Early evening summary
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.
Streeting claims he has given up wanting to be Labour leader
Wes Streeting has also claimed that, for the first time in almost 30 years, he has given up wanting to be Labour leader.
Streeting, who is 43, joked:
I am, for the first time since I was probably about 15 years old, not running to be leader of the Labour Party, and it’s quite a liberating position to be in.
Asked if that was just the case “for now”, he said: “No, that ship has sailed.”
Wes Streeting urges disappointed Starmerites to stay loyal
Ben Quinn is a Guardian political correspondent.
Wes Streeting has appealed to colleagues who served alongside him in Keir Starmer’s cabinet not to let disappointments stoke fresh splits in the Labour party.
“I can understand emotionally that for lots of my colleagues who were most closely involved in Keir’s leadership and political project, that they will be feeling the pain of that project ending most acutely,” the defence secretary told a fringe event organised by the Fabians at the Labour conference. He went on:
But one thing we can’t do is allow yesterday’s disappointments to become today’s divisions and we have to pull together as a party.
That doesn’t mean we have to agree on everything all the time or shut down debate. I think Andy wants a kind of ecumenical or pluralistic party where we have debate.
But sometimes it does mean thinking when on a TV programme or giving a radio interview or a magazine interview ‘Are those comments going to help or hinder the Labour party as we fight Reform or the Conservatives?’
Streeting was asked if he was referring to comments recently such as those by Darren Jones, the former Treasury chief secretary, who claimed in an interview with the New Statesman that he had been offered a “deal” to resign from that role in return for a future post under Andy Burnham.
“I didn’t have anyone particularly in mind,” said Streeting.
Norway's Labour PM says focusing on cost of living was essential to getting his party re-elected
Last year the Norwegian Labour party secured a second term in office after seeing off a surge of support for the populist right.
And so it is not hard to see why Andy Burnham thought his Norwegian counterpart, Jonas Gahr Støre, might be a good person to address the Labour conference.
In his speech, Støre said in his first term in office, after Russia invaded Ukraine and energy prices started going up, his government started losing support as voters increasingly viewed it as out of touch.
Støre went on:
And I came to the simple conclusion, hard as it may be, we have to get closer to that dinner table.
If people were talking about their electricity bill, we could not answer with a lecture about how electricity markets work.
And that came after eight years in which people had seen barely any real wage growth.
So as prime minister, I set a simple goal for the government: we have to do what it takes so that people get better off and they can feel it.
Electricity was an obvious place to start.
Because in Norway, most homes are heated with electricity – and winters are cold.
Families had begun to follow prices hour by hour, some even putting on the washing machine at night when electricity was cheapest.
So we introduced what we call the Norway Price: every household can now choose a fixed national electricity price, and they can plan on it.
Childcare was another.
In Norway, most young children go to kindergarten before they start school.
But for years, families had seen the price go up and up.
So when we decided to put household finances first, children and childcare was another of the places we chose to act.
And every year Labour has been in government; we have cut the maximum price for kindergarten.
Today, just to compare, a full-time place costs about £95 a month.
And for a family with one child, that is around £2,500 less a year than they would have paid if the old price had simply continued.
And another benefit - participation of children in kindergartens from all walks of society is significantly up.
Støre said that was high he approved of Burnham saying he wanted to give people “breathing space” with the cost of living when he became PM.
Pat McFadden tells Labour activists they should not defend benefits system 'status quo' because it 'writes off' claimants
Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary, has told Labour activists they should not defend the benefits system “status quo”.
In his speech to the conference, he said the current system was flawed because it consigned too many people to a life on benefits when they would be better off working.
He also criticised the rightwing parties demanding cuts to benefits paid to working-age young people for dismissing people in this group as “a generation of snowflakes and shirkers”. He said:
What kind of patriotism is it that attacks your own younger generation? Our belief in our country says we will lift you up and give you a chance, we won’t blame you for the challenges you face.
McFadden said Labour cherished the welfare state because it saw it as “the mark not only of a decent society but a strong one” that help was there for those who need it.
But the current system is flawed, he said.
A young person who signs on for sickness benefits when they are twenty years old is now more likely to reach the age of thirty and still be on them than to have held down a steady job in any one of the intervening years.
A young person under twenty-five on the health element of universal credit is now less likely to find work than someone over fifty-five on the very same benefit.
And worst of all a young person left out of work is far more likely to die before their time than the friends they sat beside in school.
We should not accept it. We have to change it.
Conference, this status quo is not a system around which to circle the wagons. It’s a system to change so that we can give a chance to life for the people it too often signs off and writes off.
McFadden said the government should not just aspire to give people enough money to keep them alive.
Our ambition must be higher than that. We don’t just owe people an income. We owe them a future too and that is what the system should be built around.
McFadden said the government would soon get reports from Alan Milburn about Neets (young people not in education, employment and training) and from Stephen Timms about the personal independence payment (Pip) disability benefit. When those were out, it would propose “a new system focussed on opportunity”, he said.
McFadden also confirmed the plan announced earlier (see 8.55am) to guarantee jobs for out-of-work young people with disabilities and health conditions.
Unite leader Sharon Graham urges PM to ignore Sadiq Khan's call for UK to rejoin EU
Labour divisions over whether or not the party should rejoin the EU have opened up at conference today.
In an interview with the i, Sadiq Khan, the Labour mayor of London, said the government should start making the case for rejoining now. He said:
We’ve got to start the work now … You can’t, a week before a general election, pull out of a hat this rabbit of a manifesto and say we’re going to rejoin in six weeks’ time.
The heavy lifting, the pitch rolling must be done now, explaining to the country the disbenefits of being outside the European Union and the benefits of being part of this family.
Khan has already said the UK should rejoin the single market and the customs unions now, with a view to rejoining the EU fully, without another referendum, if it wins the next election.
In an interview with Sky News, asked to respond to Khan’s latest comment, Sharon Graham, the Unite general secretary said the government should not reverse Brexit. She said:
I think the reality about the EU is that … we need to be sure that we’re keeping to what the British people said. The British people voted for Brexit. I think if we’re going down a road of trying to undo that, I think that will be seen as a problem.
