Burnham offers Britain an 'honest conversation' on tackling problems

Andy Burnham will offer on Tuesday an "honest conversation" with Britain to spell out the trade-offs in tackling some ⁠of the nation's deepest problems, such as social care and ⁠the control of utilities, in his first conference speech as prime minister.

Taking the floor of a vast conference center in the northwestern English city of Liverpool for his governing Labour Party's annual conference, Burnham will press his message that his government will end "politics as usual", instead offering Britain hope he believes has long been ⁠lost.

Yet, Britain's seventh prime minister in a decade will say that underlying his belief that he can restore pride in Britain is a reckoning, one that involves offering a level of honesty "politicians usually avoid."

BURNHAM SAYS SOME DECISIONS MIGHT NOT BE POPULAR

"We can't carry on as we are. Politics as usual has taken Britain backwards. More of the same isn't good enough and isn't going to get us where we need to be," Burnham will say, according to extracts of his speech provided by his office.

"Hope comes from honesty and from saying the things politicians usually avoid."

Burnham, a former mayor who replaced Keir Starmer as prime minister in July, has come under pressure to offer more detailed plans for government, beyond his initial bid to hand people "breathing space" from cost-of-living pressures.

When he came to power, Burnham promised to use his premiership as a "circuit-breaker for Britain", which, like many European ⁠countries, ⁠has struggled for years with soaring prices and anemic economic growth.

But beyond some immediate measures, including capping bus fares and removing value-added tax from electricity bills, his strategy to realize his bigger ambitions to tackle Britain's social care crisis, bring some utilities into public ownership and create more jobs has lacked detail, businesses say.

In his speech on Tuesday, he will set out his plan to make energy cheaper, by announcing the creation of Great British Grid, a new publicly owned body which will aim to speed up grid connections for businesses and boost reindustrialization.

"The price of energy is crippling for businesses, and British billpayers pay some of the highest energy costs in Europe," he will say.

"Within ten years, I want our energy ⁠costs to be in line with other nations in Europe."

SOCIAL CARE REFORM

On Sunday, Burnham moved the goalposts for his pledge to do what several other prime ministers have failed to achieve, to tackle the social care system, by saying he would only present his plans at the next national election, due by mid-2029.

That would reduce the need for immediate major tax rises or spending cuts, although Burnham might listen to those arguing for the end of the pensions triple lock, which guarantees a state pension rise each year by whichever is highest among inflation, wage growth or 2.5%, to fund future social care reform.

Lucy Powell, deputy leader of the Labour Party, said ⁠it was committed in ‌this parliament ‌to the triple lock, a cornerstone of the welfare offer to older voters by both ⁠major parties for the last 15 years, but did not rule out ‌changes in the future.

"He's setting out today I think a clear direction of travel, and that he is prepared to take the hard choices needed to resolve them," she told the BBC.

Saying he initially ⁠wanted to give "the usual tub-thumping conference speech", Burnham decided instead to answer a call from those ⁠who wanted "less drift and more direction" by setting out "a more serious prospectus for Britain than people have been offered in a generation."

"I ⁠accept people will not agree with every part of it, but I believe it can turn Britain around," he will say, offering a route to build "a Britain where people feel the country has their back again."