Image source, PA Media

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has set out a number of policies he wants his party to implement during his speech at the Labour Party conference, including a national care service funded by changes to the current pension "triple lock".

Here are some of the key points from Burnham's speech:

• Social care - The PM aims to create a free at the point of use social care system which "everyone contributes" to and "everyone is covered"

• Triple lock - The pension "triple lock" - which guarantees how much the state pension increases by annually - will be adjusted from 2030, generating money to pay for care

• Electoral reform - Labour will establish a national commission on electoral reform and commit to change the electoral system in its next manifesto
• Energy - Great British Grid will be established, a publicly owned company which Burnham says will challenge the private sector operators, increase competition and drive down costs
• Water - The ban on public ownership of water companies to be lifted, starting a 10-year journey to a "very different water system" that will "strengthen public control"

Reacting to the speech, union boss Sharon Graham criticised plans to alter the triple lock, describing it as the "wrong lever to pull at this point".

While the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) described Burnham's triple lock proposals as "much improved, but not perfect", adding that it is not enough to fund universal social care.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the triple lock proposals "won’t generate enough savings to fund a nationalised care system for another two decades" - amidst reaction from other party leaders.

While BBC economic editor Faisal Islam writes that Burnham's proposed triple lock changes are significant, but still a gamble.

• We're ending our live coverage for now, but you can read more in our full story here

Pension changes are a tweak, rather than an overhaulpublished at 18:31 BST

18:31 BST

Dharshini David
Deputy economics editor

The proposed method of uprating the state pension after 2030 may be described as triple-lock lite: an annual rise by the greater of 2.5% or inflation - with an additional safeguard, a less frequent review to ensure it keeps up with earnings growth over time.

Under the current system, if inflation spikes one year, and is then followed a year later by earnings growth rising to a similar level, the respective annual increases in the triple lock will reflect both of these.

It’s why pensions growth has outpaced earnings growth since the start of the introduction of the triple lock in 2011. And, as it stands, the cost of pension provision, relative to GDP, is predicted to rise by 50% in the next 50 years.

The proposed changes will mean a more modest – and predictable – increase in the cost to the public purse.

But as the changes amount to a tweak rather than an overhaul, it will save a relatively small amount of money – millions rather than billions to start with.

That will grow over time, but still means that the challenges of funding universal social care, and keeping the public finances on a sustainable long-term path, remain.

Jack Fenwick
Political correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Downing Street has refused to say whether re-joining the European Union could be one of the options the prime minister considers when exploring the future relationship between the UK and the EU.

Andy Burnham said in his conference speech that he would take the opportunity around the next EU summit in November to lay out what he believes the different options are.

He added: "I will see if we can find consensus around one which will give us clarity about our position, and the future of the continent we live in."

Speaking after the speech, the prime minister’s political spokesman could not say what options would be included or how that consensus would be measured.

Labour’s 2024 manifesto pledged not to return to the single market, customs union or freedom of movement.

The spokesman says these "red lines" will be in place for the remainder of this Parliament.

But asked repeatedly whether rejoining the EU could be an option after that, he refused to say.

Brian Wheeler
Reporting from Labour Party conference in Liverpool

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

1. Relaxed vibes, serious content: It was no surprise to see Andy Burnham tieless and roaming the conference stage in Liverpool, unanchored by the traditional leader's speech podium. But despite the relaxed TED talk vibe, this was sober and serious speech. He set out major new policies - not always a given on these occasions
2. Bringing back public control: Burnham vowed to overturn Margaret Thatcher's 1980s reforms to give the public greater control over housing, water and energy
3. Pensions triple lock gamble: He said the change to pensions in 2030 would "generate significant savings" to fund his long-held ambition of creating a national care service in England
4. Electoral reform: His announcement of a national commission on electoral reform went down very well with many in the conference hall
5. Emotional tribute to late father: Burnham's longest ovation came when he pledged 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"

You can read our full analysis here.