As mentioned earlier, More in Common has a new MRP poll out today. The results are here.
The Sunday Times columnist Robert Colvile has an interesting take on the findings. He says:
In the last week, we’ve had three separate MRPs (big, constituency-level projections) from @YouGov, @Survation and @Moreincommon_. And as I say in my column today, they’re all shouting the same story at us: British politics is becoming regional, not national. Let me explain...
This is the @YouGov map, though the others look very similar. What’s glaringly apparent is that we won’t have one election battle, but (at least) five. Eg:
- Ref vs Plaid in Wales
- SNP vs all in Scot
- Lab vs Ref in North
- Con v Lib in South/South-West
- Con v Ref in East
This becomes even clearer when we look at how many seats each party is expected to win in each region. It also illustrates why the right gets fewer seats on the same vote share - because Con and Ref are going head to head a lot more than Lab and Lib
There is more in Colvile’s social media thread here.
Andy Burnham has issued a statement on social media about the arrest of five men on suspicion of explosives and terrorism offences near an RAF base used in US attacks against Iran.
I know today’s incident near RAF Fairford will be deeply concerning for local residents and for many people following developments across the country.
My thanks go to Gloucestershire Police, Counter Terrorism Policing, our Armed Forces and all those working to keep the public safe.
I am especially grateful to those residents who have been asked to leave their homes while precautionary checks are carried out.
The safety and security of the public is our first priority, and I want people to know that we will always take every step necessary to protect our communities and keep our country safe.
The investigation remains ongoing, and I would urge people not to speculate while the authorities establish the full facts.
Our story about the arrests is here.
In his speech, Stephen Kinnock started with a reference to his father, the former Labour leader Neil Kinnock, and one of his most famous speeches.
It is a joy to be here with you. After a thousand generations of waiting for the first one, another Kinnock has the chance to speak with you from this platform.
My first job today is to convey warm and comradely greetings to you all from Dad.
He is no doubt watching on the telly, and no doubt drafting detailed feedback as we speak. So – no pressure!
Plaid Cymru says Stephen Kinnock was 'insulting voters' when he claimed it's offering 'same poison' as Reform UK
Stephen Kinnock, the Welsh secretary, tried to compare Plaid Cymru with Reform UK in his speech to the Labour conference.
He said:
Before the 7 May election, Plaid were silent on their obsession with separatism. But now their true colours shine through.
They say: “Let’s build walls. Look inward. Keep Welsh power confined to Welsh borders.”
So what are they really saying to the Welsh steelworker? Your world stops here …
And Reform are no better. All they ever want to do is build walls between people and communities. They stoke division and tell you your neighbour is the problem.
Now they may offer an arresting narrative on Facebook, but I spy some plastic patriotism.
Funded by crypto billionaires, egged on by foreign powers waging war on Europe and on our values.
But conference – Wales is a nation of dragons, we are not Putin’s Parrots.
Plaid and Reform offer the same poison: you’re safer alone. You’re stronger, smaller.
But that’s a lie. And it’s not who we are in Wales.
Wales wasn’t built by people who retreated or set communities against each other.
Wales was built by people who went out and changed the world.
Plaid Cymru and Reform UK are very different parties and, when Kinnock claimed they were alike, he was relying on alternative versions of what “safer alone” politcs might mean. Plaid are an “alone” party in the sense they want independence from the UK (although for some people in the party that is not much more than a notional aspiration, and more devolution is the real priority). Reform UK is opposed to Welsh independence. But it does favour independence from institutions like the EU, and it is generally quite sceptical about the power of central government. By contrast, Plaid was strongly opposed to Brexit, and it firmly believes in the power of government as a potential force for good.
Commenting on Kinnock’s speech, Liz Saville Roberts, the Plaid leader at Westminster, said:
When Stephen Kinnock says Plaid Cymru and Reform ‘offer the same poison’, he’s insulting the many thousands of former Labour voters who chose Plaid Cymru in May. Instead of throwing insults, Labour should reflect on why so many people chose positive change after 27 years of Welsh Labour rule.
Updated
Michael Marra and Ken Skates tell conference how they think Labour can recover in Scotland and Wales
Scotland and Wales both have recently acquired new Labour leaders. The Scottish Labour leader, Michael Marra, and the Welsh Labour leader, Ken Skates, are both taking over parties demoralised and diminished by the May elections results.
This is what Marra said in his speech about the lessons for Scottish Labour.
In Scotland, we have some difficult truths to face up to. May was the sixth Holyrood election in a row where we have lost votes and seats.
Scotland knows what we are against. We’re against an SNP government that has been in power too long. We’re against a Tory party that should never be in power again. And a Reform party that would take us and this country to a dark and dangerous place.
But for all Scotland knew what we are against, people didn’t know enough of what we were for. And it’s my job to change that.
Social justice. Good work, good housing, good public services. That’s what Labour is for.
The good life for working people, not struggling for a holiday once a year or a pint once a week. That’s what Labour is for.
In Scotland, Labour has been out of power at Holyrood since 2007. But until May Labour had always led the devolved government in Cardiff, and it had been the most powerful party in the country for 100 years. Skates told the conference Welsh Labour had to, in effect, start again from scratch. He said:
I want to speak honestly today about what happened to us in May. The result was shattering. There is no point dressing it up. After more than two decades in government, the people of Wales delivered a profound judgment on us. We heard it. I heard it.
There are some things which, when they break, you can pick up the pieces, glue them carefully back together, and put them on a shelf. May was not like that. The judgment was too fundamental.
Our task is not to reconstruct a Welsh Labour party that looks like the past. It is to build something new. Something confident. Something exciting.
Something for the future.
No more Ming-vase politics for Wales. There should be no steady as she goes for Labour. That is not what we were built to do. It is time to stop protecting what was, and start creating what could be.
Emily Dickinson wrote that hope is: “the thing with feathers— That perches in the soul— And sings the tune without the words— And never stops—at all—”. I like that. But hope isn’t about pretending the storm never happened. Hope is what survives it, and politics is what rebuilds after it.
Politics must go further than poetry. Hope needs substance. Hope needs purpose. And hope needs results. People need to feel progress in their daily lives, because once they stop feeling it, soundbites mean nothing. And this is the lesson we have heard and learned. Not grudgingly. Not partially. Completely.
