British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has promised to put the United Kingdom on a new path of fairer growth, using his first Labour Party conference speech as prime minister to announce sweeping plans to expand public services and bring key sectors under state control.

Speaking to delegates in Liverpool on Tuesday, Burnham said Britain had been on the wrong path for a long time and that he was ready to do things his predecessors would not. He vowed to make a break with the direction of the past 40 years and build what he called a new economy and a new politics.

Among the headline pledges was a Bill to repeal Margaret Thatcher’s ban on public ownership of water companies, which he described as the start of a 10-year journey toward a very different water system.

The measure would also give local leaders new powers to hold water firms to account and close loopholes used to pay big bonuses. He also announced a publicly owned Great British Grid, a new era of council housing and a National Care Service, which is to be funded partly by changes to the pension triple lock from 2030. Under those changes, the link to average earnings would be removed.

Burnham acknowledged the move would be painful, saying someone has to go through the pain barrier and rip the plaster off.

The prime minister also called for a fundamental rethink of the welfare system to find money upfront for new opportunities for young people. He said young people would be required to take up the support offered to them, with in-work help guaranteed. He also promised a national commission on electoral reform and a new politics that ends political point-scoring.

On foreign policy, Burnham said his government would be principled in securing a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine, and would be better able to meet its NATO defence obligations.

Al Jazeera’s Milena Veselinovic, who listened to the speech, described it as laced with fiery rhetoric. She noted that Britain’s finances are in a dire position and that pressure is mounting on the new government ahead of its first budget at the end of October. One Labour MP described it as one of the most impressive leader’s speeches he had seen at a party conference, and unions, campaign groups and think tanks have reacted positively.

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