At Labour conference, Andy Burnham offered something different - Keir Mather

Selby MP and Aviation Minister Keir Mather reflects on the Labour Party Conference.

Who says young people in politics don’t have enough experience? This year marks my 10th Labour Party Conference - and I have seen some things in my time.

Political wrangling, Prime Ministers ‘glittered’ and elections lost and won by what’s announced on the conference stage.

But this year, Andy Burnham offered something different. Rather than defend his record and attack his adversaries, instead our new PM broke with convention.

In a pared back and passionate speech, he was honest with the public that Britain has been on the wrong track for a long time, he set out bold ideas about how to change course, and laid down a challenge for us to join him in his mission to give the British people hope again.

Take the issue of social care – one of the defining challenges of our time, one which parties of all stripes have failed to grasp for far too long. If you’re looking for an easy win to bank, this isn’t it. The PM was honest that if we don’t solve social care, it could topple the NHS. This requires a solution as large as the creation of the health service in 1948, and this means making challenging choices with which not everyone will agree.

So why then, when it’s so difficult, has Andy Burnham made social care central to what he wants to achieve? Because he knows that in order to rebuild our country, we need to take on the biggest challenges with big ideas.

Now is not the time for limited ambition and conservative solutions. The public have demanded a politics that serves the national interest, and Labour is setting out a plan to answer that call.

Back home in Selby, I’ve spoken to countless people who’ve had to sell a family home to pay for a relative’s care, or whose incomes are squeezed by high personal care costs. These are people who’ve done the right thing and contributed throughout their lives – and it’s a moral and societal imperative that we reform the system to make it better for people like them.

Social care wasn’t the only thorny issue to be grasped at Conference this year. We’ve announced new support for first-time buyers who are struggling to get a deposit together, we’re giving local leaders more powers to get empty dwellings back into use, and hiring 1,000 new youth workers to help tackle youth unemployment.

In my own role as Maritime Minister, I’m incredibly proud of the boost we’re giving to our shipbuilding industry, with strengthened procurement to allow more ships to be built here in Britain.

These are turbulent times for the world, and I know it’s being felt hard by people right across Yorkshire. An injection of hope into our politics won’t resolve global conflicts or energy challenges, but it can demonstrate that Labour is serious about setting out a vision for a better Britain.

A country where those who’ve done the right thing and paid into the system are supported in getting onto the housing ladder or accessing the social care they need. One where those without employment are supported into work, where we rebuild our ability to make things here in Britain, and where we increase our resilience in a changing and unstable world.

Yorkshire people are resilient, and that’s shown in the strength of our communities. But four decades of a failed economic and social settlement has taken its toll, and that reality demands a plan to give us hope again. At Labour Conference this year, the plan has started to take shape.

Keir Mather is the MP for Selby and the Aviation Minister.