{"id":914034,"date":"2026-09-29T12:08:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T12:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/914034\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T12:08:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T12:08:11","slug":"labour-conference-live-andy-burnham-warned-over-pensions-triple-lock-commitment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/914034\/","title":{"rendered":"Labour conference live: Andy Burnham warned over pensions triple lock commitment"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Analysis\"Burnham opens debate on huge issue of social care reformpublished at 11:20 BST<\/p>\n

11:20 BST<\/p>\n

\"\"Chris Mason
Political editor at Labour’s conference in Liverpool<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a big morning for Andy
\nBurnham. Conference speech day is always a big day for a prime minister, and
\nperhaps no bigger than when it is your first one in the role.<\/p>\n

The pitch from Burnham is that
\n\u201chope comes from honesty\u201d, there needs to be \u201cless drift and more direction\u201d
\nand there needs to be a willingness to say \u201cthe things politicians usually
\navoid.\u201d<\/p>\n

The other day he told the BBC he wants to shake up social care<\/a> in England, but would only be able to do so after
\na general election given he was committed to the tax promises Keir Starmer
\nmade at the last general election.<\/p>\n

This prompted a flurry of chat
\nabout how his social care plan could be paid for – and in particular the future
\nof what is known as the triple lock.<\/p>\n

But plenty of politicians, in
\nmultiple parties, have long privately fretted that its cost is ballooning and
\nwill continue to do so, but would bemoan how politically difficult it would be
\nto drop it.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a tricky one for the prime minister: he has the leader of the Unite union saying it could be \u201celectoral
\nsuicide\u201d to ditch the triple lock. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile the markets – which determine the
\ncost of borrowing for the government – are keeping a keen eye on whether
\nBurnham\u2019s promises appear to be financially credible. <\/p>\n

In other words, he has to
\nbe able to point to things where money won\u2019t be spent, as well as where it will
\nbe.<\/p>\n

\"PrimeImage source, PA Media<\/p>\n

This morning No 10 are being pretty coy about precisely what Andy Burnham will or won\u2019t say on all this later on. <\/p>\n

They really don\u2019t want to overcook it or over do it, instead suggesting it is others who have been getting carried away. <\/p>\n

But ministers are well aware that a hare is running about it all – and given that, it would be extraordinary if there was no mention of it all, given that promise about \u201chonesty\u201d, candour and trade offs. <\/p>\n

Sufficiently extraordinary that his critics would pounce on what they\u2019d see as a precise lack of the very thing he is promising – candour. <\/p>\n

Folk I am hearing from this morning suggest, as one figure put it, \u201cpeople will be surprised on the upside\u201d about how much Burnham will be willing to lean into the options that could be explored as part of Labour\u2019s offer at the next general election. <\/p>\n

He will be explicit it will be retained, as promised, until the election. Instead, it would appear Burnham will seek to seed a conversation about all of the above, without nailing down the details.<\/p>\n

\n

His allies see this as a different approach to politics \u2013 being open about options, starting a debate but not crudely or abruptly shifting policy. <\/p>\n

There is an implicit comparison with Keir Starmer\u2019s ditching of the Winter Fuel Payment \u2013 which appeared to come from nowhere and had a near immediate impact. <\/p>\n

But that didn\u2019t stop Sharon Graham of Unite likening the two approaches \u2013 claiming \u201cthe danger of doing it\u201d is that Labour could \u201cwaste\u201d a second hearing which it now has under Andy Burnham.<\/p>\n

And so the debate begins.<\/p>\n

In the round, though, ministers I speak to are relishing what they see as a return to big arguments, about generational issues with a prime minister willing to wrestle with them in public.<\/p>\n

This afternoon we will get a fuller sense of the scope and scale of that \u2013 on social care, pensions and much else.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Burnham opens debate on huge issue of social care reformpublished at 11:20 BST 11:20 BST Chris MasonPolitical editor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":914035,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[45,49,48,133,131,132],"class_list":["post-914034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-finance","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=914034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/914035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=914034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=914034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=914034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}