Andy Burnham’s first Labour conference as prime minister
FT News Briefing
The episode covers three major global news stories: Andy Burnham's debut as Prime Minister at the Labour Party conference, the EU's struggle
Key takeaways
- Andy Burnham has officially replaced Keir Starlam as Prime Minister of the UK.
- The UK government is considering resurrecting the 'Help to Buy' policy for young homeowners.
Main topics
- Labour Party Conference
- UK Economic Policy
Notable quotes
The resurrection of the help to buy policy.
Conclusion
The episode provides a snapshot of shifting political leadership in th
Transcript preview
Speaker 2 (0:01) Good morning from the Financial Times. Today is Monday, September 28th, and this is your FT News Briefing. Andy Burnham is trying to make his mark at Labour Party conference, and European diplomats are confused about a new EU proposal to counter Russian hybrid warfare. Plus, investors are putting their money into Panama. I'm Josh Gabri-Dwyan, and here's the news you need to start your day. Speaker 2 (0:36) It's Labour Party conference this week. The annual meeting kicked off yesterday and it's Andy Burnham's first as Prime Minister. That makes it particularly important for a man who's promised some fairly ambitious changes to the UK economy. The FT's Lucy Fisher joins us now from conference in Liverpool to discuss. Hi, Lucy. Hi, Josh. Lucy, what's been the vibe at Labour conference this year? Speaker 5 (0:59) Well, let's just take a moment to reflect for a minute. This year's conference comes 12 months after last year when Andy Burnham attempted to get a coup underway against Keir Starmer. That fizzled out. He failed to get MPs to line up behind him and instead had to sort of slink off. with his tail between his legs. So it's striking what a difference 12 months makes that he is now here, all triumphant, having successfully forced Starmer out of Downing Street and replaced him. It's definitely fair to say that the mood among the party faithful, certainly among MPs and ministers, is a lot more buoyant than last year. There's a real feeling of hopefulness around Burnham, and there's a sense that the party wants to capitalise on that. as they get together this year. Speaker 2 (1:49) What about in terms of policy? What have we heard so far from conference? Speaker 5 (1:53) Well, we've actually heard quite a lot. Andy Burnham has already announced a key rabbit out of the hat, as we call them, a positive policy announcement in terms of... The resurrection of the help to buy policy. This is around helping young people get on the housing ladder with significant equity loans so that people can take out tiny 2.5 % mortgages. He's also announced that he's not going to pursue a massive overhaul of social care policy until after the next election. He's at the moment undertaking a review to look into how to reform the very troubled sector. And he has suggested on Sunday that he will enter the next election, hinting that he will ask the public to accept tax rises in order to fund a new national social care service based on a similar model to the National Health Service. Speaker 2 (2:48) OK, so some big announcements early on already. We also know that the chancellor, John Healy, is expected to confirm some £6