‘New way’: UK’s Burnham promises huge expansion of public services | Economic and commercial news

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has promised to put the UK on a new path of equitable growth in his first speech to the Labor conference as leader of the country and his party.

Addressing a range of topics including healthcare, pensions, electoral reforms, affordable housing and public services, Burnham said on Tuesday it was time for the UK to embrace radical change and reject a slow, painful demise.

“Britain has been on the wrong track for a long time,” Burnham told delegates, adding that he was “prepared to do things that my predecessors would not do.”

“I will break with the direction of the last 40 years and put Britain on a new path, build a new economy and a new politics. That is the argument I am making to you today,” he said.

Burnham, who replaced Keir Starmer as Britain’s prime minister in July, said there was “a feeling that the powers that be are shooting against the people, not with them”.

“It’s not enough to repeat the same thing,” said the former mayor of the northwestern city of Liverpool, where the party conference was held. He added that it was time “to break the mold today.”

Social reforms

This year’s Labor Party conference brought together lawmakers and party members, as well as unions and businesses, in one venue.

“This country is not where any of us would like it to be,” Burnham said.

Much of Burnham’s speech addressed the need for social reforms with a focus on carers and healthcare, including the creation of a “national care service…free at the point of use”.

He said it would be a “person-centred, high quality” service, where “everyone contributes and everyone is covered” and where care is “about people not profit”, does not erode savings and gives “proper recognition” to care workers.

There was also talk of adjusting the “triple pension lock” which sets state pension increases. He said changes would be made by April 2030, after the next general election.

Burnham said low-income retirees would not pay income tax in the current Parliament. The planned changes meant retirees would receive annual increases to their state pension without “additional care costs”, “so retirees can still share in the nation’s growing prosperity”.

He also spoke of the need to make housing more affordable, confirming his party’s intention to facilitate young people’s access to property by reducing the deposit needed to buy a property.

There was also talk of returning public control of public services, such as water and electricity, by removing “(former Prime Minister) Margaret Thatcher’s ideological ban on public ownership of water companies”.

On electricity, Burnham announced a new public “Great British Grid” which will “challenge private sector operators” to “increase competition, reduce costs and speed up delivery”, and make it easier to connect to the electricity grid.

Russia and Iran “threaten”

Burnham’s speech also focused on foreign policy issues, saying he would “resist” Russian and Iranian “threats.”

“I will be firm in my support for Ukraine and I will resist threats from wherever they come, whether from Russia, Iran or anywhere,” he said.

Regarding Israel, the occupied West Bank and Gaza, Burnham praised his foreign minister’s approach since taking office in July.

“Our leadership will be principled to secure a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine, as (Foreign Secretary) Ed Miliband has done,” he said.

Al Jazeera’s Milena Veselinovic, who listened to the British prime minister at the conference, said Burnham’s speech was filled with “a lot of heated rhetoric.”

“Britain is in a very dire situation financially,” Veselinovic said, adding that immense pressure is on Burnham’s new government as it prepares to present its first budget at the end of October.

Annual consumer price inflation (CPI) in the UK rose to 3.1 per cent in the 12 months to August, up from 2.9 per cent in July, according to the Office of National Statistics.

Veselinovic said Burnham was aware that he might have to “pay a political price for all the reforms he promises”, but also understood that “someone has to rip off the plaster because the costs are too high”.

Danny Sriskandarajah, chief executive of the New Economics Foundation, said Burnham had given “a remarkable speech”.

“Andy Burnham has this gift of being able to seem so genuine and genuine,” Sriskandarajah told Al Jazeera.

Burnham, Sriskandarajah said, “was in tears at times.”

“He has been honest about the challenges facing Britain. But he also generates a sense of hope which I think is much needed,” he said.

Sriskandarajah said the challenge for Burnham will be financing the promises he made in the speech.

“All these things he wants to do will cost money, which means they’ll have to find those resources somewhere,” he said.