Labour Party conference: Hope again?
Political Fix
Recorded live at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, this episode analyzes Prime Minister Andy Burnham's first major conference speech
Key takeaways
- Prime Minister Andy Burnham proposed significant changes to the pensions triple lock to fund a national care service.
- The administration is signaling a potential reopening of the debate regarding the UK's relationship with the EU single market and customs union.
Main topics
- Labour Party Conference
- Andy Burnham's policy agenda
Notable quotes
Go and sell Andy Burnham.
Conclusion
The episode highlights a period of high political ambition for the Lab
Transcript preview
Speaker 3 (0:00) Political Fix is here at Labour Conference where, for the past three days, ministers, MPs, journalists and lobbyists have been schmoozing. I'm about to be joined on stage by Jonny Reynolds, the Business Secretary, and then by FT panellists where we'll be sharing our key takeaways from the conference. Hope you enjoy this special live edition of the podcast. Speaker 3 (0:24) This is George Parker, the FT's political editor, and we're joined by the business secretary, Johnny Reynolds. In a minute, we will be joined by Stephen Bush and Jen Williams, our FT colleagues. But firstly, business secretary, we wanted to put some questions to you. So there was so much in Burnham's speech, whether it was announcing a national care service, adjusting the triple lock in a pretty major way to pay for that. scrapping the Westminster electoral system. There's a lot more we could go into, but can I ask you about what's been said about business, or rather what hasn't been said about business at this conference? There's been a huge focus, I think, on workers, understandably. Grumbles from business that there's been precious little for them. What do you say to that? I guess a follow up is, you know, one of the key demands from business that we've been picking up is, you know, for a loosening or some kind of compromise on the employment rights package. Is there any give coming on that? OK, Speaker 5 (1:27) so I mean, first of all, I'm not sure I'd characterize it quite like that. I mean, the business presence here is phenomenal. The business day yesterday was a very big success. And the prime minister's... credentials speak for themselves. I mean, he has a relationship with business from his time as mayor. He has a record of delivering, frankly, stronger growth than the UK as a whole. He's got a theory of how that's done. He touched on something in his speech, which is something he holds very dear to, which is he believes businesses have not got the kind of competitiveness they otherwise would have had if there had not been, if there were for more control over things like the price of energy. And so... That is part of his theory for growth. I mean, obviously, I think the real story here is a lot of businesses are enjoying the optimism the new prime minister has brought, but it's the budget they are most focused on. I mean, that is entirely normal and always going to be the case. But I thought that the section in the prime minister's speech about growth was exactly true to how he sees it and what he wants to do. And frankly, has many aspects to it. That is about making the UK more competitive. Speaker 6 (2:32) I just wonder, we're here in Liverpool, where obviously the 80s is a period in the city's history which has scarred everyone's memories. But I wonder whether some of your people that you speak to in the business world are happy with the framing of the development of Britain's economy over the last 40 years, this idea that we've had 40 years of neoliberalism, the country took a wrong turn in the 1980s. I'm sure there are lots of people listening to this podcast who think, well, actually, we didn't take a wrong turn in the 1980s. Speaker 5 (2:58) So a lot of... the things I think you bring as a cabinet minister for a prime minister is if you know that person well, you can explain in the kind of detail people need some of the arguments that they're making. So he is not saying that every decision in the last 40 years has been wrong and he's not harking back to a golden age in the 1970s or 80s. Speaker 6 (3:18) It sounds Speaker 5 (3:19) like it sometimes, doesn't it? The point is this. At that moment in British economic history, he would argue, I would argue, it is the point where it's not just that people felt they lost. perhaps traditional employment in their area. They felt they lost power. by political and economic power. So no, he doesn't want to reopen the coal mines. But a lot of the agenda, George, is about recognising that the economic policy, the jobs people do, the lives they have, it directly relates to how they feel about the political system. And actually, a lot of businesses themselves often feel that some parts of the country where they're based in their business haven't Speaker 6 (3:56) had a fair