Douglas Alexander accuses SNP government of failing to support Scottish defence industry
Douglas Alexander, the Scottish secretary, criticised the SNP government in Edinburgh for failing to support the defence industry in his speech to the conference. He said:
In March, this Labour government committed to invest £10m to support the Defence Technical College programme in Scotland. We asked and urged the Scottish government to match that funding so that Scottish workers would have the skills to benefit from the investments this government is making in defence.
Match funding from the Scottish government would mean that Scotland could have, not one, but two DTECs that would benefit young people in both the east and the west of our nation. And six months on? No mention of these colleges in their newly published Programme for Government and then late in the day - not a commitment but simply an offer to talk.
Talking is of course welcome, but the rest of the world isn’t waiting. Indeed, we’re at real risk of Scotland falling behind as DTECs move forward elsewhere across the UK. And this isn’t the first time that our government has had to urge action - and provide the leadership - our defence industries need.
Just last year, on this very stage, John Healey had to step in and provide the funding needed to save a specialist welding centre on the Clyde. All because the Scottish National party in its wisdom, decided that apparently there is something about welding metal to keep our country safe that is morally wrong.
Alexander was referring to what was then an SNP policy banning investment in the production of munitions. John Swinney, the first minister, subsequently reversed that policy.
Pro-Palestine Action protesters arrested outside Labour conference
Police have arrested two demonstrators outside the Labour party conference during a protest in support of Palestine Action, the Press Association reports. PA says:
More than 200 protesters sat outside the conference in Liverpool, many holding home-made banners which read: “I support Palestine Action,” the banned group.
Scores of police stood by before moving in to arrest an elderly man who was sitting under a tree.
Police then made another arrest after telling a protester he was holding up a sign supporting a proscribed organisation.
After asking the man if he was going to continue holding up the sign, police led him away.
More protesters are expected to sit in the same spot as those who have been arrested.
Louise Haigh says utility companies will be told to use procurement to support British jobs
As first secretary of state, Louise Haigh is following in the footsteps of Barbara Castle, who was one of the first ministers to be given this title. Haigh started her speech to the conference this afternoon by praising her predecessor.
The last time I was here with you as your transport secretary, I spoke about my political hero - Barbara Castle.
A diminutive Yorkshire red head with a grit and determination that occasionally found herself in trouble.
Barbara once said “in politics, guts is all”.
I often think about that line.
What Barbara meant was that there’s no point being in politics if you’re not prepared to be brave.
I believe she was right then. I believe she is right today.
Haigh is in charge of the Cabinet Office and she used much of her speech to talk about procurement rules. She said changes introduced last month would ensure government spending protects British jobs. She said:
The chancellor John Healey and I have been very clear, if your business is bidding for government contracts to defend our country, then you will be judged on your commitment to backing high quality, British jobs.
And just in case Kemi Badenoch is watching - that’s what we mean when we say social security and national security go hand in hand. That’s the Labour way.
Haigh said the same approach would be applied to utility companies.
Because the big water companies, the energy giants - these are not free marketeers.
These are not Adam Smith’s merchants, in fierce competition to outdo one another on price or on quality.
These are monopolies with a vice-like grip on British people and British businesses.
So today I want to be clear that we expect private utility companies to use their own procurement to back British jobs and skills in manufacturing.
Haigh said she wanted more insourcing.
When existing contracts end in 18 months’ time we will begin bringing more than a thousand outsourced cleaning, catering and security jobs across Whitehall back in-house.
And that is just the start.
We will establish a dedicated Insourcing Unit in the Office of the prime minister and cabinet to work across departments, share best practice and accelerate the insourcing of thousands more jobs across Whitehall.
And she announced that the government is commissioning a new state-of-the-art marine research vessel.
Zack Polanski, the Green party leader, criticised Andy Burnham for not saying anything about social housing in his interview this morning. In a statement, Polanski, who is the Green candidate in Holborn and St Pancras, where a byelection is taking place to find a replacement for Keir Starmer, said:
The prime minister promises he won’t ‘back away from difficult issues’ at Labour party conference today, but he has little to offer people who are struggling with unaffordable housing and spiralling bills.
While Labour pats itself on the back in Liverpool, I’ve been knocking on hundreds of doors in Holborn and St Pancras. People want to see bold change, not more of the same - and that’s why we’re calling for rent controls and 150,000 new social and council homes every year.
ITV’s Robert Peston has an intriguing theory as to how Andy Burnham will fund his plans for an NHS-style social care service. He has posted about it on social media. Here is an extract.
I came away from Andy Burnham’s pre-conference interview thinking he may well promise to fund his new free system of care for the elderly (at least in part) by reforming the expensive triple lock guarantee for above-inflation increases in the state pension.
Here were the clues in his chat with the bbc.
First he said that the plan would not be implemented in this parliament. It would be in Labour’s next general-election manifesto. And his reason was that he would not break Starmer’s manifesto, which promised to keep the triple lock.
Second, he said everyone would contribute to the funding of social care, but that the funding mechanism would be different from that of the NHS. In other words he would not use general taxation to pay for his new national care service. And to state the obvious, if the rate of increase in the state pension becomes less generous - up-rating by inflation perhaps rather than the higher of inflation or earnings, with a floor of 2.5% - this would have an impact both on current pensioners and future ones. All of us would contribute, either now or in the future.
Third, he has been listening to what I and others have been querying, which is whether he is prepared to take tough decisions that upset and enrage important sections of the community, when he believes doing so is in the national interest. He made a point, in the context of how he would fund social care, in saying he would show his mettle, his backbone. And to state the obvious, opposition parties and some older people will be angry if he abolishes the triple lock.
Lucy Powell dismisses Nigel Farage as like 'modern-day love child of Enoch Powell and Margaret Thatcher'
At the Labour party conference last year Bridget Phillipson and Lucy Powell went head to head in a hustings for the Labour deputy leadership. Powell, who had been sacked from cabinet, was seen as the pro-Burnham candidate and her victory (by a margin of 54% to 46%) was seen as evidence that members were not happy with Keir Starmer’s leadership.
