Andy Burnham 'determined to prove John Swinney wrong' in blistering defence of union

The Labour leader took a swipe at the First Minister during his Labour conference speech after Mr Swinney claimed he would be the last Prime Minister of the UK.

Mr Swinney’s comments came on the day that Mr Burnham’s dad Roy died. The PM said that it made him “utterly determined to prove him wrong”.

It was part of a landmark first Labour conference speech as party leader where Mr Burnham set out a radical plan to transform the country.

Shortly before addressing what the FM had said, a visibly emotional Mr Burnham had to pause for a moment.

He said: “On the day my dad died, the Scottish First Minister said I would be the last Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

“I quote that not to seek sympathy, nor to criticise John Swinney. I don't think he knew the news at the time.

“And anyway, my dad Roy would have been the first to defend his right to say it.

“I relay it because I want you to know how it made me feel. Utterly determined to prove him wrong.”

He then gave a strong defence of the union, saying what the UK had done for his dad.

Mr Burnham said: “Whatever its flaws, this country gave my dad a good life, and it has given his sons opportunities he didn't get for himself.

“He recognised that and was grateful for it, and so proud of what Nick, John, and I did with them.

“If only, if only he had been able to appreciate that moment of the family in Downing Street, the son of a man who failed his 11+ becoming prime minister.

“The fact it could even happen in this country would not have been lost on him.

“He could have gone to university himself, but times were different then, so it wasn't an option.

“But he voted every time religiously for the Labour governments, which changed education, so his sons could do that.

“ The United Kingdom, my dad represented, is the one I believe in. A union of nations that gave trade unions and the cooperative movement to the world, the National Health Service.

“A country that stood up to fascism a country of solidarity, not separation. That's the Britain that my dad represented.

“Britain is not perfect. It can be better, and we will make it so. But it still stands for something worth saving, worth fighting for.

“And we will always be stronger facing a changing world together, rather than separating.

“So I am going 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.

“Not the last prime minister of the United Kingdom, rather the first to rewire it to make it work for all people and places.

“Driving power out of Whitehall and into every postcode of Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England, and closing divides between people and places.

“The first Prime Minister to make a break with politics as usual.”

It came as he set out a radical plan to transform the country in his conference speech.

He vowed to reform the state pension triple lock to pay for social care in England, change the UK’s electoral system and change the UK’s relationship with the European Union.

He said: “This country isn’t where any of us would want it to be.”

Mr Burnham, who replaced Sir Keir Starmer in No 10 in July, claimed there was a “sense of the powers-that-be pulling against the people, not with them”.

“If there’s one thing I want to put right, it’s that,” he said.

Taking aim at the changes introduced since the Thatcher administration in the 1980s, Mr Burnham said: “Britain has been on the wrong path for a long time.

“Deindustrialisation. Deregulation. Privatisation. Austerity. Brexit.

“And what has it given us? A country run for vested interests, not in the public interest.”

He compared his task in building a new form of politics to the 1945 Labour government’s efforts to reshape the country in the wake of the Second World War.

Mr Burnham said: “We built the common good. Or at least we did until the 1980s.

“Suddenly, the common wealth we had created for the many was seen as an opportunity for the few.

“Homes. Water. Energy. Transport. Care.

“Broken up and sold off.

“The British right talk about ‘taking back control’.

“Never let them forget: they are the ones who gave it away in the first place.”

He went on “I accept I may pay a political price.

“But someone has to go through the pain barrier and rip the plaster off.”

On Brexit, Mr Burnham said leaving the EU “hasn’t given us control”, instead “we’ve lost some of the control we had over our economy, as a decade of low growth has put us in a weaker position”.

“Brexit has done more harm than good,” he said.

Labour was elected on a manifesto which promised no return to the EU’s single market, the customs union or freedom of movement.

But Mr Burnham indicated he wanted to explore much closer ties with Brussels, including measures to tackle immigration.

Ahead of talks expected later this year with EU chiefs, he promised to set out different options for the relationship with the bloc “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 that we live in”.