Prime Minister Andy Burnham on Tuesday promised a National Care Service, public ownership of water companies and a state-owned electricity grid in his first Labour Party conference speech as leader, telling delegates in Liverpool that Britain had been “on the wrong path for a long time.”

Burnham, who replaced Keir Starmer as prime minister in July, said he was “ready to do things my predecessors wouldn’t” and would “make a break with the direction of the past 40 years and put Britain on a new path, build a new economy and a new politics.”

“More of the same isn’t good enough,” Burnham said. “This country isn’t where any of us would want it to be.”

The former mayor of Liverpool said there was a “sense of the powers-that-be pulling against the people, not with them,” and that it was time “to break the mould today.”

The centrepiece of the social programme was a National Care Service that Burnham said would be “free at the point of use.” He described it as a “person-centred, high-quality” system in which “everyone contributes and everyone is covered,” where care “is about people not profit,” does not erode savings and gives “proper recognition” to care workers.

On pensions, Burnham said the government would adjust the “triple lock” that sets state pension rises, with changes to be made by April 2030, after the next general election. He said low-income pensioners would not pay income tax in the current Parliament and that pensioners would receive annual rises without additional care charges, “so that pensioners will always share in the rising prosperity of the nation.”

On housing, Burnham confirmed Labour intended to reduce the deposit needed to buy property to make it easier for young people to own a home.

He said the government would scrap what he called former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s “ideological ban on public ownership of water companies,” returning control of utilities such as water and electricity to the public. On electricity, he announced a publicly owned “Great British Grid” that he said would “challenge the private sector operators” to “increase competition, drive down costs and speed up delivery” and make it easier to connect to the grid.

On foreign policy, Burnham said: “I will be steadfast in my support for Ukraine and stand up to threats wherever they come from, whether Russia, Iran, or anywhere.”

He praised the approach of Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband on Israel and the Palestinian territories, saying: “We will be principled in our leadership in securing a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine, as Ed Miliband has done.” Miliband addressed the conference earlier, calling Israel’s conduct a stain on the world and pledging new sanctions, according to rews reporting.

Al Jazeera’s Milena Veselinovic, reporting from the conference, said the speech contained “a lot of fiery rhetoric” but that Britain’s finances placed heavy pressure on the government ahead of its first budget at the end of October. Annual consumer price inflation reached 3.1 percent in the 12 months to August, up from 2.9 percent in July, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Veselinovic said Burnham was aware he might “pay a political price for all the reforms he’s promising” but believed that “the costs are too high” to delay.

Danny Sriskandarajah, chief executive officer of the New Economics Foundation, called it “a remarkable speech.” He said Burnham “has this knack to be able to come across as authentic, as genuine” and “generates a sense of hope which I think is much needed,” adding that the prime minister “was tearful at moments.”

Sriskandarajah said the challenge would be funding the programme. “All of these things that he wants to do will cost money, which means they’ll have to raise those resources somewhere,” he said.

The government’s first budget is due at the end of October.