Labour conference live: Andy Burnham says social care is as ‘unfair as American healthcare’ and will break the NHS

The government is investing £115 million into a state-of-the-art marine research vessel commissioned to “meet the new challenges we face”.

Louise Haigh pledged to “put the guts back into government” as she made the announcement at the Labour conference on Sunday,

She said the vessel will be procured and built in the UK to drive forward “a new era of reindustrialisation”.

It will replace RV Cefas Endeavour and is expected to lead a new national system for monitoring the UK’s seas to help manage fisheries and the marine environment more effectively.

She told conference: “We are strengthening our National Shipbuilding Office, so it takes responsibility for the procurement of all civil ships across government, to map out a long-term strategy that meets our national requirements, safeguards our national security, and backs our national industries, to bring an end to the feast and famine of public contracts, and drive a new era of reindustrialisation through our shipbuilding sector.

“That process won’t start in due course or at some vague point in the future. It begins here and now.

“We have redesigned procurement processes to reflect this Government’s priorities, and I can announce today that we will commission a new state-of-the-art marine research vessel designed to meet the new challenges we face, and it will be procured and built here in the UK by our workers in our shipyards.”

Avanti West Coast services will be under public ownership from March next year, the government has announced

Heidi Alexander said nationalisation will be supported by a plan to improve infrastructure, reduce delays and improve passenger experience.

The transport secretary said: “For years, we’ve heard stories of Avanti underperforming, with passengers left paying the price. Enough is enough.

“That is why we will bring Avanti into public ownership at the earliest opportunity, in March next year.

“This Labour government is committed to putting essential services back in public hands, connecting people to opportunity and delivering growth in every postcode and this move reflects that commitment.

“We will also introduce a comprehensive improvement plan, focused on delivering for passengers, not shareholders.”

Making the reform of social care the centrepiece of the next Labour manifesto changes everything, as political editor David Maddox explains:

Labour’s slogan for this week’s party conference is “Hope Again”, which is very much the sort of mood and language – “vibes” – in which Andy Burnham specialises; it did, after all, help him seize the leadership of his party from Sir Keir Starmer.

Nowhere is this mood of hope, even blind optimism, more necessary for progress than in the reform of social care. It is a cause to which Mr Burnham re-dedicated himself in his television interview with Laura Kuenssberg. The recent passing of his father, Roy, is a reminder of the prime minister’s personal experience of how the NHS and care system interact – or don’t. Roy Burnham had been in care for several years, living with a diagnosis of prostate cancer and receiving specialised care for his advanced Alzheimer’s; as the prime minister noted, his father did not understand that his son had been appointed prime minister.

Many voters will be familiar with these kinds of experiences. Mr Burnham has tried to make the case for a fairer and more effective social care system ever since he was the secretary of state for social care in Gordon Brown’s government. Like everyone else, Mr Burnham will also have seen successive prime ministers – notably Theresa May and Boris Johnson – fail to meet their own promises to fix the crisis in social care “once and for all”.

Now it is Mr Burnham’s turn, and he is setting down the principles for what he may hope will become known as the Burnham reforms. Often criticised for vagueness, the prime minister is at least clearer now that his new care system will “work on NHS principles” – free at the point of use, paid for by everyone – though a “precise explanation” as to how it’s going to be funded will follow, perhaps with more details disclosed in his keynote speech on Tuesday. Progress of sorts is being made. In his first weeks in power, Mr Burnham set in train useful work so that frail elderly patients can move seamlessly between hospitals, home care and community services; this has the additional bonus of freeing up hospital beds. He also wants more “preventative” social care, supporting people to live in their own homes for longer.

Jonathan Reynolds has warned against European protectionist measures, arguing they are not in “anyone’s interests”.

The European Union’s proposed Made in Europe scheme intends to focus public contracts and subsidies on manufacturers based within the bloc.

Mr Reynolds said it “wouldn’t be to the benefit of Europe to cut the UK out of that”, claiming the UK’s involvement would improve the scheme’s “resilience and autonomy”.

Formally known as the Industrial Accelerator Act, the scheme is intended to protect clean technology firms and electric vehicle manufacturers from cheap Chinese competition.

