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

Andy Burnham wasted little time bringing Brexit into his first major address to the United Nations, telling world leaders that Britain had lived through a decade of disruption since leaving the European Union.

The Prime Minister’s reference came almost immediately after he began speaking in New York, setting the tone for a speech that sought to present Britain as a country moving beyond the political turbulence of the past decade.

Opening his address to the UN General Assembly on September 22, Burnham said it was now ten years since Brexit.

“My country has lived through the disruption it brought,” he said, before arguing that the experience had given Britain a perspective that could be shared with other countries.

He then delivered one of the central messages of the speech: “Britain is back.”

The wording was significant because Burnham was not presenting his government as seeking to reopen the entire Brexit debate.

Instead, he used the anniversary as a starting point for an argument about Britain’s future role in a rapidly changing world.

Brexit appears almost immediately

The speed with which Brexit appeared in the address attracted attention.

Burnham’s opening remarks were supposed to introduce his vision for Britain’s role over the coming decade.

Yet within the first few sentences, he was already looking back at the country’s experience since the 2016 referendum.

His government has been pursuing closer relations with the European Union while maintaining that its immediate priority is a practical UK-EU agreement rather than reopening every question surrounding Britain’s departure.

Before travelling to New York, Burnham had also declined to rule out a future Labour manifesto commitment to reverse Brexit.

Asked whether he could exclude a pledge to rejoin the EU at the next general election, he said the issue was “for another day”, while stressing that his immediate focus was a UK-EU summit and practical agreements designed to strengthen economic ties.

That made the opening of his UN speech particularly notable.

Brexit was not the subject of the address, but it provided the historical backdrop against which Burnham described the Britain he wants to lead.

“Britain is back”

After mentioning Brexit, Burnham moved quickly towards a more optimistic message.

He said Britain was restoring stability and building a more dynamic economy.

He described the UK as a country that wanted to trade with the world and work with other nations to solve shared problems.

The phrase “Britain is back” became one of the defining lines of the speech.

Burnham’s argument was that Britain should not remain trapped in arguments about the previous decade.

Instead, he said the country needed to learn from what had happened and apply those lessons to the challenges ahead.

That included strengthening national security, improving living standards, tackling climate change and preparing for the rapid development of artificial intelligence.

A warning about division

Burnham then broadened his argument beyond Brexit.

He said Britain needed to rebalance power and bring it closer to people across the country.

He also warned about what he described as forces of division and instability.

That became a recurring theme throughout the address.

According to Burnham, modern threats do not always take the form of conventional military confrontation.

He argued that countries also face slower forms of pressure involving disinformation, manipulation and attempts to undermine democratic confidence.

The Prime Minister said Britain had experienced such pressures itself and could use that experience to help other countries.

Russia becomes the main target

The strongest foreign-policy section of the speech focused on Russia.

Burnham accused Moscow of using disinformation and cyberattacks as part of what he described as an “industrial-scale assault” on Britain and its allies.

He also referred to alleged Russian interference in the 2019 general election.

ITV reported that Burnham claimed the Kremlin was spending around £1.3 billion a year manipulating information.

The Prime Minister announced that Britain’s security chiefs would begin work on a new National Centre for Information Defence.

The proposed centre is intended to detect, attribute and disrupt hostile state information attacks and support the protection of democratic institutions.

Burnham also said Britain would share its experience with other democracies.

He pointed specifically to work already undertaken with Moldova to strengthen its election security against suspected Russian interference.

Defence without escalation

The Prime Minister also used the speech to outline his approach to national security.

He pledged continued investment in defence and said Britain would meet its NATO commitments while strengthening European capabilities.

But Burnham also sought to distinguish his approach from what he described as Russia’s use of escalating rhetoric.

He said Britain would be prepared to defend itself and its allies but would not seek confrontation.

His formula was that the UK should be “prepared, but not panicked” and “clear-eyed, but cool headed”.

The message was designed to combine military deterrence with an attempt to avoid unnecessary escalation.

Ukraine remains central

Burnham also reaffirmed Britain’s support for Ukraine.

The UN speech came at a time when the war remained one of the major security issues facing Europe.

ITV reported that Burnham encouraged allies to do more to protect Ukrainian civilians from Russian missile attacks.

The Prime Minister has previously called for additional air-defence support for Ukraine.

His UN intervention therefore placed the conflict within his wider argument about European security and the need for democratic countries to work together.

The cost of living

The speech was not exclusively about foreign policy.

Burnham also attempted to connect Britain’s international ambitions with domestic economic concerns.

He argued that societies become more vulnerable when inequalities become too wide.

He said his government would work to make life more affordable and linked that goal to a forthcoming ten-year Plan for Britain.

The cost of living was therefore presented as part of national resilience rather than simply an economic issue.

His argument was that a country cannot effectively confront external threats if people at home feel economically insecure and disconnected from political institutions.

AI becomes a major part of the speech

One of the biggest sections of Burnham’s address concerned artificial intelligence.

The Prime Minister argued that AI could transform healthcare, education, economic growth and national security.

He cited the potential for AI to improve cancer diagnosis while warning that the technology could also create major disruption.

