Andy Burnham arrived at Labour’s conference in Liverpool for the first time as prime minister and party leader, promising to end what he described as a decade of drift and division since the Brexit vote. Under the slogan “Hope Again”, he pledged a new national direction and “good growth in every postcode”, while senior Labour figures openly questioned aspects of the Government’s economic and immigration policies.

Burnham said his aim was to restore public optimism and improve living standards, drawing on his family ties to Liverpool and presenting the conference as a significant moment for his leadership. However, former business secretary Peter Kyle argued that faster growth might require delaying or sequencing some workers’ rights, while Angela Rayner criticised plans to extend the route to permanent residence for foreign care workers from five years to 15, including retrospectively for those arriving since 2021.