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Andy Burnham
Andy Burnham
Prime Minister, United Kingdom
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Moment Andy Burnham STOPS speech as he’s overwhelmed with emotion

📅 Sep 29, 2026 Manchester Evening News 9 MIN 6866 VIEWS 11 SEGMENTS · 1 SPEAKERS
Andy Burnham has set out a radical plan to transform Britain, with proposals to reform the state pension triple lock to pay for social care, measures to pave the way for public control of water companies and a potential change in the UK’s electoral system. In his first Labour Party conference speech as Prime Minister he vowed to overturn Margaret Thatcher’s 1980s reforms to give the public greater control over housing, water and energy. Listen to The Mancunian Way episodes every week on YouTube, Apple Podcasts and Spotify: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast... Spotify: htt...

What Andy Burnham said

Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.

Andy Burnham, in a conference speech, outlined a serious and thought-through prospectus for Britain's future, acknowledging it would be difficult and not universally agreed with. He emphasized the need for bigger thinking and courage, vowing to fight for what he believes is right. Reflecting on his father, who failed his 11-plus and voted Labour, Burnham highlighted the opportunities the UK gave his family, including his own rise to Prime Minister. He championed a union of nations, citing the NHS and solidarity, and rejected separation. Burnham pledged to rewire the UK, driving power from Whitehall to all regions, and to break with politics as usual. He admitted Brexit hasn't delivered control, and that a decade of low growth has weakened the economy, but he committed to building a Britain his dad wanted and keeping the union together.

Key takeaways

  1. He aims to be the first Prime Minister to rewire the UK, not the last.
  2. He plans to drive power out of Whitehall into every postcode of the UK.
  3. He admitted Brexit hasn't given the UK control and low growth has weakened the economy.
  4. He committed to building a Britain his father wanted and keeping the union together.

Chapters

  1. 0:00Opening pledge to fight
  2. 0:38Prospectus for Britain
  3. 3:56Personal reflection on father
  4. 5:05Father's legacy and Labour
  5. 5:40Vision of the UK
  6. 6:34Britain's worth
  7. 6:57Rewiring the UK
  8. 7:25Devolution of power
  9. 7:46Break with politics as usual
  10. 8:18Honesty on Brexit
Andy Burnham 0:00 ↗
I will fight hard for what I believe to be right, and what I believe to be in the best interest of this country.
I think you will see what I am outlining is a more serious and thought-through prospectus for the future of Britain than people have been offered in a generation. I appreciate some of it is difficult. I accept people, including in this hall, will not agree with every part of it. But I believe this is what we need. Small things will not get us through what are difficult times. We need to be bigger and have the courage of our convictions. I believe we can turn Britain around, but it requires us to think bigger about what we need to do. I will try my best to find common ground. But let me be clear: where I can't agree with others, I will fight hard for what I believe to be right, and what I believe to be in the best interest of this country.
Whatsoever its flaws, this country gave my dad a good life. And it has given his sons opportunities he didn't get for himself. He recognized that and was grateful for it, and so proud of what Nick, John and I did with them. If only... if only he had been able to appreciate that moment of the family in Downing Street, the son of a man who failed his 11-plus becoming Prime Minister.
The fact it could even happen in this country would not have been lost on him. He could have gone to university himself, but times were different then, so it wasn't an option. But he voted every time, religiously, for the Labour governments which changed education so his sons could do that.
The United Kingdom my dad represented is the one I believe in: a union of nations that gave trade unions and the cooperative movement to the world, the National Health Service, a country that stood up to fascism, a country of solidarity, not separation. That's the Britain that my dad represented.
Britain is not perfect. It can be better, and we will make it so. But it still stands for something worth saving, worth fighting for.
And we will always be stronger facing a changing world together rather than separating. So I'm going to use this job to build the kind of Britain my dad wanted to see and fight with everything I've got to keep it together. Not the last Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, rather the first to rewire it, to make it work for all people and places.
Driving power out of Whitehall and into every postcode of Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England, and closing divides between people and places.
The first Prime Minister to make a break with politics as usual. I believe the plan I have outlined today will not just hold us together; it will allow us to rise again. Britain to rise again. And we will be a Britain confident of our place in the world.
It has changed dramatically since 2016. And in the spirit of this speech, we have to be honest: Brexit hasn't given us control.
We've lost some of the control we had over our economy as a decade of low growth has put us in a weaker position.

Cite this transcript

APA, MLA, BibTeX
APA

Burnham, A. (2026, September 29). Moment Andy Burnham STOPS speech as he’s overwhelmed with emotion [Interview transcript]. Manchester Evening News. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/2958576/

MLA

Andy Burnham. "Moment Andy Burnham STOPS speech as he’s overwhelmed with emotion." Manchester Evening News, 29 Sep. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/2958576/.

BibTeX 
@misc{burnham2026_2958576,
  author       = {Andy Burnham},
  title        = {Moment Andy Burnham STOPS speech as he’s overwhelmed with emotion},
  howpublished = {Interview transcript, Manchester Evening News. CEOInterviews.AI},
  year         = {2026},
  month        = {sep},
  url          = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/2958576/},
  note         = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}