Burnham pictured in his first meeting with Trump at the UN (Image: Getty)

Andy Burnham addressed the UN general assembly in New York for the first time since he became Prime Minister overnight

Burnham was on his first major diplomatic trip since moving into Downing Street, holding meetings with high-profile figures.

His address comes hours after he met US President Donald Trump for the first time. Burnham said the meeting was ‘excellent’, and while Trump said Britain’s new PM was a ‘man he could do business with’, he heavily criticised the Chagos Islands deal in front of Burnham.

Speaking to reporters afterwards, President Trump said: “I don’t support it. I think it’s terrible. It was a terrible deal. They [Mauritius] all of a sudden say they have ownership. It’s amazing how strategic it is, and I think the Prime Minister is going to be looking at it.”

The Labour leader, who was sitting next to him, agreed and said “yeah”, marking a change in his position en-route to New York when he said he would do “everything possible” to find a resolution to the deal.

Burnham Speech Recap: PM Blames Brexit Less Than a Minute Into UN Address

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham used his first major address to the United Nations General Assembly to present a vision of a more confident Britain, but it took less than a minute for Brexit to become part of his message.

Speaking in New York on September 22, 2026, Burnham opened his address by looking back at the past decade and explicitly referring to Britain’s departure from the European Union. He told world leaders that it was now ten years since Brexit and said Britain had lived through the disruption that followed. He then quickly shifted his attention towards the future, declaring that “Britain is back” and presenting his government as one seeking greater stability, economic dynamism and international cooperation.

The early reference to Brexit immediately attracted attention because Burnham’s speech was intended to be much broader than Britain’s relationship with Europe. His address covered national security, Russian disinformation, artificial intelligence, climate change, Ukraine, the Middle East and the future role of the United Nations.

Yet Brexit provided the opening frame.

A decade of disruption

Burnham’s decision to mention Brexit at the beginning of the speech was significant. Rather than treating the UK’s departure from the EU simply as a historical event, he presented the experience of the past ten years as something from which Britain had learned.

He said the disruption caused by Brexit had given Britain a unique perspective and argued that the country now needed to adapt to the challenges of the next decade.

His message was not that Britain should remain trapped in arguments about the 2016 referendum. Instead, he attempted to use the experience as a bridge towards a different vision of the country’s future.

“Britain is back,” Burnham declared, before describing his plans to restore stability, build a more dynamic economy and strengthen Britain’s ability to trade and work with other countries.

The message reflected an approach that Burnham has increasingly adopted since entering Downing Street: Britain should remain an independent country while rebuilding practical relationships with European partners and maintaining close links with the United States and other major powers.

A different relationship with Europe

The speech also underlined the importance Burnham places on Britain’s European relationships.

Later in his address, he said Britain has “deep ties” with its friends in the European Union and would deepen them further.

That statement came against the background of continuing political debate about the long-term consequences of Brexit.

Before travelling to New York, Burnham had also refused to rule out the possibility of the UK eventually seeking to rejoin the European Union, although he emphasized that his immediate priority was rebuilding relationships with European allies.

The distinction is important.

Burnham’s government is not presenting a simple immediate reversal of Brexit. Instead, his speech suggested a strategy based on cooperation: maintaining Britain’s position outside the EU while attempting to develop closer economic, security and diplomatic relationships with European countries.

“Britain is back”

One of the central phrases in Burnham’s address was his declaration that Britain is back.

The Prime Minister wanted the international audience to see the UK as a country capable of playing a significant role in solving global problems.

He pointed to Britain’s relationships with the United States, the European Union, China, India and Brazil. He also highlighted Britain’s position on the UN Security Council, its membership of the Commonwealth and participation in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

His argument was that Britain occupies an unusual position because it can maintain relationships with different parts of the international system.

In his words, Britain has the ability to bring countries together in a divided world.

That was a central theme of the speech: international influence should not simply come from military power.

National security beyond the battlefield

Burnham devoted a significant portion of his speech to national security.

He said Britain would continue investing in defence, meeting its NATO commitments and strengthening European capabilities.

But he also argued that national resilience involves more than weapons and military spending.

According to Burnham, the strength of British society itself is a national-security issue.

He warned that hostile states are attempting to exploit social divisions through misinformation, fake websites, automated accounts and manipulated content.

Russia was the main focus of this section of the speech.

Burnham claimed that Russian agencies had used a range of methods to influence public opinion in Britain and other Western countries. He referred to fabricated newspaper articles, fake websites and the use of forged branding associated with British organisations.

He also claimed that Russian actors had attempted to interfere with the 2019 British general election.

The new information defence centre

One of the most concrete announcements in the speech was the creation of a new National Centre for Information Defence.

Burnham said he had instructed Britain’s security chiefs to begin work on the organisation.

Its purpose would be to detect, attribute and disrupt hostile state information attacks and help defend democratic institutions.

