British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said it was his "duty to the British people to face up to necessary decisions" as he addressed his Labour Party's first conference since winning power in July.
Mr Starmer's government has faced criticism since announcing a benefit cut for pensioners and warning that its first budget next month will be "painful", but has defended the measures as essential to plug what his party says is a £22 billion hole left by the last Conservative government.
He promised "every pensioner will be better off with Labour" as he defended taking "unpopular" decisions on policies such as the winter fuel payment.
He said: "I understand many of the decisions we must take will be unpopular.
"If they were popular, they'd be easy, but the cost of filling that black hole in our public finances, that will be shared fairly."
Promising "no return to Tory austerity" and rebuilt public services, he added: "If you can't take that on faith, perhaps because you're concerned about the winter fuel allowance, then I get that.
"As I say, if this path were popular or easy we would have walked it already.
"But the risk of showing to the world, as the Tories did, that this country does not fund its policies properly, that is a risk we can never take again.
"Stabilising our economy is the first step of this long-term plan, the only way we keep prices low, cut NHS waiting lists, and secure the triple lock so that every pensioner in this country, every pensioner, will be better off with Labour."
Addressing delegates in Liverpool, he told them to "take pride in your victory. Take pride that Labour won in every single region in England. Take pride that Labour won in Wales. Take pride that Labour won in Scotland.
"I never forget that this opportunity is only here because we changed the party, country first, party second.
"That isn't a slogan, it's the foundation of this project, a pact with working people we must fulfil to retain the privilege of serving their interests on economic stability, national security, wealth creation, protecting our borders, rooting out antisemitism, standing with NATO and Ukraine.
"The changes we made are permanent, irreversible, and the work of service never stops - country first, party second".
Mr Starmer has confirmed that a Hillsborough law requiring a duty of candour on public officials would be introduced to parliament before the next anniversary of the disaster, condemning "the countless injustices over the years suffered by working people at the hands of those who are supposed to serve them".
He said that it was "also a law for the subpostmasters of the Horizon scandal, the victims of infected blood, Windrush, Grenfell Tower and all the countless injustices over the years suffered by working people at the hands of those who were supposed to serve them".
"Truth and justice concealed behind closed ranks of the state, and conference, this is the meaning of clause one, because today I can confirm that the duty of candour will apply to public authorities and public servants, the bill will include criminal sanctions and that the Hillsborough law will be introduced to parliament before the next anniversary in April," he said.
Mr Starmer said "the work of change has begun" as he listed action already taken by Labour in government.
He told the conference: "This is a long-term project, I have never pretended otherwise.
"But, conference, make no mistake, the work of change has begun."
To applause from delegates, he reeled off a list of measures including planning reform, an end to the junior doctors' strike and the launch of GB Energy, which will be headquartered in Aberdeen in Scotland.
Mr Starmer is attempting to set out his positive vision of "national renewal" but the speech comes against a backdrop of anger within the Labour movement about the decision to means-test winter fuel payments, stripping them from millions of pensioners.
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That decision, along with in-fighting behind the scenes in No 10 and rows over donations to Mr Starmer and other senior Labour figures, has contributed to a party conference with a more subdued mood than might have been expected after July's election landslide.
Read more: Controversies dog Starmer ahead of Labour Party speech
The opening weeks of Labour's government have been characterised by a gloomy outlook on the public finances, with the claimed £22 billion "black hole" left by the Tories blamed for the decision to squeeze winter fuel payments.
