Andy Burnham vowed to deliver "good growth in every postcode, hope in every heart" as he arrived in Liverpool for his first Labour Party conference as Prime Minister. He 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 added. His vision, he said, would leave "people able to have hope again that things will improve, that life will get better – and it will".
A proud moment for the PM
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 PM, an Everton fan, said: "I love coming to Liverpool on a Saturday, normally to support the Blues, but we're all supporting the Reds today, aren't we?"
"And honestly, for me, it is a moment – a very proud one – as somebody born in this city, to walk up to my first Labour conference as leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister. My grandad drove a lorry for Tate & Lyle up and down these docks – I wonder what he would make of this right now."
Polling caution amid optimism
Labour's party chair 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. Mr Burnham said he wanted to "knock dead" rumours of triggering a contest before 2029.
Party figures weigh in
Speaking to the Press Association on Saturday, Ms Phillipson said Labour recognised it had "a massive fight on our hands with Reform, with the Tories". She expressed caution about the latest polling, "because the only poll that will matter is the one that happens on election day in 2029".
The Labour chair added: "But what we have seen with Andy Burnham is a real sense of connection with the public, taking things to the next level. That hope, that optimism, that sense that Britain's best days lie ahead of us. We've got a big fight on our hands come the next election, and I don't underestimate that challenge for one second, but there's a real sense of purpose and energy as conference gets under way."
Ahead of conference, several Labour figures have acknowledged Mr Burnham's leadership has reinvigorated Labour following Sir Keir Starmer's time in No 10. Education Secretary Lucy Powell told the Guardian the Government under Sir Keir had "lost sight of some of the politics and the purpose".
Speaking to the BBC on Saturday, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said: "I think the reason, frankly, that we had a change of leadership at the start of this year is because we all felt that people need to feel the change in their lives that we promised in 2024 much more quickly."