The announcement reflected Burnham’s broader argument that modern national security cannot be separated from technology.

Artificial intelligence, social media and increasingly sophisticated digital tools can make misinformation faster and harder to identify.

Burnham therefore argued that Britain needed to strengthen the resilience of ordinary citizens as well as the capabilities of government agencies.

He linked this issue directly to domestic economic conditions.

If people are struggling with the cost of living, unemployment or a lack of opportunity, he argued, they may become more vulnerable to narratives designed to create fear and division.

AI becomes a major priority

Artificial intelligence was another major theme of Burnham’s UN appearance.

He announced that AI would be placed at the heart of Britain’s G20 presidency next year.

The Prime Minister presented AI not simply as a technological issue but as an international challenge requiring cooperation between governments.

Britain’s ambition is to position itself between major powers while maintaining relationships with both Western allies and emerging economies.

The government has increasingly portrayed AI as an area where Britain can exercise influence through regulation, investment, security cooperation and international diplomacy.

Burnham’s UN speech therefore linked technological development directly to Britain’s wider foreign-policy ambitions.

Ukraine and Russia

The war in Ukraine was another major subject.

Burnham said Britain would continue standing with Ukraine and argued that Russia should accept a ceasefire and return to negotiations.

He criticised attacks on civilian infrastructure and presented British support for Ukraine as part of a broader commitment to the UN Charter and international law.

His language reflected the government’s attempt to maintain a firm position on Russia while avoiding what he described as unnecessary escalation.

He said Britain would remain prepared to defend its people and allies but would not seek confrontation.

The Middle East

Burnham also devoted substantial attention to the conflict involving Israel and the Palestinians.

He condemned the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, and said Britain continued to condemn Hamas and support Israel in the face of threats.

At the same time, he criticised Israeli government actions in Gaza and the West Bank.

He expressed particular concern about the proposed E1 settlement project, arguing that it could threaten the possibility of a viable Palestinian state.

Burnham said Britain had taken several steps, including banning trade in goods with illegal settlements, recognising the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory as unlawful and sanctioning people involved in settlement construction.

He presented the two-state solution as the basis for long-term peace and security for both Israelis and Palestinians.

Climate change and global cooperation

Climate change was another part of the Prime Minister’s international message.

Burnham described climate change as a national-security issue and referred to extreme heat, wildfires and floods experienced during the summer.

He argued that Britain should work with other countries to reduce the threat while also taking advantage of the economic opportunities associated with the transition to cleaner energy.

This fitted into his wider argument that Britain should use international cooperation to address problems that no country can solve alone.

A message about domestic Britain

Although the speech was delivered on the international stage, Burnham repeatedly returned to domestic concerns.

He argued that Britain needed to improve living standards, make life more affordable and reduce inequalities.

He said those objectives would form part of a new ten-year plan for Britain.

This was important because Burnham was attempting to connect foreign policy with the everyday experiences of British citizens.

His argument was that national strength depends partly on whether people feel that their lives are improving.

A country struggling with inequality, insecurity and low confidence can become more vulnerable to political division and foreign influence.

Why the Brexit reference attracted so much attention

The reason the opening Brexit reference generated such interest is that Brexit remains one of the most consequential political decisions in modern British history.

Ten years after the referendum, Britain continues to debate its economic, political and diplomatic consequences.

For supporters of Brexit, leaving the EU represented an assertion of national sovereignty and democratic control.

For critics, it represented a major disruption to Britain’s economic and diplomatic relationships with its closest neighbours.

Burnham’s speech did not attempt to settle that argument.

Instead, he presented Brexit as part of Britain’s recent experience and argued that the country should learn from the past while looking forward.

His central message was that Britain should not remain defined by the divisions of the previous decade.

A speech aimed at the future

Ultimately, Burnham’s UN address was less about Brexit than the headline might suggest.

Brexit appeared almost immediately, but the speech quickly moved towards a much wider programme.

Burnham wanted to portray Britain as a country rebuilding its confidence, strengthening its alliances and preparing for new challenges.

He emphasised defence, international cooperation, artificial intelligence, information security, climate change, Ukraine and the Middle East.

His message was also aimed at the British public.

He argued that the country should reject narratives of inevitable decline and instead concentrate on improving living standards, strengthening social cohesion and taking advantage of new technological opportunities.

The Brexit reference therefore served as an introduction to a broader political argument.

Ten years after the referendum, Burnham’s message was that Britain should learn from the disruption of the past decade without allowing that experience to define the next one.

Whether that approach changes Britain’s relationship with Europe, strengthens its global influence or improves domestic confidence will depend on policies that extend far beyond a single UN speech.

But the opening moments were unmistakable: before discussing Russia, AI, Ukraine, climate change or the Middle East, Britain’s new Prime Minister looked back at Brexit and used it as the starting point for his argument about where the country should go next.