Hope again: What can we expect to hear from Burnham's conference speech?
George Marshall • UK • 3 minute read
Image: Number 10 / Flickr
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Last Friday I heard Alastair Campbell in conversation with Sophie Pender at the 93% Club’s Social Mobility Factory. An interesting conversation covering all things from Rory Stewart’s Newsnight swivel and stare to how Britain can be made fairer and why our education system is preventing that. Yet one of the biggest things that stood out to me was Campbell’s remark that Labour Party Conference speeches have so much impact (positive and negative) for Labour leaders – I believed him, of course, a man at the centre of three election victories. I looked back on Starmer’s speech last year, which did indeed bring some certainty and hope back to the party momentarily.
Andy Burnham is set to make his first conference speech as leader on Tuesday. For that hour or so, the eyes of Labour members, the media, and other parties will be on Burnham as he sets out to orate a path of what his party will strive to achieve, for whom, and for what cause. When he steps up to the podium in Liverpool, he will be trying to convert two months of political goodwill and change into a governing story that can set him up for the budget and the next year. Bringing momentum for the Labour movement, this conference will be a moment for Burnham to sustain the 'Burnham bounce' and make it more durable. But what can we expect to hear from the PM?
It could be a moment where the party solidifies its emotional register again
Well, the message of the conference is already clear with “hope again” displayed on many screens, leaflets, badges and merchandise around the conference centre. With this as a core theme of Burnham’s premiership so far, we can expect Burnham to lean emotively into the idea that Britain has not been on the right track – economically stagnant, politically chaotic, and depleted by Tory failings like Brexit. But Burnham will also once again expectedly offer a new vision that his government represents a break from the past, and it could be a moment where the party solidifies its emotional register again.
On substance, three things may dominate the conversation – social care, the economy, and creating opportunity.
Social care is the big one on the airwaves now, with Burnham recently announcing that Labour will run on the creation of a social care service (similar to the NHS) at the next election. He has already signalled that Tuesday will bring more detail, and I imagine we will see him continue to frame this explicitly as extending the founding principle of the NHS into care. Everyone contributing, everyone covered, and he has been blunt in interviews this week about wanting to "rip the plaster off" rather than dodge the difficult argument about who pays. Given how personally invested he is in this issue, we can expect it to be one of the speech's emotional high points, not just a policy footnote.
Image: Number 10 / Flickr
The second issue we may see being covered is the economy. We may see some indication of attempts to get the welfare cost down, as others in cabinet, like Louise Haigh, have hinted in recent days, but we may also see the principle of fairness (as Burnham has so often repeated) be embedded into the speech. It goes without saying that we expect the PM to talk about the nationalisation of bus networks and train companies that have already happened. On fairness, Burnham may also seek to give hope to young people and convey the moral message behind his government’s action towards young people.
Third is that we will likely see Burnham consolidating this government’s message of opportunity for all. With a budget looming, we may gain hints into how Burnham may seek to turn this idea of fairness and opportunity into a reality.
Unlike last year, the ball is very much in the Prime Minister’s court as Burnham ups Labour’s position in the polls. With this the most substantial chance Burnham has had to call out his opponents on the left and the right and show Labour to be the true party of hope, the question is, will Burnham be able to tell the story of why Labour, and only Labour, can deliver the change that this country needs.
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•Published: 28/09/26
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