shot at it either. Now, Speaker 5 (3:58) one thing I always find, I know we hop back to Greater Manchester quite a bit, but... It is part of the Prime Minister's pitch to be Prime Minister. It's based on that record. The fact that business confidence in Greater Manchester consistently outperforms the national average, that's interesting. That tells you about how people feel about a sense of things happening in their area, a sense of success and prosperity. So that's the point on this argument. Speaker 3 (4:20) A lot of what Andy Burnham set out today are measures that won't come into force until the next election. That could be three years away. It's a lot of deferment. the hope that he's promising, isn't it? Look, Speaker 5 (4:33) it's not unusual for a Prime Minister to take over mid-parliament. We've got many, many examples of that in history. But I think he is absolutely right to, for instance, on the proposals on social care, honour the existing manifesto commitment and point to the long-term future. I mean, I think a Prime Minister confronting one of the very significant spending pressures the country faces is a good thing in itself. And I think the pitch he's making to pensioners is one of a better system. overall. I think that is the right way to carry people with you. What is clearly going to be a difficult political argument to have. Speaker 6 (5:05) It's been a recent addition in the lexicon of John Healy to the cost of living. Now always hear it in conjunction with the cost of business. Almost always now. Can our business listeners listening to the podcast be reassured that means that he's not about to clobber business for the third budget in a row and make their lives even more difficult? Speaker 5 (5:25) You know we don't comment on budget speculation. But I think John using that phrase is very welcome. I really do. And I think the prime minister recognising there has been an ask in taxation in previous budgets. I think that is very welcome as well. You know, we've chosen an early budget because it will obviously reduce the days of speculation that the budgets always, always get. And again, I think that's a very positive thing. But look, you know, something I say regularly is there is no answer to any of the public policy. questions in the UK that people have, whether it's health, defence, social care, without a stronger economy to deliver that. There's been some encouraging things. Many of the signs we want to see go positive in terms of the performance of the Toryers now are there, but we obviously haven't got to that fundamental transformation in the sustained long-term growth of the UK. And we have to do that before we do anything else. Speaker 3 (6:18) We've got to let you go. So there's just time left to ask you for your political fix stock pick. Who are you buying or selling this week? Go and sell Andy Burnham. Speaker 5 (6:27) You've got to buy Burnham, right? And you're Speaker 3 (6:30) not allowed to buy yourself. Is that Speaker 5 (6:32) insider Speaker 3 (6:32) trading? Insider trading. Speaker 5 (6:34) You've got to buy Burnham. I mean, you know, the scale of that speech makes, to be honest, some of his rivals in other parties look pretty small. You know, he is going to be the dominant fixture of the political scene for a while. Speaker 3 (6:47) Johnny Reynolds, Business Secretary, thanks for joining us. Speaker 3 (6:58) Jen, Stephen, welcome to the panel. And I think we really need to get into a bit of the weeds on Andy Burnham's speech. We've all sat through, probably everyone in this room has sat through many a leader's speech that's strong on sentiment and low on policy. That was not the case today. There's quite a lot to get into. George, you called Burnham's speech both far-reaching and risky. Jen, let's start with you. What to you was the most significant? thing Burnham announced on Speaker 2 (7:30) Tuesday? Speaker 3 (7:31) I Speaker 2 (7:32) mean, probably the effect of scrapping of the triple lock, I would have thought, certainly from a political point of view. I think that... Speaker 2 (7:40) For me, that was as interesting as the fact that he got up and told a story about himself that I thought was more coherent than I had seen since he'd become Prime Minister. That was the thing that felt most significant to me, actually. And, I mean, I wasn't in the hall. I thought it came across well on the TV, and at the end of the day, most people are going to be watching it on the TV, and that it came across as if, authentically, somebody was authentically him. Speaker 2 (8:10) And in many respects, this is his introduction to the country, right? You know, this is a sense of who the guy is supposed to be. And as somebody who's dealt with him, it was also recognisably him, you know? And I mean, I dare say maybe some other people fiddled around the edges, but you could tell he'd written his own speech. So those were the kind of immediately striking things for me. But in