LIVERPOOL, England — Andy Burnham dreamed of leading Labour for years. Now he has to show he means business.
Britain’s governing party meets for its annual conference in Liverpool after a dramatic year that’s seen a drubbing at local elections, the defenestration of Keir Starmer, and the coronation of its new leader.
Now the prime minister and his top team will set out their vision for the country, rally the faithful — and try to avoid stepping on any rakes.
Here’s what a host of top POLITICO reporters will be watching for as the conference unfolds.
U.K. Political Editor Dan Bloom
The most important moment by far is 2 p.m. on Tuesday, when Burnham makes his first conference speech as prime minister.
I’ll be looking at how much it’s a hopey-changey victory lap as opposed to a fleshed-out plan for Britain. I’m guessing the former, because these conference stages are all about vibe and vision (which Burnham is good at), and not about actually paving the way there with policy (the jury’s still out on that).
I’m sure we’ll see some kind of announcement, but the government budget, 10-year plan and devolution white paper that can make his changes real are only due later this year.
Bunrham’s slogan about [the U.K.] having “hope again” is about to smash into all kinds of reality. The cost of government borrowing is near an all-time high, so if he massively boosts defense spending and pushes more investment into the regions, something has got to give elsewhere. All the signs are that Oct. 28 will be another tax-raising budget, albeit not on the scale of 2024 or 2025.
He’s got to decide what “stronger public control” of industries like water will look like. And No. 10 is deciding where borders will be drawn for new devolved powers; that kind of thing tied past governments in knots.
But put all this aside, and the vibe and narrative still matters.
Things have changed so much since Keir Starmer’s first conference speech as PM in 2024 that it’s like looking at sepia photos from the 60s — he talked about the “patient, calm, determined era of politics as service” for people who were “exhausted” with politics itself.
Well, this year we’re going to get a whole load of politics and the Labour faithful in the room will love it.
And then prepare for more speculation about a snap election — and center-left coalition, despite Burnham insisting he’ll only push for an election in 2029. Because that’s the tension at the heart of this conference for me: Burnham will be straining to show he is different from Starmer. But the more different he is, the more people will argue he now needs a mandate from the country.
Senior Foreign and Defense Correspondent Esther Webber
It will be quite interesting to see the foreign secretary’s contributions, maybe more so than the past couple of years, because Ed Miliband has already shown signs that he’s going to be quite muscular in the way he uses that office and that he has his own priorities. To some extent, his two predecessors, Yvette Cooper and David Lammy, were much more closely tied to No. 10 and a lot more foreign policy was run out of No. 10.
So it’ll be interesting to see how he puts his own stamp on the conference — and he’ll definitely have at least one big thing that he’s going to talk about, which is the sanctions the government have announced against Israel’s E1 settlement.
There will be people on both sides, definitely some supporters of the Palestinian cause, wanting the government to go further and talk about genocide or divestment, which isn’t something they’ve done.
On the other side, possibly more muted, there are voices within Labour who have their doubts about the whole thing, and think that there will be a negative impact on Jewish communities in the U.K.
A lot of people are quite hopeful, even if they won’t say this out loud, that it helps bring the Labour Party back together on this issue, or at least starts to bring the party back together, in contrast to where it’s been a really divisive issue for at least the past three years.
London Influence Reporter John Johnston
I’ll be looking at what businesses are hoping to get out of it. It’s obviously a big year for Burnham — his first proper conference. There’s definitely this ambition among businesses to get more of a sense of what Labour under Burnham is going to do for them.
Monday’s business day — where Chancellor John Healey is due to do a behind-the-scenes Q&A — is always a big deal, because that’s when all the chief executives come in. The people who don’t spend any time anywhere else in conference, they’re shepherded in, they do this big program, and then they leave.
There have been struggles with engagement. Obviously, we’ve now got another prime minister, and I think they’re champing at the bit to say, okay, we really need to get a sense of the plan here.
Senior U.K. Finance Reporter James Fitzgerald
All eyes are on Chancellor John Healey and his team in No. 11 Downing Street.
The budget is nearly a month away and the Treasury has so-far been adept at ensuring details haven’t been leaked — and lobbyists in the City of London will likely use the Labour Party conference to press ministers and special advisors for precious information.
There are plenty of public panels featuring Treasury ministers — including Lucy Rigby, Torsten Bell and Emma Reynolds — but several private roundtables across the event between the trio and City lobbyists is where possible budget nods will be unearthed.
Then there’s the big one: Healey’s speech on Monday afternoon to Labour Party members. With the Oct. 28 budget looming, the chancellor will set out his vision for devolution, defense, and “growth in every postcode” — minus major policy announcements.
But the City and bond markets will be listening to every word, and will react if they don’t like what they are hearing. There’s plenty at stake.
Senior EU-U.K. Reporter Jon Stone
The stories are very much found in the fringe events, because I’m used to the fact that Brexit is not the main storyline of British politics at the moment — but there are still plenty of us interested in the topic.
Last year, the double act of Nick Thomas-Symonds, the-then EU relations minister, and Stephen Doughty, the Europe minister at the Foreign Office, were incredibly prolific in these fringe events.
But this year there seem to be fewer fringes that are related to the EU and we’ll be lucky if Andy Burnham mentions the EU in his leader’s speech.
Senior U.K. Energy Correspondent Charlie Cooper
The biggest story is simple: bills, bills, bills.
I don’t think it’s properly landed in SW1 how steeply costs are going to rise in January. Burnham and his Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh need a plan to support households and businesses, otherwise the promise of ‘breathing space’ on the cost of living is going to fall flat within months; and voters will dismiss Burnham as just another politician who promised much but didn’t deliver.
I’ll be keeping an ear out for intel on potential winter support packages that could be announced at the budget; but also signs of tensions in the Labour movement over another big energy story: the future of oil and gas drilling the North Sea.
Burnham’s signaled he could approve oil and gas fields Jackdaw and Rosebank. That’d please the unions, but for Labour’s grassroots, Ed Miliband-loving greens, it’s political kryptonite.
Technology Reporter Mizy Clifton
The government plans to lay regulations for kicking under-16s off social media by December recess — which doesn’t leave much time for drafting.
I’m interested to find out how tech lobbyists and anti-ban civil society organizations (like the Molly Rose Foundation) are trying to influence that process.
Trade Reporter Caroline Hug
From a trade perspective, I’m going to be watching what Burnham’s government is saying about an EU reset. One thing everyone will be talking about is Tony Blair’s comments on rejoining the EU within the next decade, and the PM’s response to this could be critical.
Is the government prepared to cross their ‘red lines’? What do they think they can get out of the summit? And what would any of this mean for U.K. manufacturers?
And then there’s the question of trade with the U.S. After [this week’s] New York bilat with Trump, what is the next phase of negotiations going to look like? I’ll be looking out for what is being said on the digital services tax, and the U.S.-U.K. Pharma deal that will see the NHS spend more on medicines.
Global Politics Bureau Chief Jack Blanchard
AI is the biggest story in the world right now, and I’m interested to see the extent to which it’s penetrated into the Labour Party’s internal conversations.
We appear to be on the cusp of such a seismic shift in the way our societies and our economies work; you’d think that would therefore be the center of almost any serious political discussion.
Yet in so many speeches and talks I hear it still feels like an add-on; something to be mentioned and ticked off rather than the central thrust of an argument. I wonder how quickly that will change.
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