LONDON — Andy Burnham said he’ll be a pro-business prime minister, in his first speech since formally winning an uncontested race to lead the governing Labour Party.

“Make no mistake, everybody, I will be a pro-business leader of the Labour Party, as I was a pro-business mayor of Greater Manchester,” he said, pointing to small local businesses like pubs and shops, rather than large firms.

The omission of big business and banks is unlikely to surprise many in the City of London given they are expecting Burnham’s team to be less assiduous courting finance than Keir Starmer was, according to people familiar with the matter.

The industry is in wait-and-see mode as it looks for clarity on what changes — if any — Burnham may choose on hot button topics like regulation and bank taxes, and as well as confirmation of who his chancellor will be.

As he prepares to take over from Starmer as British premier on Monday, Burnham paid tribute to the “foundation laid” by his predecessor. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, in her role as chair of Labour’s National Executive Committee, announced the result before Burnham’s address.

Mahmood is the current favorite to become chancellor next week but Burnham is still being lobbied by factions of the Labour Party over the decision, which he claims he’s yet to make.

Mainstream, the soft-left group of MPs supporting Burnham’s leadership candidacy, responded to his speech calling for a “progressive” chancellor who “understands the threat that climate breakdown poses” which will be interpreted as a last-ditch attempt to lobby for Ed Miliband to be given the Treasury role.

“I haven’t made any decisions yet about who will be in that top team, but I will soon,” Burnham said. “And when I have, you will see it reflects all parts of our party, all communities, and it will reflect your own place within this great party of ours.”

Shortly before moving vans were pictured outside Downing Street, Burnham said he’s ready to lead the nation and return Labour to a party which represents the U.K.’s forgotten regions. He criticized decisions taken under former Conservative premier Margaret Thatcher to increase privatization, saying, “The country surrendered control of the essentials: housing, water, energy, transport, and left people exposed to higher costs.”

Between 1980 and 1996 — a period covering almost all Thatcher’s premiership and the majority of that of her successor John Major — the U.K. accounted for 40% of the total global revenue raised through floating public assets, according to analysis by the U.K. Treasury.

In his speech Burnham made the argument that this economic model, described by him as the “decades of neoliberalism that began in the 1980s,” had disproportionately hurt the former industrial heartlands in the North of England and Midlands.

Bloomberg reported on Thursday that the incoming prime minister will use his first days in office to announce that he’s bringing Thames Water under greater public control which could include a temporary nationalization and a move towards a co-operative model of ownership.

“The right used the phrase ‘take back control’ but they are the ones who gave it away in the first place,” he said.

He promised a country where “life is more affordable, and all people and places are lifted from where they are now.”

In his speech, the former mayor of Manchester said he’d prioritize five key changes to how the government is run. He said he would:

•Unify his party and break from Labour “factionalism”

•Build a new politics that eschews points-scoring

•Setting a direction that is distinctively “Labour” without imitating opposition parties

•Represent all parts of the U.K.

•Restore power to the regions by devolving power from Whitehall

At times, he was self-deprecating, making reference to opposition parties’ jokes about his dress sense, and his chameleonic political allegiances over the nearly-three decades he’s been in politics.

He also appeared to critique Starmer’s leadership of Labour, by promising to “build a new politics,” one that’s “less toxic” and will “set a direction that is distinctively Labour.”

“We won’t try to out-Green the Greens or out-Reform Reform or do what we have done in the past of wearing too many Tory clothes,” he said in reference to left and right-wing parties that have taken votes from Labour in recent elections.

“This change today is the most significant change moment in our politics for 40 years,” he concluded.

—With assistance from Alex Morales.

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