Ireland's Taoiseach Micheál Martin has congratulated Andy Burnham as the former Mayor of Greater Manchester begins his tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
"I congratulate Andy Burnham on becoming UK Prime Minister today," Ireland's Taoiseach Micheál Martin said in a statement on Monday, July 20.
"I look forward to working with him to further strengthen the partnership and friendship between our two countries.
"Our relationship has deepened further in recent years with annual UK-Ireland Summits, and our respective roles as co-guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement.
"We will also work to facilitate a stronger relationship between the UK and European Union.
"During his time as Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy was a great champion of deeper links between Ireland and Britain.
"It has been a pleasure to meet him on several occasions, including during his visits to Ireland last year.
"I will work with Prime Minister Burnham to ensure that close cooperation between Ireland and the UK delivers real tangible benefits for people, communities and businesses right across these islands."
Andy Burnham, the former Mayor of Greater Manchester, was elected as MP for Makerfield just last month. Following Keir Starmer's resignation announcement in June, Burnham became the new leader of the Labour Party last week and, in turn, the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Burnham, who describes himself as a socialist or social democrat, is the UK's seventh Prime Minister in ten years.
In his first speech as Prime Minister on Monday, Burnham said in part: "We will make this moment a circuit breaker for Britain, bringing forward the biggest changes in the last forty years. A new political model and a new economic model."
Burnham said the first instruction he would be issuing from 10 Downing Street is to "end rough sleeping in our country."
Upon Burnham's election last week as the new leader of the UK Labour Party, First Minister of Northern Ireland Michelle O'Neill, the Vice President of Sinn Féin, wished him well.
However, she continued: "A different approach is needed from the British Government. Successive British governments have implemented policies that have been catastrophic for ordinary people. They have cut vital public services, deepened inequalities, and left families struggling through a cost of living crisis while a small elite continues to accumulate enormous wealth.
"I look forward to meeting with Andy Burnham when he takes up the role of British Prime Minister. I will make the case for fair funding for public services, action on the cost of living crisis, and full respect for our democratic right to determine our own future here on the island of Ireland.
"The interests of all the people of Ireland will be best served when we have full control of our own affairs in a new and united Ireland."
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