Labour left vows to fight for more radical policy platform from Andy Burnham

The prime minister Andy Burnham gave his first speech to a Labour Party conference as prime minister today (29 September). Railing against privatisation, neoliberalism and economic inequality, the speech was – rhetorically at least – the most left wing party conference speech from a prime minister in decades.

That fact was acknowledged at the Socialist Campaign Group rally at the conference. Over a dozen people spoke at the rally – including MPs and trade union general secretaries – and most of them made reference to the clear shift in political narrative from the party leadership.

However, the rally also saw a clear commitment from the Labour left to push for Burnham to offer a more radical approach to policy and a clear signal that support for his premiership was not unconditional. Indeed, multiple speakers told the meeting that the left would not be ‘flag-wavers’ for the new prime minister. Unison general secretary Andrea Egan phrased it as “support does not mean subservience”.

What are the issues that the left wants to see Burnham go further on? Migrant rights, benefits, taxation, public services, housing, defence and Palestine were all areas mentioned repeatedly at the rally.

On migrant rights, Egan told the rally “we need to see the home secretary’s attacks on our migrant worker stop” and criticised the government’s proposed changes to the indefinite leave to remain process. Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP also argued that the government’s proposed reform of social care would not be possible unless the government changed course on migration policy.

Likewise, Kim Johnson MP said of Burnham’s conference speech: “What I was very disappointed by [was] he talked about social care, he talked about workers, but what he didn’t say is the workers that we are reliant on are migrant workers who buoy up our social care system”, before adding “I have to say how disappointed I am that we have a home secretary like Shabana Mahmood – Shabana Mahmood has gone further than any Tory home secretary – Suella [Braverman] or Priti Patel. It’s a disgrace in terms of what she is doing”.

Nadia Whittome MP was equally strong, telling the rally: “Rather than following the far-right’s tune on migration, the government should open safe routes and build an immigration and asylum system with compassion and dignity at its heart.”

Whittome’s contribution also brought up other key areas that the left say they will be pushing for Burnham to be bolder on, including housing and public services. She called for the government to introduce rent controls and to take utilities into public ownership.

While Burnham did say in his speech that he would be make it easier for the government to take water companies into public ownership, he stopped short of committing to do so.

But Whittome wasn’t alone in calling for public ownership of public services. Richard Burgon MP was also among those who made the same call at the rally.

And other speakers used their time on the platfor to argue that the government should be investing more in public services. Fire Brigades Union general secretary Steve Wright said his union was pushing for 5,000 more firefighters, alongside the government to recruit more teachers, nurses and care workers.

Throughout the rally, speaker after speaker made the case for how this investment in public services could be funded – increased taxation on the wealthy.

Domestic policy wasn’t the only issue on the agenda though. A number of panellists welcomed the shift in government policy on Palestine, with the new trade ban on Israeli settlements having been announced by foreign secretary Ed Miliband.

Nevertheless, they also made the case for the government to go further. Labour NEC member Jess Barnard called for a “full and total arms embargo” to be imposed on Israel, alongside more extensive sanctions. Similarly, Whittome argued for an end to all military cooperation with Israel.

The Socialist Campaign Group is the grouping of left-wing MPs in the House of Commons, founded by -among others – Tony Benn. It is chaired by Rebecca Long-Bailey, who came second to Keir Starmer in the 2020 Labour leadership election.

Amongst the public, the Socialist Campaign Group’s politics is most closely associated with Jeremy Corbyn’s time as Labour leader. Corbyn himself was a member of the group until his expulsion from Labour.

Whether the Socialist Campaign Group is successful in pushing the party leadership to the left remains to be seen. Still, the mood from their rally is clear – this is a wing of the party that is not content with simply cheerleading for Burnham, nor is it satisfied that him replacing Starmer is alone sufficient to deliver the kind of transformative change they want to see.

Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward