Andy Burnham could use his first Labour conference speech as leader to hint at the future of the state pension “triple lock”.

In a deeply personal address to activists in Liverpool, the Prime Minister is expected to expand on plans for an NHS-style social care system, which has been estimated to cost £18billion a year.

Just two months after defeating Keir Starmer, Mr Burnham will set out a Left-wing programme of nationalisation aimed at giving the country “hope again”.

However, the Labour leader is already facing criticism as he appears ready to put the pension guarantee at risk in an effort to demonstrate how his ambitious spending plans could be funded.

The triple lock ensures state pension payments rise by whichever is highest among inflation, average earnings growth or 2.5 per cent. The policy was introduced by the Coalition Government.

Unite, one of Labour’s biggest union donors, has warned that “picking the pocket of pensioners” would amount to “electoral suicide”.

Any move against the guarantee would be especially contentious because the Prime Minister has repeatedly rejected proposals to cut benefits such as PIP, arguing instead that reforms should focus on helping more people into work.

Cabinet ministers have declined to guarantee the triple lock beyond the current Parliament, while maintaining that Labour’s commitment to retain it until the next election remains in place.

During a series of broadcast interviews ahead of the speech, Labour Deputy Leader Lucy Powell said only that Mr Burnham was prepared to tackle challenging questions.

His conference address comes against a worsening economic backdrop, with the crisis in the Middle East sending shockwaves through energy markets.

As he works on the Government’s finances ahead of the October 28 Budget, Chancellor John Healey told delegates yesterday that Labour could not repeat the spending surge associated with Tony Blair’s government after 1997.

Persistent inflation, weaker growth and rising debt-servicing costs have steadily reduced Mr Healey’s “headroom” under the Government’s fiscal rules. That leaves ministers facing the prospect of tax increases or spending reductions, the latter of which would meet fierce opposition from Labour MPs.

Reflecting the Liverpool conference slogan “Hope again”, Mr Burnham will tell party members that “hope comes from honesty and from saying the things politicians usually avoid”.

He is also expected to repeat his criticism of Thatcher and “neoliberalism”, blaming the country’s current difficulties on what he calls the “flawed thinking of the last 40 years”.

The Labour leader will announce plans for a publicly owned “Great British Grid”, intended to bring UK energy costs closer to those in European countries over the next decade.

Mr Burnham will say: “We can’t carry on as we are. Politics-as-usual has taken Britain backwards.

“More of the same isn’t good enough and isn’t going to get us where we need to be.”

MORE ON THIS: Abused Death Row Inmate Draws Parallels to Lindsay Clancy

He will pledge to wrest power from “vested interests” and give the public sector “more control of the basics so that we can make it more functional again”.

Renationalisation of the railways is already under way, but the PM will signal he wants further government control of other sectors, including water, energy and housing.

He will make clear the Government is ready to put Thames Water in a ‘special administration scheme’ if a bailout plan fails, effectively taking public ownership of the debt-laden giant.

Labour sources said full-scale nationalisation of the major utilities is unlikely at this stage because of the enormous cost.

But ministers are exploring other ways to intervene in the market to give the Government greater control, including appointing elected mayors to lead regional oversight boards.

Mr Burnham has said social care reforms will not be in place until after the next election, with Whitehall troubleshooter Baroness Casey carrying out a review. 

The prospect of downgrading the triple lock sparked an immediate backlash from Labour’s allies. 

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘Instead of going and trying to pick the pocket of pensioners, we need to move over to the other side of the equation and look at things like wealth taxes, way before we try to stop something like the triple lock…’

The Unite general secretary added: ‘When we met with Andy this week, it certainly wasn’t mentioned.

‘But I do think that it’s important that Labour make sure that working-class people know that they’re on their side, and this would be a direction of travel that would say the opposite to that.’

Asked whether the lock should be reformed to fund social care, Ms Graham said: ‘What I understood the National Care Service to be was a universal benefit: everybody paid in and everybody gets out, and that is what actually the principle of that is.

‘Going to a group of people who are getting around £12,500 a year in order to pay for it to take away their security is wrong. I think it’s morally wrong.’

Ms Powell, who is also the Education Secretary, said the party was committed to the triple lock until the next election – but would not go any further.

