LONDON, July 17. Andy Burnham has been declared the new leader of the British Labour Party. Shabana Mahmood, chair of the party's National Executive Committee, announced this at a special conference that was broadcast live by Sky News. As the Labour Party is the ruling party, the 56-year-old Burnham will take over the position of Prime Minister after Keir Starmer steps down. The handover is scheduled for July 20.
The nomination period for candidates to lead the party ended on July 15, when Burnham, former mayor of Greater Manchester, appeared as the only candidate on the ballot paper. His candidacy was supported by as many as 369 out of 403 Labour Party MPs, as well as all affiliated unions. Catherine West, a Member of Parliament, was also nominated to lead the Labour Party by her colleague, MP Neil Coil. In recent months, West has been one of the most vocal critics of outgoing Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
“One candidate received 379 nominations. After meeting the threshold of 20% of the parliamentary Labour Party, he was eligible to proceed to the next stage. One other candidate received one nomination and is not eligible to proceed. One eligible candidate received a total of 23 nominations from affiliated unions and socialist organizations. This included nominations from all 11 unions,” said Mahmood. “As there were no other eligible nominated candidates, it is my honor to announce that Andy Burnham has been duly elected as the Chairman of the Labour Party,” she added, prompting applause from the audience.
TASS / gnews.cz
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