How much could Burnham’s change to triple lock save?published at 17:52 BST

17:52 BST

By Ben Chu, policy and analysis correspondent

In his conference speech Andy Burnham said he would “adjust” the triple lock on the state pension from April 2030, so it will rise in line with the highest of inflation or 2.5% - and not consider annual average wage growth.

But the prime minister added that “it will hold its value relative to earnings over time”.

We’re still awaiting full details from the government, but the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think tank says the key change is that the state pension won’t automatically jump up with average wages every year, but only broadly track them over a longer period of time.

In recent years, the triple lock has meant the state pension has sometimes risen faster than average earnings.

The IFS estimates such a reform could save “anywhere between £5bn and £40bn per year”, although the think tanks says its central expectation is around £20bn a year in today’s money.

There's considerable uncertainty because the cost of the triple lock is linked to the future volatility of people’s earnings and inflation, which are impossible to confidently forecast.

However, either way, analysts think it could take more than a decade for the change to deliver major savings.

Jonah Fisher
Environment correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Fulfilling Andy Burnham’s campaign promise of "public control" over England’s water companies does not, at least for the moment, mean nationalisation. That idea has been set to one side as being simply too expensive.

Instead, it means mayors and local leaders being given responsibility for planning, setting objectives and holding water companies to account. There's been talk of as many as nine regional bodies.

On the face of it, this sounds like lots of local regulators. Do different parts of the country really have different expectations of what they want from their water companies beyond delivering a good, reliable service and keeping bills down?

The Starmer government concluded after a review last year that current water industry regulation was "too complex" and that the key to improving water company performance was to streamline regulation into a single, more powerful regulator.

Critics wonder whether the Burnham plan - for local control - is just adding back another tier of bureaucracy.

Further details of how it might work are expected to be set out in Burnham's 10-year plan that will be published later this year.

Jack Fenwick
Political correspondent at Labour Party conference in Liverpool

The government believes that ending the existing triple lock in 2030 will save £15bn a year by 2040 and more after that.

Under the plans announced by Andy Burnham today, the state pension would rise every year by at least 2.5% or inflation, whichever is higher.

It would be increased further if needed, to ensure that it stays above 30% of the full-time average wage.

The government believes they would save money by preventing the state pension outpacing earnings over time.

A year of high inflation is often followed by a year of wages trying to catch up.

That causes what the government describes as a ratcheting up of the state pension, which ministers hope to prevent with the new system.

The government is denying that they have ended the triple lock and is instead describing the new system as an adjusted triple lock.

Jennifer McKiernan
Reporting from Labour Party conference in Liverpool

The prime minister's conference speech seems to have gone down well with Labour members who were in the room, at the least ones we've spoken to.

Chloe Tapper, from Monmouthshire, describes Burnham as "compelling" and says she doesn't know how anyone "couldn't get behind" public ownership of essential services.

Julian Allwood, a delegate from Croydon West, says the speech was "transformative", agreeing with the PM that "somebody needs to take off the plaster".

While Philippa Marsden, from Caerphilly, says she is fine with the triple lock decision, as "you have to make difficult choices".

Simon Jack
Business editor

Image source, Getty Images

The prime minister has said the water industry is a prime example of everything he argues went wrong in the 1980s. He talked of some companies siphoning off profits while leaving sewage in our waterways - declaring "it stinks".

His remarks come on the same day that South West Water was fined nearly £8m for sewage spills. His remedy? In a nutshell:

• Remove what he described as an "ideological" Thatcher-era ban on public ownership of water firms
• Greater power for mayors to hold water companies to account
• Tougher consequences for failure and closing loopholes used to pay excessive bonuses

However, Burnham also said that where private ownership serves the public, the government will support it.

This would seem to allow for all outcomes and falls short of calls from unions and many labour MPs to take an essential service into public ownership.