Today they were in effect head to head again, speaking on after the other on the main conference platform.
Phillipson went first, speaking in her capacity as Labour’s chair. (She is also minister for women and equalities.) She spoke about Labour’s achievements in office, such as the Employment Rights Act, the Renters’ Rights Act, and getting rid of the two-child benefit cap, and she attacked the Tories and Reform UK.
The next election won’t just be a choice between Labour and the right. It is bigger than that. It is a choice between hope and fear.
We’ve seen what Reform believe. We’ve seen how they want to rip up the laws that protect our rights, our lives, our families, our chances.
And this month, we’ve seen how they make policy. When the crypto billionaires pay up, they don’t hang about. They change the line …
As for the Tories, well I hardly know where to start. Racing through the gutter with Reform, from maternity pay to Muslims at prayer. But they still love their greatest hits, they really, really do.
Kemi Badenoch sacked her shadow chancellor [Mel Stride] for suggesting Liz Truss might, just might, have got things wrong. Replaced him with a man who defended Liz Truss’s budget as “the right plans” which “make our economy competitive”.
(Phillipson was wrong about the reason for Stride being sacked. Stride did give a speech disowning Liz Truss, but that was more than a year ago, and was not the reason for Stride being replaced.)
Lucy Powell was speaking in her capacity as deputy leader and as education secretary. As deputy leader, she also attacked the Tories and Reform UK. She said:
Nigel Farage wants us to all blame immigrants for our country’s ills. He wants a race to the bottom on workers’ rights and deregulation. Especially for his Billionaire crypto mates. He believes in trickle-down economics, that never actually trickles down.
Conference, he’s just a modern-day love child of Enoch Powell and Margaret Thatcher. And quite bizarrely, for someone who seems to hate foreigners so much, he really does love their money, doesn’t he?
And as for the Tories … well, they seem somewhere between an identity crisis and collective amnesia.
But we won’t forget - the British people won’t forget - the damage they did in 14 years of government. They left this country worse off, our public services hollowed out, and now they’ve got the nerve to lecture us on the crises they created.
Charities welcome PM's commitment to NHS-style care system as potential 'pivotal moment'
Charities in the care sector have strongly welcomed what Andy Burnham said about planning to introduce an NHS-style care service in his interview this morning.
Caroline Abrahams, director Age UK and co-chair of the Care and Support Alliance, a network of care charities, said:
The comments made by the prime minister today suggest we are closer to the fundamental social care reform we need to see than we’ve been for a generation … We await the prime minister’s speech on Tuesday with huge anticipation.
And Helen Walker, chief executive of Carers UK, a charity for carers, said:
This is a pivotal moment for families and their loved ones who need unpaid care, to hear the prime minister talk of building a National Care Service and introducing a system that works on NHS principles.
In his speech to the conference, Joe Fortune, the new general secretary, stressed the need for party unity. He said:
Friends, it’s a politics of despair with Reform, or a politics of hope with Labour. That’s the choice. And that is the argument we must now take to the country …
The prime minister has rightly said that we must be one Labour party. We will work together as one Labour party and we will win together as one Labour party because at its best, Labour is a growing, strong and united party.
Union leaders express concern about Burnham failing to back 3rd runway at Heathrow
As Alex Wickham from Bloomberg reports, two senior union leaders are among those expressing concern about Andy Burnham’s failure to back the building of a third runway at Heathrow. (See 10.16am.)
Andy Burnham is facing an immediate backlash over his hint this morning that he could cancel the Heathrow third runway
Unite’s Sharon Graham says: “A third runway at Heathrow is essential and we need to get going with it”
GMB’s Gary Smith says: “We need to put an end to decades of talk and lost benefits for working people across the country and get cracking”
Anti-Reform UK strategy 'simple' - just 'knocking on doors' and listening, says Labour's outgoing general secretary
Hollie Ridley gave a speech to the Labour conference in her capacity as the outgoing general secretary. She is being replaced by Joe Fortune, the former Co-operative party general secretary, who was backed for the job by Andy Burnham.
Ridley told the conference that there was a simple way to Reform UK. She said:
[At the 2024 election] we ripped up the rulebook and delivered the most efficient ground operation in the history of British politics. 411 seats. 33.7% of the vote. If that doesn’t demonstrate the power of organising, the power of knocking on doors, the power of getting into our communities and mobilising people, then I don’t know what does …
I’m often asked what our Reform strategy is. And the answer is simple, knocking on doors. That’s our Reform strategy. Getting into our communities, listening to people. Working together to improve things, day by day. That’s our Reform strategy. Showing people that we understand their concerns. That we share them.
And, most importantly, proving that politics can be a force for good in Britain once again. That is the strategy and it is the only one we need. Because winning isn’t rocket science, but it does take hard work. It takes discipline. It takes organisation. And it takes a ruthless focus on the goal of a second term. The same focus that allowed us to win in 2024 will be needed to win again.
Ridley also said it was her belief that “when the trade union movement and the Labour party work together in the interests of the country, there is nothing we cannot achieve.” Labour should never forget that, she said.
Ed Davey urges Burnham to show he's serious about social care reform by reviving cross-party talks
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, has urged Andy Burnham to show he is serious about social care reform by reviving cross-party talks on the topic. In response to the PM’s interview this morning, he posted this on social media.
I really hope the PM is serious about fixing care, and he can show it by getting on with the cross-party talks we started in July.
This can’t just be a series of No10 headlines with no real action.
I’ll do everything I can to put family carers at the heart of any solution.
After giving a big speech on social care reform in July, soon after he became PM, Burnham invited Davey and Kemi Badenoch at short notice to cross-party talks on the issue. Davey was abroad, and attended via Zoom. Badenoch was away, and she sent Stuart Andrew, the then shadow health secretary, in her place. A few weeks later Andrew quit the shadow cabinet as part of a reshuffle.
A heckler could be heard shouting “get on with it, Andy” as the Labour conference opened in Liverpool, PA Media reports. PA says:
Andy Burnham was present in the conference hall when the heckle was made.
It came as Liverpool city region mayor Steve Rotheram spoke about Labour’s plans to build social homes.
