Andy Burnham will pledge to tackle the issues politicians “usually avoid” in his first speech to the Labour Party conference as leader on Tuesday.
The Prime Minister is expected to use his address to set out a “clear direction” for the country, promising “less drift and more direction”. He will unveil a raft of policies on social care, youth unemployment and public control of utilities – with a pledge to hold an “honest conversation” about tough issues.
Hope from honesty
Echoing the conference’s slogan of “Hope again”, Mr Burnham will tell party members that “hope comes from honesty and from saying the things politicians usually avoid”.
He will say: “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.”
He will revisit the themes of his first speeches in office, criticising the centralisation of power in the hands of “vested interests” and promising a break from the “flawed thinking of the last 40 years”.
Social care reform
Social care is likely to feature prominently in the speech, with the Prime Minister suggesting on Monday he would set out more detail of his plans to fund reform of the system. Mr Burnham has previously said he intends to spend what “political capital” he has on reforming social care, an issue he tried to address as health secretary under Gordon Brown.
Those proposals, which would have seen care funded by a levy on estates, were condemned by opponents as a “death tax” and foundered after Labour’s defeat in the 2010 election.
At the opening of the conference on Sunday, Mr Burnham said he was prepared to make unpopular decisions, including tax hikes, to pay for social care – accusing previous generations of politicians of “cowardice” for failing to “grasp the nettle” of reform.
Next steps and response
Change is unlikely to come before the next election, with Baroness Louise Casey still to publish the findings of her review of social care and Mr Burnham suggesting he would put his proposals to the public in Labour’s next manifesto.
Conservative Party chairman Kevin Hollinrake said hope was “not a strategy”. He said: “If Andy Burnham wants to be honest with the British people, he must admit that Labour’s tax rises have crushed businesses, killed jobs and hammered family finances — all so Labour can give more handouts to benefits street.”
He added: “Tomorrow Andy Burnham has the chance to show whether he’s got the backbone to bring the welfare bill down and stand up to his welfare obsessed MPs. Failure to do so will prove he’s just a people pleaser who can’t take decisions in the national interest, and that Labour really are the welfare party.”