It is not clear what this means for a consortium of private lenders who had hoped to take control of Thames Water with a £10bn rescue plan. Thames Water is drowning in £20bn of debt and is expected to run out of cash by the end of the year.

Thames Water itself has warned that it will need to find £2bn to fund its operations and investments next year - which under public ownership would have to come from public coffers.

We've just heard from leader of the opposition Kemi Badenoch, who said nothing that Burnham "announced today will do anything to fix Britain’s long-term problems". Here's what other party leaders are saying:

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey says, in a letter addressed to Burnham and posted on X, that fixing social care is "too urgent to leave" until after the next election, and that he is "disappointed" by Burnham.

He also says it is "surely wrong" to scrap the triple lock to help fund proper social care, as the lock has been "an essential tool in the fight against pensioner poverty".

Nigel Farage, Reform UK leader, using fewer words, states that he would "cut foreign aid, migrant welfare and net zero spending. Andy Burnham will cut your pension," referring to the change to the triple lock.

Zack Polanski, of the Green Party, says the PM's speech consisted of "half measures, reannouncements and tinkering".

"There is a gap between what the prime minister says, and what he’ll actually do," Polanski says, in comments reported by the Press Association.

Image source, PA Media

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch says Prime Minister Andy Burnham's proposal to change the triple lock "is already falling apart under scrutiny".

"It won’t generate enough savings to fund a nationalised care system for another two decades, which means more tax rises are inevitable," the Tory leader says.

Her comments come after the Institute of Fiscal Studies said the change to state pensions wouldn't be enough to fund universal social care.

What impact do problems in social care have on the NHS?published at 16:24 BST

16:24 BST

By Tom Edgington

Announcing his ambition to create a national social care service, Andy Burnham said it would secure the future of the NHS through “fewer ambulance call outs, A&E admissions and vulnerable people being stuck unnecessarily in hospital”.

On an average day last year, there were about 13,000 delayed discharge patients in England, which means close to one in 10 hospital beds were occupied by someone who was medically fit enough to leave.

We don’t know exactly how many of those delayed discharges were caused by shortages in social care. Of patients whose discharge was delayed for more than 14 days, NHS data shows around 12% were due to a lack of social care capacity.

But the true number is likely to be higher, because social care problems may also contribute to delays recorded under other categories, according to the King’s Fund health think tank.

It estimates overall delayed discharges cost the NHS £2.7 billion, up 7.5% on the previous year.

Even if delayed discharges were completely eliminated, it wouldn't necessarily result in a full £2.7 billion saving. That's because the NHS would likely use the money to improve its performance, says Danielle Jefferies from the King’s Fund.

Sharon Graham, the general secretary of the Unite union says the government should not change the triple lock, and suggests government look towards the "super rich".

"Pensioners get a raw deal", she tells the BBC.

"This is not the best way for us to be going down this route."

She also describes it as the "wrong lever to pull at this point" and says she will be "pushing hard" on the issue.

The winter fuel allowance policy was reversed, she says, and Burnham's triple lock plans are also “something people will be scratching their heads at”.

"Why would you be looking at the pot of pensioners rather than the super rich," she asks.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, PA Media

Deputy Labour Leader Lucy Powell says that changes to the triple lock - "over a long period of time" - will create savings to pay for the national care service.

Put to her by the BBC that the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) says the changes outlined could not pay for a national care service, Powell says costings have been done by the Treasury, which "will be published in due course".

She says "over time" it will create savings which will "help to pay" for care, but that this a "complex area".

The triple lock guarantees that the state pension goes up each year in line with either inflation, wage increases or 2.5% - whichever is the highest.

It was introduced in 2010 by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government and, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, has raised the annual cost of the total state pension, which is the largest benefit paid in the UK, by £16bn in those years - to £154bn.

In its general election 2024 manifesto, Labour pledged to retain the triple lock for the state pension.

