Burnham is planning a summer tour of the UK in his first weeks as PM

Andy Burnham will be on a summer tour of the UK during the first weeks of his premiership.

Billed as the “England Listening Tour”, Burnham will travel the country in August while Parliament is in recess.

Among the areas understood to be on the way is Port Talbot in South Wales, where the last steel-making blast furnace will close in September 2024.

The former Greater Manchester mayor will become prime minister on Monday but will not face MPs until September, when parliament returns from its six-week recess, unless he decides to recall it.

Several Welsh Labor MPs have told BBC Wales that Burnham plans to visit Port Talbot, the UK’s largest steel mill.

Some Welsh politicians have accused Labor of failing to do the same for Tata Steel’s Port Talbot plant after stepping in to save the British Steel plant in Scunthorpe in 2025.

There are few details of what policies Burnham will be looking to implement once in Number 10, but a key part of his message so far has been about devolving power from Westminster to local communities.

In a speech in Manchester at the end of June, the Makersfield MP made the case for more “areas in industrial transition such as Port Talbot, Scunthorpe and Aberdeen”.

The Welsh Government has raised concerns that this could undermine devolution to Wales, with Plaid Cymru First Minister Ruhun ap Yorworth saying there are “signs” Burnham may want to bypass Senden and the Welsh Government.

Some Welsh MPs have also called for Burnham to stand down in their constituencies.

There are reports that Burnham will visit Aberdeen, the center of debate over the UK’s energy future and the home of GB Energy – the government’s start-up publicly owned energy company.

The Conservatives won the by-election for Aberdeen South, held on the same day as Burnham’s Makersfield by-election.

Burnham will become Labor leader on Friday after winning the support of a majority of his party’s MPs. He will replace Sir Keir Starmer as Prime Minister on Monday.

With Burnham entering No. 10 without a general election or leadership contest, his priority will be building support across the country as he lays out his vision for government.

He is facing calls to meet with voters outside London and in the north west of England.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, who dubbed Burnham “Avanti Andy” after the rail franchise serving Manchester, said: “From the Devon coast to the streets of Swansea and the beaches of Shetland, people are fed up with being ignored.

“Andy Burnham has a very short window to change this government, stop the violence and build trust with communities across the length and breadth of the UK.”

You may recall the Speaker of the Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, deciding that it would be in the public interest once the government was asked to hold Parliament during the winter recess.

The Conservatives had planned to use an opposition day debate scheduled for Wednesday to force an extra sitting day for MPs to question Burnham about the government’s plans.

But the debate was axed by the government to allow MPs to debate the ongoing crisis in the Middle East instead.

Burnham has faced calls from some in Labor to give more details on the policies he wants to implement in government.

He has been accused of avoiding media scrutiny since becoming a member of parliament and announcing his intention to stand down. So far he has given interviews to LBC and Gary Linker, as well as hosting an online Q and A session on Reddit.

During that Q&A, Conservative leader Kimi Badenoch challenged Burnham to “come out of hiding, give a proper press release and submit yourselves to scrutiny and some tough questions.”

Burnham replied: Fair test chemistry – but don’t forget it’s only been two weeks since I’ve had questions from 74,000 members of the Makersfield public.