Rotheram responded to the heckle saying: “That’s me, Dad, that.” He gave a thumbs-up, before adding: “Me ma says she’s put the kettle on for ya.”
Concluding his opening speech, he said: “Over the next few days, enjoy the debates, the speeches, the fringe events, the hecklers, but also enjoy this city.
TUC leader predicts government will 'change course' over proposed tougher residency rules for foreign care workers
Ben Quinn is a Guardian political correspondent.
Andy Burnham’s government “will change course” on Shabana Mahmood’s controversial migration reforms, the TUC general secretary has predicted as the plans came under attack at Labour’s annual conference.
Paul Nowak said politician of all types had a responsibility to be careful with their language as he appeared at an event which heard that people from BAME backgrounds sometimes felt sentiment seized on by the far right was being “legitimised” by some government policies
Proposals that would force more than 300,000 low-paid workers to wait 15 years for the legal right to remain in the UK have emerged as an ongoing point of friction in Labour at at time when the party has largely been unifying around a new leader. (See 11.35am.)
The plans were criticised by some attendees at a fringe conference event organised by the anti-fascist group, Hope not Hate, to discuss the role of communities in resisting racism and xenophobia.
Michaela Chen, a human rights lawyer at the Work Rights Centre - a charity with helps migrant workers - told the event some government policies appeared to be “legitimising” sentiment which a resurgent far right was seeking to build on as it targeted some communities.
“It’s wonderful that there is a sense of hope now, but also it’s hard to continue to be hopeful when there is also a betrayal,” she told the Guardian afterwards.
Nowak, who was one of the speakers, said “an atmosphere of fear” created by the far right was having an impact on migrant as well as black and ethnic minority workers across the UK. He said:
I think the language of politicians across the spectrum matters. On the government’s settlement reforms I hope the government change course. I think it will change course, I think it has to change course. Changing the rules for people who have come to live and work in this country is untenable.
Updated
Reform UK revives 'death tax' slogan to attack Burnham's plan for new levy to fund NHS-style free social care
When Labour, with Andy Burnham as health secretary, proposed social care reform in 2009 funded by a tax on estates, the Tories swiftly described the proposal as “a death tax” and the idea was probably doomed even before the 2010 election campaign began. Labour deployed similar tactics in 2017, when Theresa May published plans for social care reforms that would have raised costs for wealthier pensioners. Labour said it was a “dementia tax”, and May lost her majority.
Burnham said this morning that he hoped this time there would be a more responsible debate. (See 9.35am and 9.47am.)
Three hours after his interview, there does not seem to be much evidence that anything has changed. Reform UK has already accused him of proposing a “universal death tax”.
Robert Jenrick, the Reform UK Treasury spokesperson, said:
Andy Burnham has yet again refused to rule out his universal death tax. He’s too weak to cut the sky-high benefits bill, so he’s coming for your home instead.
It is an unfair, cruel levy on the people of this country, and it would make Britain the single-worst place in the Western world to hand down money to your kids.
Reform UK will fight Burnham’s universal death tax. Money that is taxed when it is earned, saved and spent should not be taxed a fourth time as you are laid to rest.
Jenrick is assuming that Burnham will propose an extra tax on inheritance. Burnham did make it clear this morning that there would have be some form of tax rise to fund his plan, but he would not give details, and he played down the idea it would just be a re-run of his 2009 plan. (See 9.47am.)
MailOnline is already running with a “death tax” headline.
Chris Philp says Tories would oppose any new tax to fund better social care
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, was also on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg. Responding to what Burnham said about social care, Philp said the Conservative party would not support having a new tax to fund better social care. He said:
This country is already taxed too highly. It’s already destroying jobs. It’s already making businesses go bankrupt. High taxes are already driving businesses and successful people overseas.
What I inferred from Andy Burnham’s interview just then is they do plan more tax rises.
And let me be categorical; the Conservative party will not support more tax rises if more money is needed, for example, for social care or indeed for defence. We would find that money through savings elsewhere, particularly in the welfare budget, which is far too high.
Darren Jones, who was chief secretary to the PM when Keir Starmer was in No 10, was a guest on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg. Some of his comments about Andy Burnham’s government have not been notably supportive (particularly this one).
Asked about what Burnham said about presenting the public with a plan to raise taxes to pay for an NHS-style social care system, Jones said Burnham was being “very bold and brave”. Viewers of Yes Minister will know that “brave” is a civil service euphemism for “mad”.
But Jones sounded a bit more positive than that. He said that, if Burnham could “land” this policy in the right way, it would be “a huge achievement”.
Angela Rayner claims there is 'no split' in cabinet on proposed residency rules for foreign care workers
Yesterday the Times splashed on a story saying Angela Rayner, the housing secretary, had criticised Shabana Mahmood’s plans to make foreign care workers wait up to 15 years before they can apply for permanent residency in the UK. Other news organisations have presented this as a major split, or even “civil war”.
Rayner was on Sky News this morning and she insisted she was just restating a view she has already expressed. Asked about the split, she said:
Shabana had a consultation on the transitional arrangements, and she’s been really clear that we’ve got to have a fair system that is fair for people that contribute today, and those that come to this country to contribute.
I have absolute support for Shabana in that, and I’m sure she’ll come to a good conclusion on that.
I contributed to that consultation, and I’m on the record for that.
We’re all united. We’ve seen on illegal migration, those figures coming down, so I think that she’s doing a fantastic job. So there’s no split story there, unfortunately.
In fact, there is a clear division between what Rayner wants and what Mahmood proposed when the plans were first published last year. But it is probably misleading to present this as a bitter row – because Andy Burnham has also expressed clear views on this, and he broadly sides with Rayner. In evidence to the home affairs committee earlier this month, Mahmood strongly hinted that she is going to accommodate the views of her boss and there will be a compromise.
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At the Labour conference, Steve Rotheram, the Labour mayor of Liverpool city region, is giving a speech opening the proceedings in the main hall. He is a close friend of Andy Burnham and he says it is great to have an Evertonian PM. He also says the last prime minister to come from Liverpool was Gladstone, who served four terms. So no pressure on Burnham, then, he jokes.
Q: What do you say to people who argue you should have banned the Orange Order march down the Garvaghy Road today?
