LIVERPOOL, England — Just a few days ago Andy Burnham tried to kill off chatter in his party about a general election, insisting he would serve out the existing mandate until 2029. Yet the new British prime minister’s first speech to his party conference on Tuesday fired the starting gun on that same election, by raising four of the most seismic issues in British politics — then punting them until after it happens. With somber and slow delivery — he did not even smile when speaking of “hope in every heart” — Burnham promised to reopen fundamental questions about Britain’s future relationship with the EU.
He pledged to tear up the electoral system for the U.K. parliament, which could potentially give way to a European-style politics. He proposed a state-funded “National Care Service” for vulnerable adults, replacing the current patchwork of private care and local council support — and said he would pay for it by watering down the “triple lock” on rises in the state pension that has survived untouched for 15 years starting in 2030. Burnham — who lost his father in a care home so recently that he is yet to hold the funeral — teared up as he promised a Britain that would “rise again,” thanks to “a more serious and thought-through prospectus for the future of Britain than people have been offered for a generation.” The address gave party members in Liverpool what so many complained that Burnham’s predecessor Keir Starmer lacked: ambitious long-term vision, coursed through with politics.
Burnham called it “less drift and more direction” — a signal that the politician with a reputation for saying yes to everyone will now start telling some people “no.” It also showed he will deliberately pick fights with Labour’s political opponents. Burnham repeatedly promised to give voters “control” over their own lives; repurposing the word that dominated the campaign for Brexit 10 years ago. His speech also means the charge that has followed Burnham for his first 71 days in office will now linger over him for years.
Namely: the vision is there with next to no detail about how he will get there — except on some areas such as changes to pensions, which were fleshed out in detail with one eye no doubt on restive bond markets. The promises are the easy bit; now he has to make them actually work. The most striking thing was that Burnham has picked this fight voluntarily.
A year ago Burnham was a pariah at conference. He did not sit in the hall for the leaders’ speech; aides were concerned that a single twitch of his eyebrow or failure to clap would be seized upon as a mark of disloyalty. This year, most of Starmer’s closest allies stayed away, ceding to the euphoria surrounding the new guy.
Burnham’s shorter-term (though still vague) promises, such as bringing the water industry under greater “public control” and overhauling the costly welfare system, might have sufficed on their own to satisfy the membership. Instead, having short-circuited Starmer, the now-former Greater Manchester mayor was determined to map out a longer horizon than most of his recent predecessors have enjoyed. Unlike Starmer, Burnham — who typically answers interviewers by musing aloud rather than sticking to a strict script — revealed some of his policy thinking in real time.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
