Andy Burnham unveils social contract with care reform and voting changes

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has pledged to give the country “a new social contract for the 21st century”, while promising changes to the electoral system and a reset in ties with European neighbours. In a speech to the Labour Party’s annual conference, he said the scale of the challenge facing Britain meant modest steps would not be enough.

At the same time, Burnham acknowledged the political risks and financial limits around his plans. He said the government would remain within its fiscal rules and admitted that some of the money for change would have to come from welfare and pension spending.

In his hour-long address, Burnham said, “Small things will not get us through what are difficult times.” He set out a programme that included more social housing, better education and more affordable care for older people. Anticipating resistance, he told delegates: “I have given you what you often say is missing from politics: honesty, ideas and a clear direction for the country we all love.”

One of the biggest proposals was a “national care service”, which Burnham said would fix what he called a “broken” social care system. He said the service, like the NHS, would be free at the point of use and funded through taxation. Burnham became emotional while speaking about his father, Roy, who died earlier this month, and their experience of the care system. To help pay for the plan, he said he would dilute the pensions triple lock, which ensures pensions rise each year in line with inflation, average wage growth or 2.5 per cent, whichever is highest. “I accept I may pay a political price,” he said. “But someone has to go through the pain barrier and rip the plaster off.”

Burnham also said he would “move beyond a decade of drift and division” and end the turmoil that has seen Britain have seven prime ministers since the 2016 vote to leave the European Union. He said Labour would fight the next election on a promise to replace Britain’s winner-takes-all voting system with a form of proportional representation. He also promised to rethink ties with the EU, saying “Brexit has done more harm than good” and that Britain needed “clarity about our position and the future of the continent that we live in.” His wider agenda included ending street homelessness, cutting youth unemployment and exerting more control over privatised utilities.

Even as he laid out those ambitions, Burnham said the government would “stick to our fiscal rules to get borrowing and debt down”. He added: “I would love to go quicker, but I have to be honest about what the country can afford.” The speech came as Labour gathered in Liverpool under the slogan “Hope again”, in a far brighter mood than last year, when Keir Starmer was struggling in the polls and Reform UK was rising.

However, the conference also unfolded against a difficult backdrop. Arrests near a US-run air base in England raised questions about security and possible hostile state links. Five men arrested on Sunday on suspicion of explosives and terror offences outside RAF Fairford were released on bail on Monday as police continued their investigation, including whether there was a connection to a hostile state. Burnham and his ministers were questioned about possible threats from Iran or Russia.

The economic picture also remained difficult before the government’s budget on October 28. The US-Iran war has continued to disrupt shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, pushing up oil prices, inflation and the cost of government borrowing. In Britain, the price of diesel reached a record high of just under 2 pounds a litre on Monday, according to the Royal Automobile Club.

Although the next general election does not have to be called until 2029, Labour’s improved fortunes have led to talk of an early poll. Burnham has said he will not go to the voters early. John Curtice, professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde, said that was sensible, adding that Burnham had given Labour “a halo effect from a popular leader” but that the party still needed to build wider support before considering an election. Overall, Burnham used the conference to set out an ambitious programme, while making clear that the political and economic constraints on delivering it would be severe.