Burnham said that a decision like that would have had to have been made on the advice of the chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland. And the chief constable did not recommend that, he says.
But he says he has spoken to Chris Bryant, the Nothern Ireland secretary, this morning. He says they are appealing for calm.
That was the final question in Burnham’s interview with Laura Kuenssberg.
Frances Mao has further coverage of the march on a seperate live blog.
Burnham says he will be 'relentless' in dealing with small boats, but sidesteps offshore processing question
Q: Would you consider more radical policies, such as sending asylum seekers to a country like Albania to have their claims processed there?
Burnham avoided the question, but stressed there was some evidence that “things are going in the right direction.”
He said he would be “relentless” in addressing this issue.
And he praised what Shabama Mahmood, the home secretary, is doing on this.
She’s got a strong grip on this issue. What we have been doing is working, but more is needed and more will be done.
Burnham says concerns of women in Piddington about camp for asylum seekers 'understandable'
Q: What would you say to the women of Piddington concerned about having a camp for asylum seeker near their village, or women in other villages with similar concerns?
Burnham replied:
Those concerns are understandable and they have to be addressed in whatever solution is finally agreed.
There were also concerns expressed about the use of hotels and the reason why the nature of accommodation is changing across the country is because a commitment was given to end the use of hotels, and that was what many people were calling for a few years ago.
Asked if he regarded the far-right activist Daniel Thomas, who has organised the masked protests and who is known to his supporters as Danny Tommo, as racist, Burnham replied:
Well, it’s hard to conclude that he’s anything other than someone who has racist views.
I hesitate always … I’ve not read everything that he said, I’ve not followed everything that he’s done … so I’m just going to say that because I don’t just throw labels on people.
But given everything and the way he’s behaving and what he’s seeking to whip up, I mean this is the worst kind of hateful behaviour.
Burnham condemns masked anti-migrant protesters, saying they are 'creating fear' and it's 'unacceptable'
Asked about the masked men on the streets how have protesting about migrants in towns in the south of England recently, Burnham said this was “unacceptable”.
He said:
Unacceptable. Creating fear and intimidation on British streets – this is not something we’ve seen in this country before and it’s not something we want to see.
Burnham said there were “real worries” about immigration. But he went on:
But let’s look at the facts. Net migration is down 80% on what it was in the Boris Johnson era.
Boat crossings are down 50% this year on what they were in the early 2020s.
So I understand people’s concerns and I will be relentless in addressing their concerns.
But people also have to look at the facts, and they also have to see when people are playing the worst kind of politics with this issue. That is leading to people feeling afraid in their own communities.
Burnham says he would like to see welfare spending fall, but not by using 'crude cuts'
Q: Do you want welfare spending to go down by the time of the next election?
Burnham said he would like that to happen.
Q: Will you commit to it?
Burnham did not give a firm commitment. He said he was hesitating because he was opposed to “crude cuts”. He explained:
I don’t think you get the welfare bill down on a sustainable basis if it’s crude cuts, because that just plunges people into crisis, and then they will appear in a different part of the system, and you have to spend more public money.
He said he did not want to see young people in their 20s stuck in unemployment.
He said the government is reforming education to create more vocational routes into work. And he said the Alan Milburn review would propose plans to reduce the number of Neets (young people not in education, employment or training).
Burnham dodges question about whether he favours building third runway at Heathrow
Q: Are you in favour of building the third runway at Heathrow?
Burnham said there had been a consultation on this. It was “a contested issue”, he said. He added:
I think principally it’s a matter for London and London MPs.
Q: There will be a vote in parliament. And you are prime minister.
Burnham said he had to listen to the voice of people first. He added:
It’s not right for me to just jump straight in on the back of the consultation.
Kuenssberg said Burnham had expessed doubts about the plan in the past.
Again, Burnham gave a non-committal answer. Kuenssberg tried a final time and got the same reply.
Q: Will you tell us something you are willing to cut to balance the books?
Burnham said, if people wait unti his speech on Tuesday, they will see he is “prepared to take those type of decisions because I won’t do what the previous Conservative government did and take risks with the economy”.
He said the fundamentals of the economy were moving in the right direction before the Iran war started.
And he said John Healey, the chancellor, was clear about the need to be “very prudent” running the economy.
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Burnham rejects suggestion he is downplaying importance of economic growth
Turning away from social care, Kuenssberg put it to Burnham that he had already made a series of spending announcements – and that the government’s finances were in a precarious state.
Burnham said the plan he was proposing for social care was “prevantative”. Spending money to keep people in their homes would stop them being sent to hospital unnecessarily, he said.
Tackling rough sleeping would also reduce the number of rough sleepers going to A&E, or being arrested by the police, he claimed.
And he said cheaper bus fares would help people get jobs.
Q: Peter Kyle, the former business seceretary, said you have to focus as much on growth as on tackling rough sleeping.
Burnham replied:
[He’s] absolutely right to say that, and in my former job, I oversaw the fastest growing economy in the country, which is Greater Manchester.
Burnham said that some people would view his social care reform plan as a “hostage to fortune”. But it was a risk worth taking, he said.
The manifesto would include a “precise explanation as to how it’s going to be funded”, he said.
And some in the political world will be saying, watching this, “Oh my goodness, that’s a hostage to fortune.’
But do you know what? I am not going to do politics as usual as prime minister.
Why is the country in the position that it’s in? Because politics has let people down. It has backed away from difficult issues like this. I am not going to do that as prime minister.
Burnham suggests social care reform would come after 2029, saying voters will be asked to back it at election
Q: Will you do social care reform before the next election in 2029?
Burnham said he would stick to the Labour manifesto, and its commitments on tax (which rule out rises in income tax, national insurance or VAT).
Q: But what about a special, new tax to fund social care?
Burnham replied:
Trust is really important to me here. I don’t think you can reform this system without it, without consensus.
So I’m saying to you that I will develop a very clear plan, and I will put that plan to the public at a general election.
He went on:
That will be where the plan gets tested. And people will then be able to decide.
And I am prepared to put myself in that position, recognising that it might be difficult or unpopular with some, but that is the way to do it, to get that endorsement and then introduce the system in the next parliament. Because the the backing of people for this really matters.
