Can Burnham save Britain? Finally, he reveals his plans – with one glaring omission

Updated September 30, 2026 — 10:36am,first published September 30, 2026 — 6:28am

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London: Andy Burnham just did something daringly different at an annual speech that is often heavy on theatre and light on ideas.

The British prime minister outlined at least six major reforms in his address to the annual Labour Party conference after candidly admitting to the failures of the last decade.

He also made an emotional plea for the United Kingdom to stick together at a time when many of its own people – not only those in Scotland and Wales – seem convinced it is broken beyond repair.

He was blunt about the referendum 10 years ago to leave the European Union. “Brexit has done more harm than good,” he said. This cleared the way for a debate on how to restore ties with the EU at a summit to be held later this year.

The instant analysis in the British media was that Burnham had fired the starting gun on the next election – due in 2029 – with an agenda to renew Labour after its drift under former leader Keir Starmer.

This was true, albeit banal. The key question was not whether Burnham could save Labour, but whether he might save Britain.

“I won’t pretend some of this won’t be difficult,” he said at one point. “I accept I may pay a political price. But someone has to go through the pain barrier and rip the plaster off.”

Australians might want to watch Burnham closely because some of his challenges have parallels in Canberra, even though times are tougher in Britain on every front.

His first major pledge was to restore the stock of public housing to ease a serious crisis with rising rents. He promised to give councils greater power to get new construction underway.

Farage says Britain is broken and only Reform can fix it. Now the pressure is on to deliver

If absentee landlords left rental properties in disrepair, he said, councils would force them to renovate.........

© Brisbane Times