Burnham said fundamental decisions about AI should be taken by elected governments rather than left entirely to technology companies or market forces.

He also argued that workers needed support as AI changed the economy.

The Prime Minister linked the challenge to Britain’s experience of the Industrial Revolution.

He said technological progress had produced enormous benefits but had also caused severe disruption and exploitation for workers.

The lesson, according to Burnham, was that governments needed to intervene early enough to ensure technological change benefited society more broadly.

Britain wants an international role in AI

Burnham used the UN platform to announce that AI would become a central issue for Britain’s presidency of the G20 in 2027.

He called for international principles and standards covering the development and use of AI.

The proposal would involve bringing together governments and technology leaders to discuss both the opportunities and risks associated with advanced AI.

Burnham also announced a new AI defence partnership with the United States designed to protect critical national infrastructure.

The initiative came shortly after his first face-to-face meeting with Donald Trump.

According to ITV, the two leaders discussed Ukraine, Iran, trade and AI during their meeting.

Britain as an “honest broker”

Another important theme was Britain’s position between different global powers.

Burnham described the UK as America’s closest ally while also highlighting Britain’s links with the European Union.

He referred to Britain’s relationships with China, India and Brazil, as well as its position on the UN Security Council, in the Commonwealth and in the CPTPP.

His argument was that Britain could use these connections to bring countries together.

“In a divided world, we have the ability to bring people together – and we will,” he said.

That concept of Britain acting as an “honest broker” became central to his vision.

Rather than presenting the UK as choosing permanently between competing blocs, Burnham sought to portray it as a country capable of working across political and economic divides.

Climate change and global health

Burnham also used the speech to call for greater international cooperation on climate change and global health.

He described climate change as a national-security issue and pointed to extreme heat, wildfires and flooding as evidence of the risks facing countries around the world.

Britain, he said, would continue working with other nations to tackle the problem.

But he also emphasised the economic opportunities associated with the clean-energy transition, including jobs, investment and reindustrialisation.

The speech therefore connected climate policy with economic policy rather than treating the issue exclusively as an environmental question.

Israel and Palestine

Burnham also addressed the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

He said Britain wanted Israeli and Palestinian people to live side by side in peace and security.

He warned that continued discussion of a two-state solution without concrete action could further undermine public trust in politics.

The Prime Minister said Britain would do what it could to keep that possibility alive.

The comments formed part of his broader argument that international institutions needed to demonstrate that political promises could lead to practical outcomes.

Manchester takes centre stage

One of the more personal sections of Burnham’s speech focused on Manchester.

He referred to the second Downing Street office that his government has established in the city, known as No10 North.

He then discussed the statue of Abraham Lincoln outside the office and the historical connection between Lincoln and Manchester’s workers during the American Civil War.

Burnham highlighted the decision of Manchester mill workers to refuse cotton produced by enslaved people, despite the economic hardship that followed.

He used the story as an example of what he described as Britain’s tradition of standing up for democratic values.

It also reinforced his broader message that political leadership should be rooted in communities rather than concentrated entirely in London.

“Count on us”

Burnham ended the address by returning to his central message about Britain’s place in the world.

He told international partners that they could “count on us” to defend fairness and justice, oppose racism and discrimination, support the UN Charter and bring countries together.

The final section deliberately looked forward rather than backwards.

After beginning with Brexit and the disruption of the previous decade, Burnham concluded by calling for a better decade ahead.

His message was that Britain should not define itself by the political conflicts of the past.

Instead, it should use those experiences to become more resilient, more internationally engaged and more willing to cooperate.

What the speech actually says about Brexit

Despite the headline focus on Brexit, the speech was not primarily a case for reversing Britain’s departure from the EU.

Burnham mentioned Brexit near the beginning and used the past decade as a lesson in political and economic disruption.

He then devoted much more time to Russia, defence, AI, climate change, global cooperation, the Middle East and Britain’s international relationships.

Nevertheless, the timing of the remarks matters.

Only hours before his UN appearance, Burnham had refused to rule out a future Labour commitment to rejoin the EU.

That means his comments about moving beyond the turbulence of Brexit came against the backdrop of an ongoing political argument about how far Britain’s relationship with Europe should change.

For critics, the rapid reference to Brexit could be portrayed as evidence that the issue remains central to Burnham’s political agenda.

For the government, the speech offers a different interpretation: Britain has learned from the disruption of the previous decade and is now looking outward.

Those are competing political interpretations rather than established facts.

What is clear from the transcript is that Brexit appeared within the opening lines of Burnham’s first UN address as Prime Minister.

From there, however, the speech quickly expanded into a much broader vision for Britain.

The defining themes were security, democratic resilience, AI, international cooperation and the country’s attempt to rebuild its influence after a turbulent decade.

Burnham’s concluding message was simple: Britain should look forward rather than remain trapped in old arguments.

His challenge now is to translate that international vision into policy at home.

And after bringing Brexit into the speech almost immediately, the Prime Minister has ensured that Britain’s relationship with Europe will remain part of the political conversation surrounding his government’s next chapter.