AT the Labour Party conference last week, the Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, set out a vision to break with ‘politics as usual’ and draw a line on a decade of division. He vowed to take on the issues that have been ignored by politicians for too long, including social care and youth unemployment to create a Britain for all of us; no matter who we are or where we were born.

After deindustrialisation, deregulation, privatisation, austerity and Brexit, we have a country run for vested interests, with power held in too few hands. The Labour Government will make a break with the direction of the past 40 years and put Britain on a new path with greater public control of energy, water and housing.

There will be a new settlement for older people: protecting a State Pension, no care charges and a National Care Service that provides older people with free personal care. Older people are being let down, families are paying eyewatering sums and if we don’t fix our broken social care system, it will ultimately break the NHS. The National Care Service will be paid for by reforming the pensions triple lock from April 2030. We will honour our manifesto commitment and keep the pensions triple lock throughout this Parliament. That means the State Pension is set to rise by over £2,000 a year, reaching almost 30 per cent of average earnings by the end of the decade – the highest it has ever been. From April 2030, we will guarantee the State Pension will rise every year by either inflation or 2.5 per cent, whichever is higher. It will also rise by more if needed, to ensure it holds its value relative to average worker earnings.

The Prime Minister also confirmed that Labour will remove the Thatcher-era ban on government ownership of water companies. Labour will scrap ideological barriers to a water system that works for the public, introduce new powers to hold water companies to account and tighten the ban on executive bonuses, paving the way for greater public control of failing water companies and a water system that works in the public interest.

On housing, we will increase public control to ensure housing serves and supports those who need it most. For too long, private landlords have taken advantage of a shortage of council housing to exploit private renters. We will back councils with the powers and resources necessary to compulsory purchase properties that fall below acceptable standards and where landlords have refused to make improvements.

On energy, we know have a cost crisis. The price of energy is crippling for businesses, and British billpayers pay some of the highest energy costs in Europe. Once again, the British public has lost control. We will reform a broken energy market so it serves the public interest and introduce another publicly-owned Great British Grid (GB Grid) to speed up grid connections for businesses, better accommodate renewable energy, support reindustrialisation and drive down bills.

On Europe, although we will honour our manifesto and are committed to the red lines set for this Parliament, we will lay out plans for a new relationship with the EU following the EU summit later this year.