She told Sky News: ‘We are committed to the triple lock. It’s in our manifesto. The triple lock has really delivered for pensioners, in this country, over the course of this Parliament.

‘I think we’re going to see (the) state pension rising by about £2,000-a-year significantly, and that’s really important, so pensioners watching your show today can know that their income is secure and will continue to rise over the course of this Parliament.

‘I don’t know what Andy’s going to say about that today, but I know that what he’s talking about is this big conversation about solving these big problems, but being really honest with people that they come at a cost.

‘They do come at a cost. You can’t just solve the social care crisis without having the big conversations about how you’re going to do this.’

It has been three decades since Sabrina The Teenage Witch first appeared on television, yet the beloved sitcom remains a lasting part of many viewers’ childhoods.

After premiering in 1996, the series quickly became a major hit, continuing for seven successful seasons and captivating audiences around the world.

The story followed Sabrina Spellman, a teenage witch played by Melissa Joan Hart, whose 16th birthday brought an extraordinary revelation—and a dramatic new chapter in her life after she mysteriously levitated from her bed while asleep.

More than two decades after the show ended in 2003, fans still wonder what happened to Sabrina, her family, teachers and the boys who shaped her magical teenage years.

The cast reunited in Chicago in June ahead of the sitcom’s 30th anniversary. Melissa, now 50, reflected on the remarkable way the series has continued to connect with audiences.

“It’s still so loved. It’s so international,” she said. “So many people come to me and say it got them through a hard time or that they learned English from the show.”

She added: “You hear all these amazing things over time, and eventually you have to believe that the show really did mean a lot to people. So that’s huge.”

From stepping away from the spotlight to building successful careers in television, here is a look at what the stars of Sabrina The Teenage Witch went on to do after the series finale.

Melissa Joan Hart 

Melissa, 50, was already familiar to television audiences when she took on the role of Sabrina. She had previously played the character in a television movie of the same name.

With her mother, Paula Hart, serving as an executive producer, the series became Melissa’s second major television success. Before that, she had won fans as the star of Nickelodeon’s Clarissa Explains It All.

While Sabrina was on air, Melissa also expanded her film career, appearing in movies such as Can’t Hardly Wait in 1998 and Drive Me Crazy in 1999.

She made guest appearances on a number of television shows and also stepped behind the camera to direct several TV episodes.

Not long after the sitcom ended, she married musician Mark Wilkerson. The couple later welcomed three sons.

Melissa continued working as an actress, later taking a leading role in the ABC Family series Melissa & Joey and appearing in made-for-television films including My Fake Fiancé and Holiday in Handcuffs.

In 2013, she published the memoir Melissa Explains It All: Tales from My Abnormally Normal Life. The book explored her experience growing up in the entertainment industry, as well as her candid memories of drug use and partying during her early 20s.

Melissa also wrote about partying with members of NSYNC, Tori Spelling and Britney Spears. She recalled helping Britney sneak out while the young star was still closely monitored by minders, and remembered sharing a kiss with Ryan Reynolds, whose “lips were pretty wonderful.”

Today, Melissa remains active in the entertainment industry as an actress, producer and director. Her most recent work includes a starring role in the Lifetime film Killing the Competition.

Over the years, she’s spoken openly about her past drug issues, but has been enjoying a new lease of life after losing weight and enjoying time with her husband.

On her X account, she says her ‘favourite role’ has been being mum to her boys Mason, Brady and Tucker.

She has also dabbled with going into politics. In 2025, she told HELLO! that she feels passionate about giving back. 

Mellissa said: ‘When my sister and I were kids, we’d draw homeless shelters and figure out how we could house unhoused people.

‘Then I moved to Los Angeles for Sabrina, and I locked into the LA charities, especially the LA mission, and I realised that they built homeless shelters very similar to what we were considering. 

‘We didn’t have it right at the age of 10, but I always wanted to be a part of it, and I hope I’ve passed that down to my boys by getting them out there and letting them see the face of homelessness and not being afraid of people that are different and understanding that everyone has a story.’

Caroline Rhea

Along with her sister Zelda, Sabrina’s kookier aunt Hilda took Sabrina in after her parents – a witch father and mortal mother – jetted off to different spots around the globe for work.