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Burnham says scaremongering and political 'cowardice' should not be allowed to kill off social care reform
Q: Will you go back to the plan you proposed in 2009, for better social care to be funded by a new tax on estates after people die?
Burnham replied:
Nothing is off the table at this moment in time.
Now, that doesn’t mean that I’m going straight back to the proposal that I had in 2010.
I know people will be saying, ‘Well, tell us what what it is.’
The facts of the matter are, I’m going to lay out a broad direction on Tuesday, and then Baroness Casey is going to help me work up the details that we will put to cross-party talks, because we do have to build consensus.
Burnham went on to say, if other parties just resorted to scaremongering, reform would never happen.
If we continue to approach this issue with politics as usual, where people are scoring points and they’re taking a proposal and then trying to frighten the public at home about it, we will never fix it.
And can we honestly justify that? That politics in this country cannot face an issue like this and and deal with it because we’re too scared of it?
I think it’s a real indictment, actually, of our politics that we’ve had so much cowardice in our political system we’ve not been able to deal with this.
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Burnham anticipates attack on his plan saying 'we have dementia taxes right now'
Asked to give more detail about his social care plans, Burnham said he would say more about this on Tuesday.
He also said in the past announcements on this topic had been easily misrepresented.
The opposition party will leap on one comment and then they will call the policy a dementia tax or a death tax.
Can I just say we have dementia taxes right now and people can lose everything they’ve worked for paying those taxes.
So the idea that there isn’t already a cost is just wrong.
[This policy is] just making that cost fairer and spreading it across across the population.
Burnham says he expects 'everyone' to contribute to cost of social care reform - but not necessarily in same way as for NHS
Kuenssberg put it to Burnham that, if social care was going to be like the NHS, everyone would have to pay out of general taxation.
Burnham replied:
It will be a system of that kind. So everyone contributes, everyone’s covered, but not precisely necessarily in the same way that we currently pay for the NHS. This is for Baroness Casey to advise us on.
Burnham says he will give details of plan for fund adult social care reform later this week, and will be 'honest' about choices
Q: Where will the money come from for social care reform?
Burnham says he will say more about this “later this week” (in his speech on Tuesday, he implies).
He goes on:
I won’t do anything [if] I can’t, if you like, look the public in the eye and say, ‘I think this is the right thing to do.’
I am going to show leadership on this on this issue. I will not leave office without giving my all to fixing to fixing this, and I will be honest with people. I’m not going to do any sleight of hand here.
We will set out the issues. I will try to build consensus. I’ve already started cross-party talks and we’ll come back to cross-party talks and I won’t … dodge the difficult questions.
I’m going going to rip the plaster off, if I can put it that way, because someone has to do it.
Burnham rejects claim free social care would cost £18bn, and says people already paying 'huge' costs now
Kuenssberg puts it to Burnham that, according to the Health Foundation, a system offering adult social care free at the point of delivery (like healthcare delivered by the NHS) would cost £18bn.
Burnham says the cost is “not that high” (ie, not as high as £18bn).
Q: So how much would it cost?
Burnham replies:
Not that high.
But can I directly deal with this issue of the costs?
Because it’s as if there isn’t a cost at the moment. There is a cost. People are paying care charges now. They are spending tens of thousands of pounds from their savings, sometimes losing their homes. That is what’s happening at the moment.
So to suggest there isn’t a cost to people at this moment in time - there’s a huge cost.
Social care in England is as unfair as American health care, where the most vulnerable in society can lose everything. They can be wiped out not just by the condition that they have, but wiped out financially.
So there is a massive cost, and there is also a cost to the National Health Service, as I said, because there are a huge number of people in hospitals across England every day who are medically fit to be discharged home but can’t be discharged home because the social care isn’t there.
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Burnham says NHS will 'break' without social care reform
Burnham claims the NHS won’t survive without social care reform.
Louise Casey is still doing an official review for us, so I will set out the vision, if you like, on Tuesday [in his speech to the conference].
Louise will then help us with the how. How do we make this happen? When can we make it happen?
But what I’m saying to you this morning, Laura, is I am not going to do what others have done and just say, ‘Oh, I’m looking in a different direction. This is all too difficult.’
To be honest with you, broken social care will in the end break the National Health Service if we leave it like it is because staff in the NHS – God love them – staff in the NHS talk of corridor care being an everyday reality in hospitals across England.
And then if I look at the people who cared for my dad, they must just feel invisible to the political class. They work day in, day out with huge, humour and humanity and skill in what they do, keeping a threadbare system, if you like, trying to hold it together, but caring for other people’s parents on poverty pay. How have we let this go on so long?
Burnham says social care will 'only work' if it is like NHS - but insists reform must happen slowly
Kuenssberg asks Burnam to clarify his position, asking him if he means making social care free at the point of delivery and universal.
Burnham replies:
That is the only way that you can make it work. There is free personal care elsewhere in the UK, in Scotland.
I don’t think it’s right that people in England don’t get the same.
And it’s not something that we’re going to rush. We can’t rush because of what you said at the start of the interview.
The challenge in the public finances is real.
So it has to be done carefully, without putting extra strain on the public purse. But I will bring forward proposals.
Burnham says he wants to reform social care in England so it works 'on NHS principles', implying free at delivery point
Q: What are you going to do?
Burnham says for years he has been talking about a national care service.
You have to have a situation where the care system speaks the same language as the health system, because at the moment, social care is charged for, provided, on a very different basis, and the two just don’t connect.
And the worst of all worlds is happening in that the care system is so threadbare it can’t support people in their own homes.
Q: Do you mean free personal care for everyone who needs it in England?
Burnham replies:
I will set out more this week at the conference, and I will set out a timetable as to how we make this reform happen. But I am talking about a system that works on NHS principles.
Burnham says he is determined to 'grasp the nettle' on social care
Kuenssberg is introducing Burnham.
Q: In July you said you would sort out social care quickly. Where have you got to?
Burnham says the government is making “really good progress”.
The death of his father, who had Alzheimer’s, has pushed him on, he says.