However, Andy Burnham has urged the EU to avoid causing “collateral damage” to British industry.

He said there was “considerable support” among EU member states for the UK’s position “because Europe’s argument is not with us”.

Speaking on the fringes of the Labour Party conference, Mr Reynolds told the Politico Pub: “Made in Europe – what is the intention on the EU side? They say it’s about greater resilience, greater autonomy for European industry in the face of very significant pressures from both the US and China.

“Now, if that is the objective, it stands to reason that the UK, as the second biggest economy in Europe, should be a part of that, because you will increase your resilience and autonomy by having a substantial economy like ours within there.

“If it is a essentially a very old-school kind of protectionist measure. Well, that would be very difficult for us. And frankly, isn’t in anyone’s interests in Europe.”

Labour is not “in a position where it could contemplate an early election”, polling expert Sir John Curtice has said.

Speaking at a fringe event at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, Sir John, professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde, said it was a “message that the prime minister seems to have quite clearly learned”.

Asked if there should be an early election, he said: “No.”

Earlier he said: “You have heard a lot about the mega polls in recent days, and these, in a sense, put a clear sense of reality on the fact yes, the party is ahead.

“Yes, it’s now ahead of Reform, but that in itself… is not enough for anybody to contemplate the idea that this party is currently, at least, in a position where it could contemplate an early election.”

He also said Reform UK peaked in the polls “12 months ago” and if anyone would succeed in eliminating leader Nigel Farage “it’s going to be the Conservatives” not Labour.

Wes Streeting praised the “exemplary response” from the security services to the RAF Fairford incident, but refused to comment on “underlying motivations”.

Speaking at a Labour Party conference fringe event in Liverpool, he said it was “an example of what they do day in, day out, at all hours and all across the world, to keep us safe, so often going unnoticed and unsung, but we are glad that they do and we are glad that they are there to defend us.

He added: “We owe them a huge debt of thanks for today and what they do for us every day, every year.”

The defence secretary refused to comment on reports that police were investigating whether the alleged plot is linked to Iran.

He said: “I’m not going to comment on the underlying motivations of those who’ve been arrested today, or indeed the sort of the genesis of their activity, I think it’s far too early to comment or speculate, and it would be irresponsible for me to do so.”

Wes Streeting has ruled out a future Labour leadership bid, saying the “ship has sailed” on the goal he claims he had since he was 15.

When he resigned from Sir Keir Starmer’s cabinet in May, he announced he would enter any potential Labour leadership contest, but later backtracked after endorsing Andy Burnham.

He told a fringe event at the Labour Party conference that he had “zero regrets” over his decision to resign.

“It’s not how I wanted Keir’s premiership to end,” he said, but added: “But I think it was necessary, and I do feel a sense of vindication in terms of how things have unfolded since.

“I am, for the first time since I was probably about 15 years old, not running to be leader of the Labour Party, and it’s quite a liberating position to be in.”

Asked if that was just the case “for now”, he said: “No, that ship has sailed.”

He rejected that he had done any kind of deal with Mr Burnham to get his defence post.

“I didn’t ask for a job. I didn’t lobby for a particular job, and I certainly didn’t do a deal for a job with Andy,” he said.

Andy Burnham met Norwegian counterpart Jonas Store for talks on European security while in Liverpool for the Labour Party conference.

The two leaders held a formal meeting before Mr Store became the international guest speaker at the Labour gathering.

The football-loving prime minister joked that Norway’s close ties with the UK included Manchester City’s star striker Erling Haaland.

Mr Store referenced football in his conference speech.

Prompting laughter from the audience, he said: “Relations between Norway and England have been slightly strained since July – you did knock us out of the World Cup.”

“We may win or lose in football. On everything else, I’m … very glad that we are on the same side”, he added.

At the pair’s meeting, Mr Burnham said the two countries had a “warm friendship that goes back for so many years”, but now faced “new challenges” together.

“We will talk about our common challenges in relation to defence and security,” Mr Burnham said.

“We are collaborating on defence investment and that is very beneficial both for our security needs, but for industry in Norway and here in the UK.”