Hilda offered comic relief and hijinks on the show for several years, while Caroline Rhea, 62, worked side gigs as a regular on Hollywood Squares and The Rosie O’Donnell Show.

After the show ended, she went on to host a year of her own talk show, The Caroline Rhea Show, host a season of The Biggest Loser, and perform several comedy stand-up specials. 

She also provided the voice for the mum on Disney Channel’s Phineas and Ferb from 2007 to 2015. 

Most recently, she wrapped up season one of the drama series Sheriff Country and continues to perform stand-up worldwide, having released her seventh comedy special. 

Beth Broderick 

Sabrina’s more level-headed, overachieving aunt Zelda was played by Beth Broderick, 67, who had a long list of acting credits behind her by the time she joined the magical show.

Since Sabrina ended, she’s done stints on Lost and Under the Dome, made a guest appearance on Melissa’s show Melissa and Joey, and popped up on episodes of Leverage, Castle, Cold Case, CSI, ER, and Supernatural.

In a 2015 Reddit interview, the actress said she still thinks of Melissa (Sabrina) and Caroline (Hilda) as ‘family’, adding: ‘Melissa Joan Hart was never a diva. She is a hard-working super smart woman and I adore her. She has a great family and knows what is important in life. She is a treasure.’

As well as parts on Under the Dome and Lost, Beth has taken on stage roles and has written A Cup of Joe, Wonderland and Literatti with Dennis Bailey.

She also went on to star in Timber Falls and episodes of Cold Case and Castle.

Beth is the founding member of Momentum, an organisation in New York that assists people with Aids.

Nick Bakay

In the show’s pilot, Sabrina found out that her aunts’ pet cat is not really a cat at all, but a 500-year-old witch named Salem Saberhagen who was sentenced to spend 100 years in feline form as punishment for trying to take over the world.

When the show began, he was 25 years into his century-long sentence – meaning today, the grumpy fuzzball would still have 55 years coughing up hairballs to go. 

The character itself was played by three different animatronic cats and a few live ones, directed by a trainer – and with a bit of TV magic (ahem), they became a single man-trapped-in-a-kitty’s-body.

Salem the ‘man’, though, was voiced by Nick Bakay, who also voiced Norbert on Nickelodeon’s Angry Beavers. 

Nick, 66, works as a screenwriter and co-wrote Paul Blart: Mall Cop, its sequel, and Zookeeper. He was also an executive producer on the CBS TV show Mom. 

Nate Richert 

Sabrina’s high school boyfriend, Harvey Kinkle, was the ultimate clean-cut ‘good guy’ – who even risked his life through a death-defying obstacle course to compete for her love while no longer under her ‘spell’.

DON’T MISS: Lindsay Clancy’s Fate Hangs in the Balance Ahead of Crucial Hearing

So it was quite a surprise when a picture of the actor looking almost unrecognisable was shared on the internet this year. 

The former TV star, 48, now looks a far cry from his all-American image from the 1990s children’s show.

Nate’s last acting role was in 2020 and he previously revealed that he had taken a job as a janitor in order to ‘pay the bills’.

Back in 2018, he posted on X: ‘I’m currently a maintenance man, a janitor, a carpenter, and do whatever random jobs I can get to pay the bills.’ 

Jenna Leigh Green

Resident Westbridge High School mean girl Libby Chessler couldn’t have been more awful to Sabrina – though she did sometimes have to pay for her ‘tude as the victim of Sabrina’s spells.

‘Playing the mean girl is a lot of fun,’ she admitted in an interview with StageBuddy. 

But while Libby and Sabrina hated each other, Jenna insisted on Instagram that there was no bad blood between the real-life actresses.

‘Where did the time go!? Cannot express my gratitude for the show that allowed me to grow up while living out my wildest dreams. Libby Chessler truly was, the original Mean Girl!’ she wrote. 

Post-Sabrina, Jenna, 52, went on to play Elphaba’s sister Nessarose (the Wicked Witch of the East) in Wicked on Broadway and in the first national tour of the show. 

She also appeared in episodes of Bones, Castle, Cold Case, ER, and Dharma & Greg.

