Burnham sets out vision to tackle UK's woes

Prime Minister Andy Burnham pledged on Tuesday to revive Britain by tackling its deepest problems such as social care, housing and utilities - issues, he conceded, would take time to fix in what he described as an "honest" speech to the nation.

In an emotional address to his Labour Party in which he imagined the country his father, who died this month, would have wanted to see, Burnham set out a long-term vision, promising greater public control of utilities, reform of the so-called pensions triple lock and the construction of more social housing.

Yet, the former Greater Manchester mayor, 56, said he could only start setting out the groundwork for

resolving those priorities, constrained in the near term by stretched public finances and the previous government's tax pledges.

Any results would only come after the next national election, due by mid-2029, and some in the next 10 years. For the time being, he asked the party at its annual conference in the northwestern English city of Liverpool to keep the faith.

Walking on the stage to "All Together Now" by Liverpool band The Farm, Burnham said he had ignored his first instinct to give "the usual tub-thumping conference speech", instead deciding to offer "a more serious prospectus for Britain than people have been offered in a generation".

It was a pitch decidedly aimed at the long term - aware of not only the lack of public money available to his new government but also the need to placate the bond markets, which have sent Britain's borrowing costs to high levels.

His team said Burnham's speech and plan came from the heart, the culmination of his upbringing, his years spent at the centre of British politics in Westminster

and those as Greater Manchester mayor.