Andy Burnham has set out his plan to transform Britain, including by ending the existing state pension triple lock from 2030 to help fund a new national care service. In his first Labour Party conference speech as prime minister, Burnham also said he wants to pave the way for greater public control over housing, water and energy services, and potentially reform the UK's electoral system. After days of questions over how to fund his social care reforms in England, Burnham pointed to changing the triple lock to generate "significant savings".
His plans would see the state pension increase every year at least by inflation or 2.5% - but remove the automatic annual link with average earnings. Andy Burnham: Northern PM's long journey to power In front of a packed hall and watched on by family and friends, Burnham spoke for more than an hour - at times pausing and appearing to hold back tears as he referred to his father, Roy, who died earlier this month. Arriving on stage to the sound of "All Together Now" by Liverpool band The Farm, Burnham made the song title a theme of his speech.
He said he wanted to "draw a line on a decade of division" and to "stop doomscrolling on posts running Britain down". Burnham also told conference that he wants to "put the country on a new path" and recalled his family's "working-class aspiration" and how the government wanted to "unlock" this for others. There was an expectation that Burnham's time in Liverpool for his party's conference would see him flesh out his vision for the future of the country.
In the conference hall, he offered more details albeit with some of the proposals relating to the content of the Labour manifesto at the next general election rather than delivering immediate action. Burnham's plan to offer free at the point of use social care in England is among those being developed so it can be put before voters in 2029. He said it would be "fully funded and not through borrowing".
Explaining his long-held ambition to make changes, he raised his family's experiences - including how his grandmother Kitty's engagement ring was "ripped from her finger and stolen in a care home". He argued a national care service was a "landmark" policy that would be "as significant as the creation of the NHS itself and utterly essential to securing its future". Before turning to the pension triple lock changes, Burnham accepted he may "pay a political price" by trying to make the reforms but argued "someone has to go through the pain barrier and rip the plaster off".
The triple lock was introduced in 2010 by the coalition government and designed to ensure the value of the state pension was not overtaken by the increase in the cost of living or the incomes of working people. It means the state pension rates rise every April by either inflation, earnings growth or 2.5% - whichever is the highest. Burnham said this will stay in place until 2030, at which point he would like to "adjust it".
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