Martin Mull

Sabrina’s clueless high school principal, Willard Kraft, mostly made life trickier for the teen who was juggling normal teenager problems and witch issues.

Sabrina, on which Martin starred from 1997 to 2000, was really just a blip in his long career, which had previously included a long run on Roseanne and the role of Colonel Mustard in Clue.

He went on to appear on The Ellen Show, Danny Phantom, ‘Til Death, Dads, Two and a Half Men, and Veep.

In June 2024, the star passed away at the age of 80 after a ‘valiant fight against a long illness’.

Lindsay Sloane

Sabrina’s high school best friend, Valerie Birkhead only appeared in two seasons, and left the show before Sabrina graduated.

‘For two years I got to go to work with my best friends who were as funny as they were kind,’ she wrote on Instagram. 

‘We were a bunch of teenage weirdos who felt so cool because we had each other.’

Lindsay Sloane, 49, had small roles in a slew of movies and TV shows since, and starred in CBS’ remake of The Odd Couple.

Soleil Moon Frye

Little miss witch’s college friends stuck around for three seasons each, after joining the show in 2000. 

Roxie, played by Punky Brewster’s Soleil Moon Frye, 50, was the strong-willed activist of the bunch.

Since leaving Sabrina, Soleil has had four children with her television producer husband Jason Goldberg, artistically named Poet, Jagger, Lyric, and Story. 

Career-wise, she’s done voice work for The Proud Family, Planet Sheen, and Robot Chicken, and briefly hosted the series Homemade Simple. 

She also has her own crafting site, Moon Frye and has released several books, including Happy Chaos: From Punky to Parenting and My Perfectly Imperfect Adventures in Between and party-planning guide Let’s Get This Party Started.

Elisa Donovan

Elisa, 55, also joined the show in 2000 as Morgan, Sabrina’s other – and much ditzier and more shopping-obsessed – college room-mate. 

The superficial, shallow girl was a role she knew well: She’d already played Cher’s frenemy Amber in Clueless.

Since the show ended, she’s racked up a long résumé of TV movies and also made a guest appearance on Melissa & Joey.

She and her husband have one daughter, Scarlett Avery Bigelow, who was born in 2012.

David Lascher

David’s, 54, character Josh caused a bit of drama after joining the show in 1999, leading to the breakup of the show’s It Couple Sabrina and Harvey. 

The coffee house manager-turned-photojournalist and Sabrina eventually became an item, though they split at the end of the show.

Like Beth, he was reunited with Melissa Joan Hart during Melissa & Joey when he made a guest appearance as Charlie. 

He’s also starred in Blossom with Joey Lawrence, who played Joey in the show.

He directed the film Sister in 2014, and has three kids with his wife.

Alimi Ballard  

Alimi, 48, played Quizmaster Albert in Sabrina The Teenage Witch.

He went on to become known for playing FBI agent David Sinclair on Numb3rs, and starred in Queen Sugar, Lucifer, Criminal Minds and The Catch.

His most recent big role is as Marcel Dumas on Queen of the South.

In 2025, he transitioned into directing, making his debut with the Lifetime film Be Happy. 

A British mother could spend up to 20 years in a Cambodian prison after authorities allegedly found 34.5kg of cannabis in her luggage as she tried to leave the country.

Tamara Martins, from Croydon, says she was deliberately framed. According to the 31-year-old, a man she met in a bar offered to pay her to take a suitcase containing electronics back to Britain.

She maintains that she had no idea drugs were inside the luggage until she was detained at Techo Airport, where officials reportedly discovered 71 packets of marijuana among her belongings.

Cambodia enforces some of the region’s toughest drug laws, and trafficking offences can result in life imprisonment.

Martins’s younger brother Trey, 29, told the Daily Mail that he is now caring for her ten-year-old daughter while trying to secure legal assistance for his sister from more than 6,000 miles away.

“I didn’t even know she was in Cambodia until she called me,” he said. “All I could hear was her crying. She kept saying, ‘I’ve been arrested. I’ve been arrested.’”

Trey said his sister sounded distressed and confused during the call, repeatedly asking whether he could help and apologising for what had happened.

He said he was stunned by the allegations, adding: “She’s never been arrested for anything drug-related and she’s never been involved in that kind of lifestyle.”

