Andy Burnham took a high-stakes gamble with Labour’s electoral prospects yesterday.
The Prime Minister promised to abolish the pension triple lock, revisit Brexit and overhaul Britain’s voting system.
In a seismic first address to Labour’s annual conference, Mr Burnham said he intended to “break the mould” of British politics and roll back the legacy of Thatcherism.
He pledged to scrap the triple lock, which has safeguarded the value of the state pension, to help finance a National Care Service providing social care.
The emotional speech saw the Prime Minister fight back tears as he dedicated the policy to his father, Roy, who died this month after spending his final days in a care home with Alzheimer’s.
By the end of the next decade, the raid on the triple lock is expected to cost pensioners £15billion a year.
Government sources admitted that unspecified tax increases would also be required to help pay for the ambitious scheme.
Sources acknowledged that the new service would cover personal care only, rather than residential costs. As a result, some Britons would still need to sell their homes to fund care in later life.
Andy Burnham vowed to abolish the pension triple lock, revisit Brexit and overhaul Britain’s voting system in his first speech to Labour’s annual conference
The Prime Minister revealed that Labour will contest the next election on a pledge to replace Britain’s first-past-the-post voting system
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said last night that scrapping the triple lock in 2030 would be a “first step”. She also accepted that the social care proposals “could require additional funding” through the tax system.
Mr Burnham also set out plans to reverse Brexit, arguing that it had caused “more harm than good”.
A range of “options” for Britain’s future relationship with Brussels will be published before the two sides meet later this autumn.
The proposals are expected to include closer integration through the single market and customs union, as well as the possibility of rejoining the EU.
Completing a triple package of reforms, the Prime Minister announced that Labour would fight the next election on a pledge to scrap first-past-the-post.
A national commission on electoral reform will develop an alternative system, which Labour will then include in its next manifesto.
The proposal would represent the most significant overhaul of Britain’s electoral system in more than a century.
Electoral reform is supported by the Liberal Democrats and Greens, and could pave the way for a succession of “rainbow coalitions” that would keep the Right out of power.
The scale of the pledges, together with repeated references to the next Parliament, fuelled fresh speculation last night that Mr Burnham may be preparing to call an election next year.
Kemi Badenoch accused the Prime Minister of trying to “take Britain back to the 1970s”.
The Conservative leader added: ‘[It was] a time of more government control, more trade union control and no economic growth.
‘There is a reason our country took a different course after that decade. Nothing Burnham announced will do anything to fix Britain’s long-term problems.
‘He had no plan to fix our stagnant economy. No plan to fund defence. No plan to sort out the spiralling welfare bill, beyond more government schemes.’
On a dramatic day:
- Mr Burnham said he would never introduce ‘crude cuts’ to reduce the welfare bill;
- The PM warned that the ‘broken’ social care system would ‘break the NHS’ unless it is reformed;
- A YouGov poll put Reform ahead of Labour by a narrow margin for the first time since summer;
- Mr Burnham said the privatised water industry ‘stinks’ and announced he would overhaul the sector, including by cracking down on bonuses.
The PM told the conference in Liverpool he would unpick the legacy of Margaret Thatcher, including scrapping the Right to Buy for new council houses.
He pledged to ‘make a break with the direction of the last 40 years’, including greater state control of water, energy and housing.
Mr Burnham acknowledged that his reforms would not be universally popular but appealed to voters to give him a hearing.
‘I accept I may pay a political price,’ he admitted. ‘But someone has to go through the pain barrier and rip the plaster off.’
The PM said he wanted to ‘bring back hope’, revive a spirit of ‘working class aspiration’ and allow Britain to ‘rise again’.
The nakedly Left-wing agenda delighted MPs on Labour’s hard-Left Socialist Campaign Group, with some even joking that they were ‘considering disbanding’ as their work was done.
Nigel Farage said Mr Burnham had no mandate for the changes and urged him to call an election now.
‘By potentially scrapping the triple lock, Andy Burnham will abdicate his responsibility to British pensioners,’ the Reform UK leader said.
‘Instead of cutting our bloated benefits bill, stopping migrants from accessing benefits or slashing foreign aid, he’s considering launching an offensive against our elderly.’
Dennis Reed, of the campaign group Silver Voices, said Labour would face a major backlash from older voters, describing the triple lock plan as ‘the winter fuel payment on stilts’.
But sources insisted older people would continue to benefit from the ‘highest state pension in history’.
Under the terms of the triple lock, which was introduced in 2011, the state pension rises by whichever is the highest of inflation, earnings or 2.5 per cent.
Under Labour’s new plan, the direct link with earnings will be lost, leaving the pension rising by either inflation or 2.5 per cent.
Government sources said a separate mechanism would ensure the pension does not fall below 30 per cent of average earnings over time.
Mr Burnham claimed the change would ‘generate significant savings’ to build up his National Care Service.
READ MORE:
Triple lock raid to cost OAPs £15billion: Burnham savaged by union chief for hitting poorest to help pay for care reforms
DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Who pays for PM’s new Jerusalem?
ANALYSIS: The PM had plenty to say about his family… but said little on welfare reform or raising defence spending
Coalitions of chaos are on the cards after PM pledges to change the voting system
QUENTIN LETTS: I am sorry to be beastly but there were moments in this speech when sugar levels were so high, they gave me diabetic twinges
NIGEL FARAGE: The State pension is not a handout. To break the contract with retirees now is a betrayal
More than a socialist, our new PM is a sentimentalist – driven to this wild lurch to the Left by an adolescent loathing of Mrs Thatcher