Burnham's vision for Britain: 'Things will get better', PM vows as he prepares to set out 'new direction' at Labour conference
The PM said it was “crucial” to stabilise the public finances to put his agenda on a good footing as he arrived in Liverpool.
Andy Burnham has vowed to set out a new direction for Britain as he arrived in Liverpool for his Labour conference as Prime Minister.
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Dressed in black jeans, T-shirt and jacket and accompanied by his wife Marie-France van Heel, Mr Burnham said it was a proud moment to attend the Labour conference for the first time as leader.
The Prime Minister promised to set the UK on a new course because the decade since the Brexit vote had resulted in “drift and division”.
Mr Burnham said: “We’re going to make this a really important week where we set out a new direction for the country.
“We’ve had a decade since Brexit and it’s been a decade of too much drift, too much division, and we need to draw a line on that.”
He said his vision would leave “people able to have hope again that things will improve, that life will get better – and it will”.
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Earlier, Mr Burnham acknowledged he and the Chancellor John Healey face a “challenging” set of circumstances at the Budget, and said it was “crucial” to stabilise the public finances to put his agenda on a good footing.
The Iran War and other global turmoil has continued to push up borrowing costs and limit Mr Burnham’s room for manoeuvre ahead of the October 28 fiscal event.
Speaking ahead of the conference, the Prime Minister said he would be able to take tough choices to maintain the public finances, but insisted he could also bring about radical change.
“The public would have more respect for us if we go and grab something difficult … and say, ‘right, we’re going to do something here’, rather than constantly playing the political game before fixing the problems.
“It’s challenging, definitely, but there are still things that you can do. Always in politics, there are things that you can do. The question is sometimes: Are you prepared to do them? Yeah, I am prepared to do them,” he told The Guardian.
“It’s challenging, definitely, but there are still things that you can do. Always in politics, there are things that you can do. The question is sometimes: Are you prepared to do them? Yeah, I am prepared to do them.”
Asked about the need for a buffer against his spending plans, the so-called fiscal headroom, Mr Burnham said: “I do think it is crucial to have stability and to show that there’s a willingness to face up to the reality of some of these difficult things.
“But actually from that stability, the permission can come to make bigger change that, in the end, could put the country in a stronger position in relation to the public finances.”
Meanwhile, Labour’s party chairwoman said she was not complacent about its chances of winning the next election, despite having regained public favour in recent opinion polling.
Bridget Phillipson acknowledged Mr Burnham’s “real sense of connection” with the public was likely behind the latest polling, which showed Labour would be the largest party if a snap election were called, though it would fall short of a majority.
Reform UK and the Tories would find themselves neck-and-neck in their parliamentary numbers, MRP polling carried out by YouGov also suggested, with neither in the position to form a government alone.
The Prime Minister ruled out plunging the country into an early election despite the improved prospects, as he took part in a marathon round of pre-conference broadcast interviews.