Martins was initially able to speak with Trey during her first few days at a tourist detention facility.

“At first, she told me the officers had been kind to her,” Trey said. “They allowed her to use her phone and smoke.”

She was later moved to CC2 women’s prison, where her phone was taken away and, according to her family, her living conditions became considerably worse.

In a letter to Trey seen by the Daily Mail, Martins described the prison as “hell” and wrote that she had been unable to sleep or eat properly.

“I have to try not to think too much about life at home, otherwise I’ll die from a broken heart,” she wrote. “It’s really difficult and hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

She also appealed for financial help, saying the situation was so difficult that prisoners without money were left “in the gutter.”

Trey claims his sister cannot reliably obtain food, clothing or essential sanitary products unless she has money available.

He said she is being held in a cell shared by more than 66 inmates, with some prisoners reportedly forced to sleep on the bare floor because there are not enough bunk beds.

Martins has also reportedly been left without underwear and had to borrow some from another inmate.

A report of a visit by British Embassy consular staff, seen by the Daily Mail, said Martins expressed concern about sharing accommodation with prisoners living with HIV and other illnesses.

For Tamara, who works as a model booker in London, one of the hardest parts of her predicament is being separated from her ten-year-old daughter. 

She is wondering where her mum is, Trey says, but he has not told her the truth about the situation, instead telling the child Tamara has been stuck in a blackout.

‘She doesn’t know that her mum has been arrested. She’s calm. I’ve told her, “Your mum’s all right. She’s good. Don’t worry about it. She’s doing the best she can”.’

RELATED: Hayden Panettiere’s Ex Seeks Guardianship of Their Daughter’s Estate

Trey describes his sister as a ‘kind’ person who will ‘always be there for you’.

‘My sister and I didn’t always get on, but I would give my heart or my lung to her. I would swap places with her right now if I could. I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy,’ he says.

Tamara is now one of the 355 Brits detained in Southeast Asia after being accused of being recruited as drug mules. 

Young people are lured by gangs and often incentivised to carry luggage for a fee without knowing its contents. 

Foreign Office minister Stephen Doughty issued a warning earlier this year of harsh treatment if detained overseas.

Mr Doughty said: ‘No holiday, payment or opportunity is worth risking your freedom, your future or your life.’

He added: ‘Detainees are warning about the dire living conditions they now face decades of in prison or, in some countries, the possibility of the death penalty.’

According to research commissioned by the Foreign Office, a staggering third of young Brits surveyed did not consider travelling with a suitcase packed by someone else to be a risk. 

Trey, who now faces the possibility of being separated from his sister for decades, has urged Britons travelling abroad to exercise extreme caution in Cambodia. 

‘The same people who did this to her, who approached her – where are they? They’re just going to escape and move on to the next person because nobody knows them, nobody knows where they’re from and nobody knows how to contact them.

‘It’s free game for them. The person at the other end who has to deal with it is her.

‘In hindsight, you can say she was an idiot for accepting something like that, but people make choices for whatever reasons. They can’t always be good choices. It’s a shame.’

Laura Bevan, Director of Prisoner and Family Support at Prisoners Abroad, said the organisation is supporting the highest ever number of people facing the death penalty linked to drug arrests.

‘Sentences for drugs offences are much harsher than we would expect here in the UK, and this includes the death penalty in some places,’ she told the Daily Mail.

‘We have heard anecdotal stories from family members that their relative has been led into carrying drugs after being promised a free or cheap holiday abroad, coerced by a new group they have become involved with, or duped at the end of the holiday into carrying drugs without feeling they have the option to say no. 

Bevan said that arrests for drug-related offences by 46 per cent to 355 cases in the last year.

‘The demographic of the people arrested on these charges was also markedly different from what we are used to seeing, with 28 per cent of the new arrests being women and 67 per cent under 35,’ she added.

‘The number of new cases of women in prison increased overall by 82 per cent last year with 115 new cases compared to 63 the year before. 61 per cent of women were detained on drug-related offences, compared to 44 per cent of men.’

Trey has set up a GoFundMe to cover his sister’s legal fees, which can be found here.

An FCDO Spokesperson told the Daily Mail: ‘We are supporting a British National detained in Cambodia and are in contact with the local authorities.’