UK: Burnham Announces National Care Service, Triple Lock & Electoral Reform Plans at Party Conference
Is this the boldest Labour offer since 1945 or did Burnham's rhetoric hide an empty plan?
Above: U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham in Liverpool, England on Sept. 29. Image credit: Rasid Necati Aslim/Anadolu/Getty Images
The Spin
Pro-government narrative
Burnham has lit a fire under Labour, simply unimaginable only a year ago. Proposals for a National Care Service, public ownership of water, a fairer voting system and the desperately needed end to the triple lock add up to the boldest offer since Clement Attlee. In just one speech, Burnham has shown himself to be the generational leader that Britain needs.
Government-critical narrative
Smooth rhetoric does not justify bad ideas. Nationalizing everything in sight, reopening Brexit and promising to rip up British democracy's irreplaceable constituency link is saturated in ideological fanaticism rather than any real commitment to make the country a better place. The Labour Party may be appeased, but outside the echo chamber Britain remains profoundly unimpressed.
