Andy Burnham declares ‘fightback’ begins now after Labour’s election nightmare in Wales
Addressing the Welsh Labour conference in Llandudno, the Prime Minister urged the party to ‘take stock’ after losing power in May’s bruising Senedd elections
Andy Burnham speaking during the Welsh Labour conference in Llandudno(Image: Getty Images)
Andy Burnham has declared the fightback starts now in Wales after Labour’s historic election defeat earlier this year.
Addressing the party’s conference in Llandudno, the Prime Minister urged the party to “take stock” after losing power in May’s bruising Senedd elections. Mr Burnham told delegates: “It’s been a hard year, of course, hard year in terms of the elections that you fought, but we’ve got one job to do today, isn’t it? And make sure the fightback starts in earnest here, listening, learning, coming back stronger, and that’s what we will do.”
He added that Welsh Labour was sending out a clear message: “We’re rebuilding, we’re coming back in the right way, having, having listened. But we will be stronger with Welsh Labour and UK Labour working together. That’s the partnership that always will underpin us.”
To see more of the stories you love from The Mirror and to find them easily in Google then make us your preferred source. Free and easy-to-do, just click on the link here to find more from The Mirror at the top of your feed.
The Prime Minister said Labour would take “spirit in this fight” from the people of Aberfan. Last month he visited the mining village on the 60th anniversary of the Aberfan disaster, which killed 144 children and adults.
He told the Welsh Labour conference: “What did they do? They stood together as a proud working class community, and they fought for what is right. A country where working class people are treated properly and fairly. And they were right to lead that fight, and I salute them in the way that they carried it forward all of those years.”
His intervention came as Welsh Labour prepared to publish its review into May’s election nightmare where the party lost its century-long dominance over Welsh politics. During his speech on Saturday, the Prime Minister also said the Brexit deal negotiated by the Tories was not good enough for Britain.
Ahead of Friday’s major UK-EU summit, he said: “We’ve got the Conservatives who are standing out against it, saying no change. Well, I don’t believe Brexit and the deal that they got has been good enough for Britain.
“I think we’ve lost more than we’ve gained over the last 10 years, and, actually, I think the Conservatives gave Britain a harsher and harder Brexit than people thought they were getting when they voted in 2016.
“They burned all of our bridges in the aftermath, with the EU, and so I’m going to lead as Prime Minister on this issue, and I’m going to go and try and get the best deal I can for Wales, for those here who could benefit, Welsh farmers, exporters of Welsh shellfish and Welsh lamb.”
The Prime Minister also joked during his speech that he achieved his young political dream of a “kinnock around the Cabinet table” as he introduced the Welsh Secretary, Stephen Kinnock, the son of Neil Kinnock, who led Labour between 1983 and 1992.
