Burnham's First Conference as Prime Minister Opens on Sunday
Labour gathers in Liverpool from Sunday under the slogan “Hope Again”, with the Chancellor speaking on Monday and the Prime Minister on Tuesday. Party figures say removing VAT from electricity bills is “just the start” of cost-of-living help. Unite is pressing for an energy price cap and unfrozen tax thresholds funded by a windfall tax on banks. Mr Burnham has promised delegates will know “the direction I want to take this country and I will set it down quite clearly”.
The arithmetic behind the mood is awkward. Labour sits in the mid-twenties, below the 34% that won the last election, and is ahead mainly because the right has split three ways. The consolation in this week’s projection is tactical rather than enthusiastic: between 63% and 68% of Liberal Democrat and Green voters say they would vote Labour to keep Reform out. That is a coalition of fear, and it holds only while Reform looks like the threat. The flashpoints on the floor are the familiar ones — arms sales to Israel, the wording on Gaza, migrant residency rules, and the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields. Downing Street insists no early election is being planned and none is needed until August 2029. Watch whether the Chancellor pre-empts his Budget from the podium.