By GB News (Politics) | Created at 2026-09-26 21:01:39 | Updated at 2026-09-26 22:09:48
1 hour ago
Andy Burnham is due to set out a "new direction" for the UK after warning there has been "too much drift" in Britain since Brexit.
On the eve of his first Labour Party conference as leader, the Prime Minister insisted he can deliver genuine change for people across Britain, despite the country facing significant economic pressures.
Mr Burnham acknowledge her and Chancellor John Healey face a "challenging" backdrop ahead of the Budget, stressing it was "crucial" to stabilise the public finances before pursuing his broader agenda.
The ongoing conflict involving Iran, alongside wider global instability, has continued to push up borrowing costs, limiting the Prime Minister's flexibility ahead of the fiscal event scheduled for October 28.
Mr Burnham, speaking to the Guardian ahead of the conference in Liverpool, said he remained prepared to make difficult decisions to protect public finances, while pursuing significant reform.
He said: "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."
When asked about the need to maintain fiscal headroom, Mr Burnham responded: "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.
The Prime Minister addressed the media as he arrived at the ACC Liverpool ahead of his party's conference
PA
"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."
Mr Burnham also reflected upon the recent death of his father, Roy, who did not know his son was Prime Minister due to Alzheimer's, saying: "I'm in this job for what I can do for people, not for what it can do for me... to make the changes that my dad, for instance, long pushed me to make."
Arriving at the conference, he vowed to chart a new direction for the country, arguing the decade following the Brexit referendum had been defined by "drift and division".
He continued: "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."
Mr Burnham hand-in-hand with his wife, Marie-France Ban Heel
PA
The Prime Minister said his aim was to restore public hope, adding that his vision would leave "people able to have hope again that things will improve, that life will get better — and it will".
Dressed casually in black jeans, a T-shirt and jacket, and accompanied by his wife, Marie-France van Heel, he described attending his first Labour conference as leader as a "proud moment".
Meanwhile, Labour Party chairwoman Bridget Phillipson said the party was not taking its electoral chances for granted, despite a recent improvement in opinion polling.
She acknowledged Mr Burnham's "real sense of connection" with voters was likely driving Labour's improved standing.
Labour has been projected to be the largest party in a snap election, though short of a majority, recent MRP polling from YouGov revealed.
The same polling suggested Reform UK and the Conservatives would be roughly neck and neck, with neither in a position to form a government alone.
Despite the improved outlook, Mr Burnham has ruled out calling an early general election - a stance he doubled-down on during a series of broadcast interviews ahead of conference.
Ms Phillipson said Labour recognised it faced "a massive fight on our hands with Reform, with the Tories".
She urged caution over the polling, noting "the only poll that will matter is the one that happens on election day in 2029".
Labour's chairwoman added: "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."
Several senior Labour figures have credited Mr Burnham's leadership with reinvigorating the party's prospects following Sir Keir Starmer's departure from No10.
Education Secretary Lucy Powell told the Guardian that the Government under Sir Keir had "lost sight of some of the politics and the purpose".
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told the BBC: "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."
Ms Phillipson declined to say whether the former Prime Minister's leadership had represented a missed opportunity for the party, instead she said she remained "forever grateful to Keir for taking us to one of the best election results in our history".
She added: "But there is more to do, and we know that the public are impatient for change, want to see it, and they want to feel it.
"That's why Andy Burnham this week will be setting out how we step up that change, how we demonstrate that people can feel better off, can see that sense of change within their communities."
