Andy Burnham has accused the British right of surrendering national control while claiming it would restore it.
The Prime Minister used his first Labour conference speech as party leader to challenge the legacy of privatisation and Brexit, while promising a new discussion about Britain's relationship with the EU.
Speaking at Labour's conference in Liverpool on Tuesday, the Prime Minister argued that Britain had been led down the wrong path by deindustrialisation, deregulation, privatisation, austerity and Brexit.
"The British Right talk about 'taking back control'," he told delegates. "Never let them forget, they are the ones that gave it away in the first place."
Burnham said the sale of essential services had diminished economic control, the weakening of councils had corroded political control, and Brexit had weakened immigration control. His challenge echoed the language of the Brexit campaign, although he did not name the Conservatives or Reform UK in that passage.
The Prime Minister argued for stronger public control over housing, water and energy. He announced plans to repeal the ban on public ownership of water companies and proposed a publicly owned Great British Grid to challenge private electricity network operators. Those proposals form part of a wider plan he said the government would publish later this year.
On Europe, Burnham acknowledged the harm he believes Brexit has caused and said he would seek a national discussion about Britain's long-term relationship with the EU, with options to be presented around the November UK-EU summit. He did not propose rejoining the EU in his conference speech.
His argument sets up a direct political dispute with parties that continue to defend Brexit. It also gives Labour a test of its own: showing how the changes Burnham proposed would give communities greater control over the services they rely on.
