Labour conference: Starmer calls Reform’s policy on immigration ‘racist’ and says Farage’s party would ‘tear country apart’ – as it happened

Keir Starmer on Sunday. Photograph: Ian Forsyth/Getty Images

6.10pm BST

Early evening summary

• Keir Starmer has attacked Reform UK’s plan to deport thousands of people already legally living in the UK as “racist” and “immoral”, as he said that Labour had a generational struggle ahead with the populist right.

• Andy Burnham has criticised Keir Starmer for allowing too much of a “climate of fear” in the party. At a fringe meeting tonight, he said:

One thing I am worried about … is how can you have an open debate about all of those things if there’s too much of a climate of fear within our party and the way the party is being run?

Criticising a situation where “a party member is suspended for liking a tweet by another political party, or a member of parliament loses the whip for trying to protect disability benefits”, Burnham received repeated rounds of applause from the audience. He said:

If that is the way we’re doing things, where debate is being closed down, that to me is what we’ve got to change.

Burnham also spoke out against demands for “simplistic statements of loyalty”, saying:

If that closes down the debate we need, I think it’s at risk of underestimating the peril the party is in as we get to the polls next May.

Aubrey Allegretti from the Times has the clip.

NEW: Andy Burnham hits out at “simplistic statements of loyalty” after he called for a debate about the future of the Labour party.

He warns there is “a risk of underestimating the peril the party is in as we get to the polls next May”. pic.twitter.com/lrti4hsy44

— Aubrey Allegretti (@breeallegretti) September 28, 2025

Earlier Alan Johnson, who was urged to run against Gordon Brown in 2009 when Brown was a PM and Johnson was a cabinet minister, told the BBC that Burnham should do what he did at the time.

Here’s a simple bit of advice for Andy. Do what I did, go and find a television camera, stand in front of it and say: ‘I have no intention of standing against the elected leader of our country’.

• Anthony Albanese has defended UK prime minister Keir Starmer’s struggling leadership, insisting the Labour government has an “absolute resolve” to stand up for democracy and fight far-right forces in Britain.

• Rightwing populists threaten working-class people’s protections under the rule of law, Lord Hermer, the attorney general, has said in his most political intervention yet.

• Labour has announced a programme to build 12 new town locations across England in a bid to address the country’s housing crisis. (See 11.39am and 2.11pm.)

For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today, do scroll through the list of key event headlines near the top of the blog.

Updated at 6.28pm BST

5.52pm BST

Miliband says it's 'possible' government should come off Elon Musk's X social media platform

Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, has said it is “possible” the government should come of Elon Musk’s social media platform, X.

Referring to Musk, he said:

Look, he called for the overthrow of our government. He incited violence on our screens. His platform, X, promotes disinformation. He’s a dangerous person.

The British people are not like, what do we want? Elon Musk. They really don’t like Elon Musk, and they don’t like people coming and sort of saying we should overthrow the government and whatever other crap he said.

Updated at 6.05pm BST