Incoming UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham confirms Cabinet members

After taking over from Sir Keir Starmer as Britain's seventh prime minister in a decade, Andy Burnham confirms members of his Cabinet and plans to convene the first meeting on Tuesday.

Andy Burnham, standing alongside his wife Marie-France van Heel, launched his premiership at 10 Downing Street with a 10-year plan for Britain to tackle the cost-of-living crisis, revive industry, hand over more powers to local government and deliver what he describes as a circuit breaker that has taken many wrong terms since the 1980s.

He said he would also be making calls to foreign leaders starting with US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

After weeks as leader-in-waiting, Burnham officially became prime minister during a meeting with the king at Buckingham Palace.

AP Chief UK Correspondent Jill Lawless says: "The former Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has formally accepted an invitation from King Charles III to form a government."

The composition of Burnham's senior ministerial team has placed his allies in central Whitehall roles, while dismantling some of the key pillars of the Starmer era.

Members of the new Cabinet were seen assembling at Downing Street on Monday.

The most dramatic move came at the Treasury, where Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves is replaced by John Healey, a former defence secretary who resigned in June and accused the Treasury of failing to spend enough on the military at a time of rising threats.

Former Labour leader Ed Miliband moves to Foreign Secretary to take over international relations.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy are staying, while former Health Secretary Wes Streeting is appointed defence chief.

Burnham says: "Let us make this the moment when Britain starts to believe again. The moment we bring back hope. Thank you very much everyone."

As Burnham settles into Downing Street, there has been speculation about whether his agendas will be affected by his religious roots.

Born in Lancashire and raised in a working-class family in Liverpool, he is the first British leader who was baptised a Catholic and a former altar boy that grew up in the Catholic Church.

Some scholars agree that Burnham is a cultural Catholic who has absorbed the Catholic social teaching and that the faith will unconsciously influence how he discharges his duties.

Assistant Editor of The Tablet (International Catholic Newspaper), Ruth Gledhill, says: "So, for example, he would never vote, I think, against abortion. I think he would probably be in favour of assisted dying and there were other areas on same sex marriage which he would support that.

Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford's Las Casas Institute Maria Power says: "Now it's important to note that Catholic social teaching is about social issues, so it doesn't feed into the kind of moral issues that I know people will be watching Andy Burnham closely for say around euthanasia or, a woman's right to choose."