What changed today

Today Burnham said he would keep that promise, but that he would "adjust" it from 2030 - after the next scheduled general election.

Under this change, the state pension will continue to rise every year in line with "prices" or 2.5%.

That sounds effectively like a double lock - inflation or 2.5%, whichever is higher. With the key part taken out being keeping it in line at least with wage increases.

But we don't have all the detail yet, and Burnham did also say: "It will hold its value relative to earnings over time."

The PM also said the change would "generate significant savings" that would be used to fund his plans for a "national care service".

This is sharper change than expected, not a review or a consultation, our economics editor writes - read Faisal Islam's analysis here.

Image source, Reuters

We've just heard from Andy Burnham as he delivered his first Labour conference speech as prime minister. Here's a recap of the key lines:

• A new social care system: The prime minister announced plans for a national care service, free at the point of use
• Triple lock to double lock: Following speculation about how he would pay for his new social care plan, Burnham said the triple lock – which guarantees how much the state pension increases by annually - would be adjusted from 2030
• “I accept I may pay a political price but someone has to go through the pain barrier and rip the plaster off,” Burnham said

• On housing: The PM said councils would be given the power to take control of empty homes, and "bring them back into public housing stock"
• On water: Burnham said the government would present a bill to Parliament centred on repealing the ban on public ownership of water companies
• He also said mayors would have new powers to hold water companies to account, including preventing bosses from being paid “excessive bonuses”
• Great British Grid: The prime minister announced the creation of a new publicly owned company called the Great British Grid, aimed to speed up connections to the grid by driving up competition for connection projects
• Electoral reform: Burnham said Labour will contest the next general election with a "manifesto commitment to change the electoral system", with a new national commission on electoral reform

Jennifer McKiernan
Reporting from Labour conference in Liverpool

Image source, Getty Images

I was inside the conference hall as Andy Burnham gave his speech.

The longest standing ovation for Burnham was, perhaps unsurprisingly, when he teared up speaking about his late father, who died just a few weeks ago.

He spoke movingly of how his dad was too ill to recognise he had become prime minister, but how he was determined to honour his memory by creating a new national care service.

This plan was his main pitch to delegates but also his greatest political risk, as he confirmed it will involve a trade-off with downgrading the pensions triple lock.

Although there were some crossed arms and concerned faces in the hall, there was also huge backing for a plan that Burnham has made a personal mission.

Think tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) says Andy Burnham’s plans to tweak the pensions triple lock is “much improved but not perfect”.

The economic think tank says it will “neuter the worst element” of the Osborne-era policy, which hikes the state pension by the higher of 2.5%, inflation or average earnings.

But it will not be enough to fund universal social care, deputy director Jonathan Cribb warns.

“Better reforms were available, but this one is a big improvement. It will not, however, be the answer to funding universal social care,” he says.

Image source, Getty Images

To people at home, he says: "You may disagree with some or all of what I've said today. But I have given you what you often say is missing from politics. Honesty, ideas, and a clear direction for the country we all love."

He is met with a huge applause from the audience.

Burnham adds that "it's time to draw a line" and move beyond division.

"We will believe again, we will hope again," he says, ending his speech and stepping off stage.

• We'll have a round-up of all Burnham's main lines soon - and you can watch key clips at the top of the page

Burnham says "Brexit hasn't given us control", and that the country has "lost some of our control over immigration".

He adds control over immigration was weakened "when we lost collaboration with our European partners".

Burnham then says later this year will be a UK-EU summit, where one of the issues will be how best to work together on the issue of immigration.

"We will not give Britain a clear path we need... until we decide on a long-term relationship with what is still our largest market," he says.

The prime minister then declares: "Brexit has done more harm than good."

He adds he will take the opportunity around the summit, to lay out "what I believe the different options are for Britain's long-term relationship with our European partners".

"And there are different options, and I will see if we can find consensus around one, which will give us clarity about our position and the future of the continent we live in," he says.