “can’t go unanswered.” Mr. Zelenskyy said Ukrainian long-range strikes in the Caspian Sea over the weekend achieved “very good results,” adding that the targets included “vessels involved in transporting military cargo linked to Iran, as well as a warship.” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha rejected Iran’s threats of retaliation as unjustified and groundless, saying Tehran’s weapons supplies to Russia have made it a direct accomplice to Moscow’s aggression. “Iran has no standing to pretend to be a victim,” he posted on X, and called its references to the UN Charter “absurd.” Mr. Sybiha said Iran’s statements were an attempt to divert attention from Russia’s attacks on civilian shipping in the Black Sea, which would be a focus of an emergency UN Security Council meeting Monday (July 27, 2026).

Published – July 28, 2026 05:10 am IST

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Andy Burnham takes charge as U.K.’s new Prime Minister

admin — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 12:15:00 +0000

Britain’s newly appointed Prime Minister Andy Burnham delivers a speech outside 10 Downing Street after taking office, in London, on Britain, July 20, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Andy Burnham, newly elected leader of the Labour Party, on Monday (July 20, 2026) took charge as the U.K.’s new Prime Minister.

King Charles III invited the 56-year-old former Mayor of Greater Manchester to form a new government following the resignation of Keir Starmer moments earlier to mark the formal handover of power.

“The Rt. Hon. Sir Keir Starmer MP had an audience of the King this morning and tendered his resignation as Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury, which His Majesty was graciously pleased to accept,” a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said.

Mr. Burnham, elected Labour leader unopposed last week, is expected to get to work as PM immediately by announcing his picks for Cabinet. The country’s fifth Prime Minister in four years has pledged to bring in “stable and responsible” politics.

Earlier, Mr. Starmer delivered his final address from 10 Downing Street as Britain’s Prime Minister before making his way to meet the King to formally tender his resignation.

“My work is done,” he said.

The 63-year-old Labour MP, who announced his decision to step down last month, said he was “passing the baton” to Mr. Burnham, who had his “full support”.

“I go with good grace, I go with a smile and I go proud of everything that we have achieved,” said Mr. Starmer.

His Cabinet colleagues and officials lined up to applaud his departure from Downing Street after two years, having won a landslide election for Labour in the July 2024 general election.

Published – July 20, 2026 05:29 pm IST

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Andy Burnham: UK gets its seventh prime minister in 10 years | Infographics

admin — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 12:10:00 +0000

Andy Burnham speaks after being confirmed as the Labour Party’s new leader and the country’s next prime minister, during ‘Labour’s Special Conference’ in central London, Friday July 17, 2026.
| Photo Credit: AP

Veteran Labour politician and former Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham is set to become the United Kingdom’s next Prime Minister on Monday (July 20, 2026), formally succeeding Keir Starmer, who announced his resignation last month.

Burnham was the only candidate to secure enough nominations from Labour lawmakers to contest the party leadership, effectively guaranteeing his election. As Labour commands a majority in Parliament, its leader automatically becomes the U.K. prime minister.

Burnham won the backing of 349 of Labour’s 401 MPs and was elected party leader at a special Labour conference on Friday (July 17, 2026). He will formally assume office on Monday after meeting King Charles III at Buckingham Palace, where he will be invited to form a government. Until then, Starmer remains caretaker prime minister.

Starmer announced his resignation as Labour leader on June 22 after less than two years in office, bringing to an end a tenure marked by a series of political setbacks. The most damaging was his appointment of a man with close ties to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as Britain’s ambassador to the United States.

Burnham’s appointment makes him Britain’s seventh prime minister in a decade.

The rapid turnover of leaders began after the 2016 Brexit referendum. Since then, the U.K. has grappled with sluggish economic growth, high public debt, rising welfare costs and increasing geopolitical uncertainty while seeking to redefine its place outside the European Union.

Here is a look at Britain’s latest leadership transition and the key events that led to it:

A brief timeline on Andy Burnham

The 56-year-old projects the image of an approachable northern everyman, preferring T-shirts to suits and spending his free time playing football or DJing with 1990s music.

But Burnham is also a veteran politician. His career has taken him from senior Cabinet positions to serving as Mayor of Greater Manchester, and now to the brink of becoming Britain’s prime minister.

Here is a brief timeline on his career:

Published – July 20, 2026 05:40 pm IST

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Andy Burnham confirmed as new Labour leader, U.K. PM-designate

admin — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 11:36:00 +0000

Andy Burnham arrives for a labour party leadership special conference in London, on July 17, 2026.
| Photo Credit: AP

Andy Burnham was on Friday (July 17, 2026) confirmed as the newly elected leader of the U.K.’s governing Labour Party, becoming the Prime Minister-designate to take charge at 10 Downing Street next week.

Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC) chair Shabana Mahmood made the announcement at a special party conference in London.

“There was only one nominated MP… hardly a nail biter,” she said.

On Monday (July 20, 2026), Mr. Burnham will be invited by King Charles III to form a new government after outgoing PM Keir Starmer formally tenders his resignation to the monarch.

Published – July 17, 2026 05:06 pm IST

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Andy Burnham set to be U.K. PM after securing more Labour MPs’ support

admin — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 20:12:00 +0000

Labour Party’s Andy Burnham
| Photo Credit: AP

Andy Burnham took another significant step on Monday (July 13, 2026) towards becoming Britain’s next prime minister, netting additional Labour MPs’ nominations to give him an unassailable lead in the ruling party’s leadership contest.

The veteran politician, who has served as Greater Manchester mayor for nearly a decade, is the only Labour Member of Parliament to publicly declare themselves a candidate to replace outgoing Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Mr. Starmer announced he was quitting last month, bowing to months of internal pressure to resign after a series of scandals, missteps and policy U-turns.

Mr. Burnham, 56, is now all but certain to become Labour’s next leader later this week and the country’s new prime minister next week, after the party confirmed the latest votes in what has become a coronation.

After receiving the votes of 322 of 403 Labour MPs on the first day of nominations on July 9, he had gained an extra 27 nominations by Monday afternoon, according to Labour’s public tally.

The 349 nominations now secured in total means it would be impossible for any other candidate to get the 81 endorsements needed to challenge for the Labour leadership.

Nominations close on Thursday. In the absence of a contest, Mr. Burnham will be crowned Labour leader — and prime minister in waiting — at a special conference the following day.

He would then replace Mr. Starmer at 10 Downing Street next Monday (July 20), shortly after meeting King Charles III for formal confirmation he will become Britain’s seventh prime minister in a decade.

Published – July 14, 2026 01:42 am IST

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