British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has promised to put the United Kingdom on a new path of equitable growth during his first Labour conference speech as leader of the country and party. Covering a range of topics including healthcare, pensions, electoral reforms, affordable housing and publicly-owned utilities, Burnham on Tuesday said it was time for the UK to opt for drastic change and reject a slow and painful demise. That is the case I make to you today,” he said.
Burnham, who replaced Keir Starmer as the UK prime minister in July, said there was a “sense of the powers-that-be pulling against the people, not with them”. He added that it was time “to break the mould today”. This year’s Labour Party conference brought together legislators and party members alongside trade unions and businesses in one place.
Much of Burnham’s speech addressed the need for social reforms with a focus on caregivers and healthcare, including building a “National Care Service … free at the point of use”. He said it will be “a person-centred, high-quality” service where “everyone contributes and everyone is covered” and care “is about people not profit”, does not erode savings and gives “proper recognition” to care workers. There was also talk of adjusting the so-called “pension triple lock” that sets state pension rises.
He said changes will be made by April 2030, after the next general election. Burnham said low-income pensioners would not pay income tax in the current Parliament. The planned changes meant pensioners would receive annual rises to their state pension without additional care charges, “so that pensioners will always share in the rising prosperity of the nation”.
He also spoke on the need to make housing more affordable, confirming his party’s intention to make it easy for young people to own a home by reducing the deposit needed to buy property. There was also mention of returning control of utilities, such as water and electricity, back to the public, by scrapping “[former Prime Minister] Margaret Thatcher’s ideological ban on public ownership of water companies”. On electricity, Burnham announced a new publicly-owned “Great British Grid” that will “challenge the private sector operators” to “increase competition, drive down costs and speed up delivery”, and make it easier to connect to the electricity grid.
Burnham’s speech also focused on foreign policy issues, saying he will “stand up to” Russian and Iranian “threats”. On Israel, the occupied West Bank and Gaza, Burnham praised his foreign secretary’s approach, since assuming office in July. Al Jazeera’s Milena Veselinovic, who was listening to the British prime minister at the conference, said Burnham’s speech was laced with “a lot of fiery rhetoric”.
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