Burnham to warn UK must be honest about its challenges as he prepares to become PM

Andy Burnham speaks with local people during a visit to Gravesend in Kent on Friday. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA View image in fullscreen Andy Burnham speaks with local people during a visit to Gravesend in Kent on Friday. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA Burnham to warn UK must be honest about its challenges as he prepares to become PM Labour leader will visit king to accept role on Monday and will start making cabinet appointments that afternoon Andy Burnham will warn that Britain must be honest about the challenges it faces as he becomes its sixth prime minister in a decade and prepares to appoint his first cabinet. The Labour leader is set to start making appointments in the afternoon on Monday after going to Buckingham Palace to accept the role of prime minister from the king. However, many cabinet ministers and even some of Burnham’s allies were on Sunday still in the dark about whether they would be offered roles in his top team, although there is a widespread belief Shabana Mahmood will be made chancellor and Ed Miliband the foreign secretary. Jonathan Reynolds, the chief whip, is also regarded as nailed on as business secretary of a department that may fold in the current science and technology department. Angela Rayner, a former deputy prime minister, is said to be lined up for the job of health secretary but sources said she would take some persuading that was the right fit for her when her main interests are in devolution, regional inequality, local government and the cost of living. Before his cabinet is announced, Burnham is set to give his first Downing Street address that will seek to strike both an optimistic and realistic note about the problems facing Britain that must be confronted. He is set to argue that Britain faces a moment for “reflection and resolution”, having previously said he was willing to “spend political capital” on fixing major problems such as social care that will require extra funding. Burnham will also say he is “acutely conscious” of being the sixth person to walk up Downing Street in just 10 years and argue that political stability is needed – in an implicit rejection of calls for an election when Labour potentially has another three years in power. He will say Britain must be honest about the challenges it faces while demonstrating that it can once again be recognised around the world for effective government. The Labour leader will go on to set out his domestic priorities, saying he will deliver tangible improvements in people’s lives and give people “more breathing room” when it comes to the cost of living. View image in fullscreen The media setting up positions outside No 10 in preparation for Burnham’s arrival on Monday. Photograph: Ryan Jenkinson/Getty Images However, so far Burnham has not made any major policy commitments, beyond saying he would stick broadly to Labour’s manifesto commitment of not raising the three major taxes of VAT, national insurance or income tax, and scrapping the digital ID car