Politics Live

Politics Live began with Andy Burnham's first Labour Conference speech as Prime Minister. In a post before the speech, he said Britain could not carry on as it was, that politics as usual had taken the country backwards, and that he would set out a different path, including an honest conversation on social care, youth unemployment and giving people more control over energy, water and housing, adding that hope comes from honesty. The panel discussed whether he would change the triple lock to fund free social care, with Alice Denby saying it would be courageous if he committed to scrapping it but warning that savings could simply be spent elsewhere, while Paul McNamee said the issue was intergenerational and cited potential annual savings. Stephen Kinnock, Secretary of State for Wales, said hope had to be realistic, pointed to more than £100 billion a year in debt interest and difficult public finances, and said he could not reveal the speech contents. He spoke of intergenerational solidarity, investments in Wylfa, Welsh rail and Port Talbot steel, a brought-forward Casey review reporting next year on a national care service, and the aim of cross-party agreement. Political editor Chris Mason said Burnham faced the challenge of matching a promise of large-scale change with a credible plan, with a direction of travel on the triple lock and social care but not necessarily specifics.

Later, the programme turned to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood's signal that she might water down plans to make it harder for foreign workers to claim permanent residence. In a clip from her speech, she said the government would reach a position balancing fairness for those who came legally with fairness to British citizens. Dr Peter Walsh of the Migration Observatory explained that indefinite leave to remain normally follows five years of continuous residence and gives rights similar to citizenship apart from voting and a passport, including full access to welfare. He said the earned settlement proposals had been controversial and could involve a 15-year route for care workers and middle-skilled workers, a 10-year route for skilled workers, and an earnings requirement of at least £12,570 a year with national insurance contributions; about 500,000 migrant workers were approaching eligibility, and the retroactive aspect had been particularly contentious. The panel debated public concern about migration and fairness to those who came expecting a five-year route. Walsh said net migration had fallen from a high of 900,000 in one year to under 200,000, driven by falls in work, study and humanitarian migration, while asylum migration was less controllable and more costly. Mahmood also announced a reopened refugee resettlement scheme to deter small boat crossings, but Walsh said a capped scheme was unlikely to make a material dent in demand; the panel argued over whether leaving the ECHR and offshoring asylum processing or allowing asylum seekers to work would be better.

Returning to the Labour conference, Fire Brigades Union general secretary Steve Wright said the mood was starkly different from the previous year and he had hope again. On the triple lock, he said he did not want pensioners in poverty and that other areas should be looked at to fund public services, but he wanted more investment in public services, including 5,000 more firefighters to reverse 12,000 lost under austerity. He backed borrowing to invest and a long-term plan to settle the bond markets, and said the super wealthy should pay more. The panel challenged him on the cost of borrowing and wealthy taxpayers leaving, citing Chris Rokos, but Wright disagreed and said the wealthiest could pay a little more. He also called for civil rather than military-led re-industrialisation, warning there were not enough firefighters to respond to wildfires, floods and terrorist incidents.