Burnham assumes UK premiership as racial tensions threaten reform agenda

Andy Burnham will become the UK’s prime minister on Monday after being confirmed as the new Labour leader on Friday. His agenda for government relies on devolution, reindustrialisation, technical education and a more economically interventionist state to address deep-seated class and regional inequalities.

For investors and businesses, this prospectus offers a clear direction for the UK economy. Yet the success of Burnham's programme depends heavily on navigating a parallel crisis of social cohesion. David Weaver, chair of the nonpartisan group Operation Black Vote (OBV), warned that the new prime minister must shift a political culture that weaponises race and migration to deflect from ineffective leadership. “A society can’t thrive if it’s divided,” Weaver said.

Burnham’s focus on class disparities is broadly welcomed by OBV. Weaver noted that conversations about inequality are beneficial not only for Black communities but for making white working-class communities more secure. However, he cautioned that the new leader cannot ignore the “specificity of race” when ethnonationalist rhetoric and race riots dominate public life.

Pessimism among Black and Asian Britons about their future is currently at its lowest ebb since Enoch Powell’s 1968 “rivers of blood” speech. “Black people are seeing their British identity questioned. They are confused, despondent and pessimistic about their future in this country,” Weaver said, noting many are actively considering relocating to Africa, the Caribbean or South Asia.

This despair is driven by the mainstreaming of extreme political rhetoric. Research by Hope Not Hate in March found 54% of Reform UK members, whose party has led polls for a year, want non-white citizens born abroad forcibly removed or encouraged to leave. A further 22% supported this for non-white citizens whose parents were born abroad. An IPPR poll in December found 71% of Reform voters believe British ancestry is required to be truly British.

The rhetoric has entered mainstream parliament, with Conservative MP Katie Lam telling legal migrants to “go home” and Rupert Lowe, leader of the Restore Britain party, declaring “millions must go”. Weaver warned that the historical reality of the Windrush scandal, where Black Britons were wrongly stripped of citizenship and deported, gives these threats credibility.

To stabilise the public sphere and focus on his economic agenda, Weaver urged Burnham to take immediate practical steps. These include granting legal aid to Windrush survivors, stripping the Home Office of control over the underperforming compensation scheme, and restoring the Labour whip to MP Diane Abbott.

Looking ahead, OBV is attempting to bridge the divides fuelling this crisis. As the organisation marks its 30th anniversary, it is building coalitions with white working-class communities and intends to engage directly with Reform UK’s voter base. Weaver argued that ignoring a party with an electoral mandate leaves both Black and white working-class voters excluded from the political room.