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Join for freePosted: Wed 30th Sep 2026
10 min read
Party conferences reward the orator who can make a mood feel like a manifesto. Andy Burnham, addressing Labour in Liverpool for the first time as prime minister, did exactly that.
It was a great speech, confident and warm, and it left the hall in no doubt that he meant what he said. Even if small businesses didn’t get a specific mention.
He offered "hope", promised an "honest conversation" with the public and vowed to tackle the difficult issues that have been left to fester for too long. It was a speech of welfare and social security, of national security and electoral reform: broad in ambition and, by design, light on the fine print.
The most tangible announcement was the Great British Grid, a publicly owned body that will invest in, and compete for, grid connection projects alongside the three private companies that own and run the network.
Firms waiting for a connection will also find it easier to finance their own, with the new body offering support and, potentially, co-investment.
Andy put it simply: businesses cannot get going because they cannot get connected, and it holds Britain back.
He coupled the plan with a target of bringing energy costs into line with those of European neighbours within 10 years, a goal that will resonate with any owner who has opened a bill and winced.
It is early days. Full details are yet to come, and funding will be found within the existing GB Energy budget.
Energy UK welcomed the move while noting that private capital will still carry most of the load, with the transmission owners planning to spend £90 billion over the next five years. More immediately, VAT comes off electricity bills this Thursday, a modest but welcome saving.
If the grid was the practical announcement, artificial intelligence was the boldest. Andy said Britain would lead the world in AI, and that he wants to put the technology centre stage.
He set out the case for a new global code, one designed to capture the benefits of AI while recognising its risks and framed it as a question of both prosperity and safety, the two things a government must secure.
For small businesses, many of which are already experimenting with AI tools in marketing, admin and customer service, the ambition is welcome.
A prime minister who talks of capturing the benefits, rather than only guarding against the dangers, understands that the technology is an opportunity.
With Britain holding the G20 presidency next year, he will not lack a stage on which to make the case. What leading the world will mean in practice, and how a global code would touch a firm of five people rather than a multinational, remains to be seen.
Polly Dhaliwal, Enterprise Nation’s chief operating officer, said:
"This was a speech with real heart, and it was refreshing to hear a prime minister talk so honestly about the challenges ahead. That honesty is what small businesses want from their leaders, and it gives us confidence in the direction of travel.
“Putting AI centre stage is exactly the right instinct. A new global code that captures the benefits and recognises the risks, developed as Britain takes up the G20 presidency next year, is the right approach.
"He's also right that we can't continue with the level of political turbulence we have got used to, so a new national commission on electoral reform is welcome, because businesses plan and invest best when policy is steady.
"A commitment to growth in every postcode and more power to communities is very welcome. Small businesses are at the heart of every community.
"Taken together with the lack of detail in Chancellor John Healey's speech, this adds to the anticipation ahead of the Budget on 28 October, which will be growing for the UK's small business community.
"We look forward to working with the government as the detail emerges, and to making sure the voice of small firms is heard as policy takes shape."
The language on growth was warm. Andy spoke of optimising conditions for business, of start-ups and scale-ups "pouring out" of universities, and borrowed Gordon Brown's ambition for Britain to be the world's "innovation nation".
Businesses, he said, need the basics to be functional and affordable. He also spoke of growth in every postcode and of giving more power to communities, a message that will land well with small firms rooted in their local economies.
Water, the PM said, is a symbol of what has gone wrong. He promised a strengthened water bill, the start of a 10-year journey to a "very different" system and the repeal of a Thatcher-era bar on public ownership of public companies.
He also pledged to close a loophole that permits excessive bonuses. The thread running through it was public control of essential utilities, and the case for it is easy to state: reliable, affordable basics are what everything else is built on.
Elsewhere, the prime minister announced powers to return empty homes to the public housing stock and to confront absent landlords who are paid through the benefits system yet decline to invest in their properties.
He backed a National Care Service and called for a new Bevan-style moment, arguing that changing how the state supports people could ease the welfare bill. Detailed care proposals will go before voters at the next election, due by August 2029, with roll-out from 2030.
He also promised a manifesto commitment to change the electoral system so that "everyone's voice is heard", with a new national commission on electoral reform.
Britain, he said, cannot go on with this degree of political turbulence. Few founders would quarrel with that. Investment thrives on steady policy, and anything that promises longer horizons deserves a hearing.
A confession from a conference newcomer: the fringe is a maze. The programme bristles with debate on the great themes of the day, and the energy in the rooms is real.
But I struggled to find sessions in which small firms were the subject rather than an afterthought. More than once I found myself translating national policy into the terms of a business with five staff, or one.
That is not a complaint so much as an observation, and perhaps an invitation.
Small businesses make up much of the economy, and cash flow, hiring, energy costs and access to finance make rich material for a panel.
For those thinking of attending next year, my advice is to go with a plan, seek out the sessions on energy, growth and skills, and treat the corridors as the finest networking venue in the building.
The Budget at the end of next month will show how far ambition can be matched with arithmetic, at a moment when borrowing costs are at their highest for a generation.
Small firms would do well to watch it closely, follow the detail on the Great British Grid and the AI code, and make their case through trade bodies and consultations as policy takes shape.
The PM has set a hopeful course, and he set it with conviction. The proof, as ever, will be in the detail, and business owners will be keen to see it.
