Electoral Dysfunction: Andy Burnham 'must address immigration' in Labour conference speech, says Harriet Harman

Andy Burnham "absolutely has to" address the topic of immigration in his speech to Labour's annual conference next week, Harriet Harman has said.

Speaking to our political editor Beth Rigby on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast, the senior Labour peer said Mr Burnham will know that the public "expect him to show that, as prime minister, what he's going to do is control the borders, but also control the streets".

The Labour Party's annual conference begins on Sunday in Liverpool, with Mr Burnham scheduled to deliver his first keynote speech as party leader and prime minister on Tuesday.

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It will come just days after 781 migrants crossed the Channel in a single day - a new record for 2026 - and the arrival of two migrant boats on British shores that were not detected as they made the crossing.

The speech will also come weeks after protests took place in Dover and Portsmouth that saw masked protesters clash with police over migrants attempting to reach the UK in small boats being brought to shore by Border Force and the RNLI.

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On this week's edition of the Electoral Dysfunction podcast, Harman told Rigby that Mr Burnham "absolutely has to" address the issue of migration, otherwise "everybody who wants to make immigration a huge issue" will be saying, "see, he didn't even mention immigration".

She recalled a speech that Ed Miliband made to conference when he was Labour Party leader over a decade ago after which he was criticised for failing to mention immigration and the economy.

"So he will need to say something about it," she said.

Harman went on to say that in the last few days, "we've already seen the government coming quite hard on the issue of what are called the uncontrolled crossings", and "absolutely they've got to be clamped down on".

"But I think people do know where Andy Burnham is steering on immigration, but nonetheless he will absolutely have to mention it.

"Andy Burnham will know that people will expect him to show that, as prime minister, what he's going to do is control the borders but also control the streets."

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(c) Sky News 2026: Electoral Dysfunction: Andy Burnham 'must address immigration' in Labour conferenc