Burnham to unveil Great British Grid in first conference speech as Labour leader
September 29, 2026 at 06:28 AM · Updated 17d ago
Coverage
11 reports · over 17 hours
Burnham’s triple lock gamble – podcast
(opens the publisher’s site)
‘New path’: UK’s Burnham promises huge expansion of public services
(opens the publisher’s site)
Burnham announces plan for Great British Grid
(opens the publisher’s site)
Burnham vows to seek new ‘long-term’ relationship with EU in emotional Labour conference speech
(opens the publisher’s site)
What is Burnham’s GB Grid plan and could it bring down energy bills?
(opens the publisher’s site)
Scrapping pensions triple lock 'morally wrong', says union boss
(opens the publisher’s site)
Burnham to signal willingness to look at scrapping pension triple lock to fund social care
(opens the publisher’s site)
Lucy Powell: Labour committed to pension triple lock
(opens the publisher’s site)
‘We have time to make our case’: Labour insiders are confident Burnham can sell his social care reforms
(opens the publisher’s site)
Newspaper headlines: 'Labour split on triple lock' and 'Plot's going on, PM?'
(opens the publisher’s site)
Andy Burnham to unveil public body to invest in electricity grid
(opens the publisher’s site)Andy Burnham will deliver his first Labour conference speech on Tuesday, announcing a publicly owned grid company and pledging an honest conversation with voters on difficult issues.
- Burnham will announce Great British Grid, a publicly owned company to invest in electricity transmission and speed up grid connections, funded within GB Energy's existing budget.
- He is expected to set out how he will fund the free social care system for England he announced over the weekend.
- Chancellor John Healey declined to guarantee the pension triple lock would feature in Labour's next manifesto, amid speculation Burnham will review the policy.
- Burnham is expected to say GB Grid will "work with the private sector" to "reform a broken energy market".
- Government sources said Burnham will signal a willingness to review, and potentially scrap, the pensions triple lock to fund social care.
- Unite general secretary Sharon Graham called scrapping the policy 'electoral suicide' and 'morally wrong', urging wealth taxes instead.
- Deputy leader Lucy Powell insisted the party remains committed to the triple lock as a manifesto commitment.
- Burnham formally announced the Great British Grid plan in his Labour conference speech, confirming the publicly owned grid company.
- Burnham confirmed the end of the pensions triple lock to fund a free national care service in his speech.
- He promised a new long-term relationship with the EU, admitting Brexit has 'done more harm than good.'
- He also announced electoral reform, leasehold reform, and state-owned water companies as part of his proposals.
- Burnham pledged Britain's steadfast support for Ukraine and a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine.