Andy Burnham has set out plans to move Britain unashamedly to the left, vowing to unravel the legacy of Margaret Thatcher. In a speech to Labour's annual conference, the Prime Minister announced that future council tenants will lose the right to buy their homes, and pledged to scrap Tory legislation that prevented the government from nationalising private firms.
Residents in new council homes will be barred from buying them, while empty homes owned by private landlords will be taken over by councils. The Prime Minister also warned that councils could seize occupied homes rented out by private landlords if they are in a poor state. Existing council tenants will not lose the right to buy, he said.
A break with the past 40 years
Mr Burnham signalled a massive growth in state power as he complained that state-owned services had been sold off. He said: "I will make a break with the direction of the past 40 years and put Britain on a new path."
He claimed the UK took the wrong path in the 1980s, with water, transport and care services "broken up and sold off". He added: "Later this year we will publish our plan for Britain. It will set out how over 10 years we will make this country work for you again. More control over the basics."
Ending the ideological ban on public ownership
He told Labour activists that he would end Margaret Thatcher's "ideological ban" on public ownership of water companies. Referring to his long journey to Number 10, Mr Burnham spoke about his family's background in Liverpool, saying his grandad drove a lorry along Liverpool's docks and his grandmother put down a deposit on a house in the city.
Mr Burnham said: "Imagine living in a Britain where people feel the country has got their back again." He pointed out that he was "ten weeks into this job" and paid tribute to former Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, saying: "Thank you Keir."
He said he "became an outsider from the Westminster club" because of his frustration with the failure of central government to deal with issues such as social care. "Everyone knows things are not working as they should ... everyone wants less drift and more direction. Britain has been on the wrong path for a long time," he said.