I’m going to grasp the nettle. On social care, when I was in parliament first time round, in fact when I was a new MP, my gran was going through the care system and as health secretary, I remember saying we shouldn’t let what happened to my grandparents’ generation …
Somebody needs to grasp the nettle. I will be the one to do that, and I realise it might require me to spend some political capital, that it might make me unpopular with some, but that isn’t going to stop [me].
Andy Burnham is being interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg on the BBC.
Kuenssberg starts by looking at the Sunday newspaper front pages. Most of them are not splashing on news related to the Labour conference.
You can see the front pages here.
Labour conference policy announcements so far
Labour has already made three policy announcements at this conference, before the main proceedings have already started. They are:
1) A revived version of “help-to-buy”, called “Your First Home”. (See 8.39am.) In a note explaining the policy, Labour says:
A new equity loan scheme to help first-time buyers to purchase new build homes will be set out by the chancellor at the budget next month, with pre-registration open by the end of 2026.
Support will be targeted to help those without access to the ‘bank of mum and dad’ to get on the housing ladder to buy a modest new build home.
The ‘Your First Home’ equity loan scheme will be open to first-time buyers with just a 2.5% deposit.
It will provide a 20% equity loan to help first-time buyers buy a new build home, with an initial interest-free period to ensure housing costs are affordable.
The scheme will be funded by reprioritising existing government budgets.
Developers will also contribute to the running costs of the scheme, which will give industry confidence to bring forward much-needed, high-quality new homes across the country.
2) Guaranteed jobs for out-of-work young people with disabilities and health conditions. This was announced yesterday, as an extension of the existing jobs guarantee programme. Labour said:
Under the scheme, eligible young people on health benefits will be offered a guaranteed job on a voluntary basis just three months after their work capability assessment.
They will receive mentoring and tailored support with their mental health, finances and housing to prepare them for work from partner organisations, while employers will be supported with onboarding costs.
The government will also cover 100% of wage costs for up to 25 hours a week for six months.
The move marks a significant expansion of the jobs guarantee, a government scheme launched earlier this year for long-term unemployed young people aged 18-24 who have been claiming universal credit for 18 months.
The expansion to young people on health benefits after just 13 weeks, will start from April 2027.
3) Giving councils in England stronger powers to take over empty homes. Announcing this move this morning, Labour said:
Empty Dwelling Management Orders (EDMOs) allow councils to take over the management of long-term empty homes and bring them back into occupation for an initial period of 12 months, up to a total of 8 years, but no applications have been made since 2021.
In the English devolution white paper, the government committed to strengthen local authority powers to take over management of empty properties.
Ministers are today announcing that they will reverse damaging changes made in 2012 by the Tories during the coalition government by:
-reducing the period a property must be empty before it becomes eligible for an EDMO from two years to six months, to prevent homes from falling into serious disrepair and accelerating their return to use.
-removing the evidential requirements for local authorities to provide the residential property tribunal, simplifying the process and empowering local authority empty homes officers to act more decisively and with greater speed.
-exploring further changes to protect local authorities from absorbing the costs they face managing homes subject to EDMOs.
Burnham announces new homes scheme for first-time buyers
Andy Burnham has announced a new help-to-buy scheme aimed at helping first-time buyers who cannot rely on the “bank of mum and dad”, Pippa Crerar reports.
Andy Burnham says he will show he will take 'difficult but real decisions' as Labour's conference starts
Good morning, and welcome to coverage of the Labour party conference. Or the Hope Again conference, as it is being billed here in Liverpool.
As a good Catholic, Andy Burnham (probably) believes in the resurrection and, since he has become prime minister, his party has certainly staged a miraculous recovery. When it met in this city a year ago (at a conference which ended with Burnham’s leadership ambitions becoming the subject of mild mockery from the Starmerites, and much of the media), Labour was about 10 points behind Reform UK and Nigel Farage seemed on course to become prime minister. That is not true any more. On Thursday two MRP polls showed that, with Burnham as Labour leader, Reform UK has suffered a huge setback. More in Common has another out this morning. “More in Common’s latest MRP projects Labour on 250 seats and Reform on 147, a sharp reversal from July’s projection of Reform 293 and Labour 110,” it says.
But what next? That is what the next four days may (or may not) clarify.
Burnham has given an interview to the Guardian’s political editor, Pippa Crerar, and he told her that he wants to show the public that he is willing to take “difficult but real decisions”. Burnham said:
I think the public want to see, number one, honesty about things. So not spin or putting things a certain way that’s self-serving. They want honesty, and then they want, I think, difficult but real decisions.
Not difficult decisions and making a fetish out of that, but actually grasping nettles and then moving things forward. I don’t think politics has been prepared to do that enough in recent times.
Burnham said he would show that he was willing to take these decisions.
Always in politics, there are things that you can do. The question is sometimes: Are you prepared to do them? Yeah, I am prepared to do them.
What all those things are, sadly Burnham didn’t tell Pippa. We will find out on Tuesday afternoon, when he delivers his conference speech. But he has an interview with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg coming up soon, and we might learn a bit more from that.
Here is the agenda for the day.
8.30am: Angela Rayner, the housing secretary, is interviewed on Sky’s Sunday Morning with Kate McCann.
9am: Andy Burnham is interviewed on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.
11.20am: The Labour conference formally opens in Liverpool.
12.30pm: Lucy Powell, the Labour deputy leader and education secretary, addresses the conference. The other main speakers are Louise Haigh, the first secretary of state, at 2pm, and Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary, at 3.15pm.
3.15pm: Wes Streeting, the defence secretary, speaks at a New Statesman in conversation fringe event. Other fringe events include Kanishka Narayan, the AI minister, speaking on preparing workers for AI at 3.30pm; a LabourList rally where Ed Miliband, the foreign secretary, Streeting, and Angela Rayner are due to speak at 4.30pm; and an IPPR in conversation event with Louise Haigh at 4.30pm. You can read the full conference timetable here.
Also, at some point this afternoon Burnham is due to meet his Norwegian counterpart Jonas Gahr Støre.
I’m afraid we are no longer able to have comments open below the line every day on this blog. If you want to contact me, please email [email protected]. You can use this email to flag up corrections, comments for publication, questions or complaints.
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