Key facts
- Burnham told The Economist that voters' cost-of-living concerns were the clear message of the US results.
- Burnham said the UK would use its G20 presidency to push for international agreement on AI.
- Burnham said he saw an opportunity to build on Keir Starmer's visit to China.
- Burnham described an autumn of diplomacy culminating in the G20 summit in the US in December.
Andy Burnham said the Republican defeat in the US midterm elections could signal a decline in right-wing populism, in an interview with The Economist published around November 5, 2026, during a trip to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Antigua.
"I think the pendulum, obviously, in the days we've been away, the pendulum has swung away from populism in other parts of the world," Burnham said, adding that people were looking for something more hopeful and unified. He said the result presented an opportunity to refocus on cost of living, which he called the big issue in the UK and the focus of his first 100 days.
Burnham said the outcome and Trump's reaction offered a chance to find resolution to conflict in the Middle East and in Ukraine. He described an autumn of diplomacy with several summits with the EU, culminating in the G20 summit in the US in December, with the UK hosting the gathering in Manchester in 2027.
He said Putin would not attend the Manchester summit because of an outstanding sanction, while noting that invitations are handled by the G20 rather than by Britain. Burnham also said there was a real opportunity with China on the back of Starmer's visit, and named AI as an area for close UK-China work under the UK's G20 presidency.