Marie Tidball MP welcomes Andy Burnham’s vow to give Britain “hope again” at Labour Conference

Marie Tidball, MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge has welcomed the Prime Minister, Andy Burnham’s speech at Labour Conference 2026, setting out a clear direction for the country to bring back hope.

During his Leader’s Speech to the Conference in Liverpool, the Prime Minister vowed to break with “politics as usual” and draw a line on a decade of division. He pledged to take on the issues that have been ignored by politicians for too long, including social care and youth unemployment, to create a Britain for all of us; no matter who we are or where we’re born.

The Prime Minister told members at the Conference:

“Hope comes from honesty...Britain has been on the wrong path for a long time. [After] deindustrialisation, deregulation, privatisation, austerity and Brexit, [we have] a county run for vested interests, with power held in too few hands... I am ready to do things my predecessors wouldn’t. I will make a break with the direction of the past 40 years and put Britain on a new path.”

The Prime Minister’s speech included a number of policy commitments, including a new National Care Service based on NHS principles, greater public control of water by removing the Thatcher-era ban on government ownership of water companies, and introducing the Great British Grid to drive down energy costs and bring control of our broken energy market closer to home.

During his speech, the Prime Minister also announced that later this year, he will publish a Plan for Britain. It will set out how, over 10 years, Labour will make our country work for working people again. This will include more control of the basics and more power in the hands of people and places to set their own ambitions.

This new direction follows a series of immediate measures announced by the Prime Minister to give people breathing space on the cost of living, including capping bus fares at £2 in 2027, taking VAT off electricity bills, as well as Your First Home to help people without the bank of mum and dad get on the property ladder with 2.5% deposits.

Welcoming the speech, Marie Tidball, MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge said:

“Andy Burnham’s speech was absolutely barnstorming, and a tour de force of his vision for our country. It was unshamedly Labour, bringing together a United Kingdom we can all get behind, based on our values of fairness, justice and community.

“From a new National Care Service, to repealing the ideological ban on public ownership of water companies, to more public control over housing, including a new scheme to help first time buyers get on the housing ladder, I know that Andy Burnham is setting our country on a new path after decades of deindustrialisation, austerity and power held in the hands of too few.

“The Prime Minister also knows that families and communities need help now with cost of living pressures, and I know what a difference the practical steps he has already taken to give families and businesses room to breathe will make to our communities. I’m so proud of the new direction and long-term fixes that Andy Burnham has now clearly set out, so that Britain can start believing again and so that people can hope again.”