Summary of the day …
Keir Starmer and top Labour colleagues are to stop taking clothes gifts from donors after days of controversy
Nigel Farage said the Conservative brand is “bust” during a speech at the Reform UK conference where he also said the first few weeks of Starmer’s government have been ‘truly shocking’
The Reform UK leader also said the party did not welcome “bigots” as other speeches during the day targeted immigrants, drag queens and vegans
In his speech at the event, Richard Tice, deputy chair of Reform UK, which is run by Farage as a private company, criticised people for falling for cults. Multi-millionaire Rupert Lowe, the MP for Great Yarmouth, gave an ugly speech which punched down on minorities and leaned into antisemitic conspiracy theory tropes
Conservative leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick wrote for the Daily Mail a piece which the paper said argued “mass immigration and woke culture have put England’s national identity at risk. Jonathan Portes, professor of economics at King’s College London described it as “unashamed ethnonationalism/racism from Jenrick”
A report by Labour Together warned that Labour must focus on the NHS and cost of living to keep former Tory voters who backed Starmer’s party in July onside
Thousands of jobs could be at risk and dozens of government construction projects paused as ISG, one of the UK’s largest contractors, filed for administration
Price comparison websites and energy brokers will be regulated in a bid to end their alleged “license to scam”, the energy consumers minister Miatta Fahnbulleh has said
Members of the largest trade union in the NHS in Scotland have voted in favour of a 5.5% pay rise offered by the Scottish government
Scotland’s first minister John Swinney met today with the newly appointed chair of Great British Energy Jürgen Maier
Polling by Savanta has found that half of the UK public say that it will be unacceptable for Labour to continue blaming the Conservatives after a year in government, while Ipsos say their latest survey shows half of Britons are disappointed with what Labour have done in government so far
My colleagues Peter Walker and Ben Quinn have filed this report from the Reform UK conference today …
