Tuesday briefing: How might Andy Burnham bring his Makerfield magic to Westminster?

In today’s newsletter: Correspondents across the UK reveal the challenges that Labour’s newest MP will face from day one in the job

Good morning. It seems inevitable that Andy Burnham will become the UK’s seventh prime minister in a decade, after Keir Starmer announced his resignation on Monday morning and, hours later, Burnham’s most likely challenger, Wes Streeting, rowed in behind the former mayor of Greater Manchester.

Starmer leaves office barely two years after his landslide victory that swept Labour into power on a mandate of change. Six weeks after the party’s humiliation at the hands of Reform across English councils, and historic defeats to progressive nationalists in the Welsh Senedd and Scottish parliament, Burnham offered the country another “change moment”: winning an emphatic victory over Reform in last week’s Makerfield byelection, cementing the view that he can defeat the hard right at the next general election.

UK politics | A generation of young Britons who were locked out of the 2016 EU referendum because of their age now believe that Brexit has failed, with a majority demanding a fresh vote to rejoin the EU, exclusive polling shows.

Northern Ireland | Former DUP leader, Jeffrey Donaldson, has been found guilty of 18 sexual offences against two victims who were children at the time of the abuse more than 30 years ago.

Heatwave | Met Office forecasters have issued a rare red weather warning for Wednesday and Thursday in the face of extreme heat and humidity, while a red heat health alert has been issued in England indicating “a risk to life for even the healthy population”.

Middle East | Iran has agreed to allow UN nuclear inspectors back into the country as part of an agreement under which Washington will lift sanctions on Tehran’s oil exports and the strait of Hormuz will reopen, the US vice-president, JD Vance, has said.

UK news | The Metropolitan police is to expand its use of live facial recognition (LFR) technology, first into London’s West End by Christmas and then into a further six areas next year.

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