The Prime Minister's speech at the British Labour Party’s Annual Conference

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Thank you all for inviting me to Liverpool – and to the Labour Party Conference.

It is an honour to be here with you.

Norway and Britain are close friends. Our parties are close too.

But – I should admit that relations between Norway and England have been slightly strained since July.

You did knock us out of the World Cup.

Quarter-final in Miami.

We went one–nil up.

And for a few wonderful minutes, five and a half million Norwegians thought:

This might actually happen.

Then Jude Bellingham scored.

Then we had a goal disallowed.

Then came extra time.

And then Jude Bellingham scored again.

One hundred and twenty minutes.

Heat. Hope. VAR.

 

Two months later, I can report:

Norway has almost moved on. We are rowing again.

So, rest assured: I come here today as Norwegian Prime Minister and Labour leader – very much among friends!

 

Andy, in your first speech as Prime Minister, you said:

“I can do something to give people some breathing space now – some help with the cost of living.”

Breathing space.

That is a powerful phrase.

And it is powerful because across Europe, many families have had less breathing space.

Food costs more.

Electricity costs more.

Rent and mortgage payments cost more.

And then the washing machine breaks.

One of the kids needs new football boots.

Or – very Norwegian, this one – someone needs new skis.

I hear people ask:

Can we still afford a normal life?

Can we plan beyond the next bill?

Governments have many things competing for their attention. These everyday questions can get lost.

But they are the questions people use to judge whether government is working for them.

Is life getting easier – or harder?

Does the government understand what is happening to my family?

And will it do something about it?

In Norway, we were tested on exactly that.

 

In 2021, after eight years out of government, Norwegian Labour won the election.

We had a programme – hundreds of bullet points on a to-do list.

But the world had other plans for us.

We were still dealing with the pandemic.

Then Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Energy prices soared, inflation returned and interest rates went up.

For long periods, governing meant dealing with the next crisis coming through the door.

But as the government was consumed by one crisis after another, a distance began to open up: between the problems on our desks and the problems people were talking about around the dinner table.

People felt that distance. And we could see it in our support.

I came to a conclusion: Politics had to get closer to the dinner table.

If people were talking about their electricity bill, we could not answer with a lecture about the electricity market.

And that came after eight years in which people had seen barely any real wage growth.

So as Prime Minister, I set a simple goal for the government: People should be better off.

 

Electricity was one place to start.

In Norway, most homes are heated with electricity – and winters are cold.

Families had begun following prices hour by hour, some even putting on the washing machine at night when electricity was cheapest.

So, we introduced the Norway Price: every household can now choose a fixed national electricity price.

 

Childcare was another.

In Norway, most young children go to kindergarten before they start school.

For years, families had seen the price go up.

So, when we decided to put household finances first, childcare was another of the places we chose to act.

Every year Labour has been in government; we have cut the maximum price.

Today, a full-time place costs about 95 pounds a month.

For a family with one child, that is around 2,500 pounds less a year than they would have paid if the old price had simply continued.

Participation of children in kindergartens is significantly up.

And conference, that is equality in everyday life!

And that is what our movement is here for!

 

Then came the election last year.

Earlier, one poll had us at 14 per cent.

On election day: 28 per cent.

And four more years in government.

 

But getting re-elected was not the finish line.

We had also learned that we had to govern differently.

So instead of hundreds more bullet points, we now work from a Plan for Norway – with fewer priorities, clearer choices and room to change when the world changes.

The principle is simple:

What matters most in people’s lives must matter most in our politics.

 

And that is about more than what is left in your account.

It is also about knowing that the welfare state is there when you need it.

One of our biggest priorities is health – making sure the welfare state is there when people need it.

After the pandemic, hospital waiting times had become far too long.

We launched a major national reform to bring them down.

And today, waiting times are the shortest in five years!

 

The right too often forgets what the welfare state is for: opportunity and security for everyone.

Conference, we must always stand up for the welfare state – and keep improving and modernising it.

 

That is why I liked your phrase, Andy.

Breathing space.

People have to feel it.

Politics has to deliver.

And to deliver the right things, we must know what matters.

That is why Conference matters.

Governments have civil servants, statistics and reports. We need them.

But the Labour Party has something else.

It has you.

People who hear about a problem at work, at the school gate, in the union or on the doorstep – often long before it reaches a minister’s desk.

In Norway, we have a word for people who take on that responsibility:

‘Tillitsvalgt’.

Literally: someone chosen in trust.

You listen. And you act on what you hear.

That is also why bringing decisions closer to people matters – as you are doing through No. 10 North, Andy.

To all of you who do that work every week:

Thank you.

 

Andy, you and I began this week among nearly two hundred world leaders at the United Nations.

We end it here, with Labour in Liverpool.

The world around us is changing.

There is war in Europe.

Trade and security are less predictable.

Artificial intelligence is changing work at extraordinary speed.

Climate change is reshaping the world around us.

These can sound like big, distant forces.

They are not.

War changes the energy bill.

A trade dispute changes the order book at a factory.

Warming seas are changing where fish live.

What happens in the world is felt around the dinner table.

In that world, countries like ours need to be clear about the values we stand for.

And that brings me back to the North Sea.

Because in this new period, Britain and Norway will need each other.

Here in Liverpool, you know that this is not a new story.

During the Second World War, Liverpool stood at the heart of the Battle of the Atlantic.

From Western Approaches Command, supplies were kept moving across the Atlantic – at a terrible cost to this city.

Further north, boats sailed from Lunna House in Shetland to occupied Norway with people and supplies for the resistance.

And Norwegians travelled the other way.

When Norway lost its freedom, Britain gave us somewhere to go.

Our King and government came here.

For five years, Norway was governed from London.

That is why the name mattered to me when Keir and I met in Britain last December, as our defence ministers signed a new agreement between our countries.

We called it the Lunna House Agreement – a name from our shared history for an agreement about our shared security today.

The North Sea still binds us together.

For decades, Norwegian oil and gas have supplied British homes and industry.

Now we are building the next chapter in offshore wind, carbon capture and new technology.

And when we make major investments for the future, they should also build industry, skills and good jobs.

Our security cooperation makes that very concrete.

Norway has chosen the British Type 26 for our new frigate fleet.

It is the largest defence procurement in modern Norwegian history.

Around 10 billion pounds.

About 4,000 British jobs.

And across the Mersey, at Cammell Laird in Birkenhead, workers and apprentices are already building major sections of Type 26 frigates.

Britain will have eight ships.

Norway at least five.

Thirteen frigates.

One family.

Built for the same waters.

For our navies, that means much closer cooperation.

And as a former naval officer, I have to say: That makes me proud.

But it means something else too.

A job for a welder in Birkenhead.

An apprenticeship.

An order for a supplier.

Security in the North Atlantic.

Work here on the Mersey.

That is what our partnership delivers!

 

Friends,

I began today with football.

For 120 minutes this summer, Norway and England were on opposite sides.

That was more than enough.

Because across the North Sea, the longer story is different.

When Norway lost its freedom, Britain was there.

Today, we build energy, industry and security together.

Our parties share a history, common roots – and a belief in what people can achieve together.

And in the more uncertain world ahead, that partnership will matter even more.

So, on the football: Congratulations.

On everything else: I am very glad we are on the same side.

Thank you.