Burnham says UK not where it should be as he vows to set country on new course

Andy Burnham has promised to put the country on a new path as he delivered his first Labour conference speech as the party leader and Prime Minister.

Promising to give the country greater control over housing, energy and water and reforming the social care system, Mr Burnham said he was ready to “break the mould” to end the drift and division which has characterised British politics for a generation.

He confirmed plans to break the pension triple lock after the next general election in order to fund a new National Care Service in England.

The measures also included a plan to reverse Margaret Thatcher’s 1980s ban on public ownership of water companies, paving the way for the nationalisation of firms that do not “serve the public interest”.

And Mr Burnham said councils will be given the power to take over poor quality homes if landlords refuse to improve them.

In an emotional speech, following the death of his father Roy earlier this month, Mr Burnham choked up as he said: “The United Kingdom my dad represented is the one I believe in.”

But addressing delegates in Liverpool, he said: “This country isn’t where any of us would want it to be.

“Politics-as-usual has taken Britain backwards.

“More of the same isn’t good enough.

“That’s why I feel I have to break the mould today.”

Mr Burnham, who replaced Sir Keir Starmer in No 10 in July, claimed there was a “sense of the powers-that-be pulling against the people, not with them”.

“If there’s one thing I want to put right, it’s that,” he said.

Taking aim at the changes introduced since the Thatcher administration in the 1980s, Mr Burnham said: “Britain has been on the wrong path for a long time.

“Deindustrialisation. Deregulation. Privatisation. Austerity. Brexit.

“And what has it given us? A country run for vested interests, not in the public interest.”

He compared his task in building a new form of politics to the 1945 Labour government’s efforts to reshape the country in the wake of the Second World War.

Mr Burnham said: “We built the common good. Or at least we did until the 1980s.

“Suddenly, the common wealth we had created for the many was seen as an opportunity for the few.

“Homes. Water. Energy. Transport. Care.

“Broken up and sold off.

“The British right talk about ‘taking back control’.

“Never let them forget: they are the ones who gave it away in the first place.”

Setting out his plans to reform the triple lock after 2030, Mr Burnham said the state pension would rise in line with inflation or by 2.5%, whichever is higher – ending the automatic link to earnings if they rise faster than those two measures.

He said: “I won’t pretend some of this won’t be difficult. I accept I may pay a political price. But someone has to go through the pain barrier and rip the plaster off. It’s the leadership I promised you when I asked to be your leader.”

The savings would be used to create a National Care Service which would be “as significant as the creation of the NHS itself and utterly essential to securing its future”.

Published: 29/09/2026 by Radio NewsHub