The Labour Party conference kicked off in Liverpool today with the party in the city keen to show they are ready to form the next government.
Leader Keir Starmer brings his party to Liverpool with a good lead in the polls and will be aiming to show he is the right man to take the keys for Number 10 Downing Street over the coming days. Here is a quick roundup of some of the main things we learned on the opening day of this major event.
Labour is ready to win
Everywhere you looked at conference today, you saw people exclaiming that the Labour Party is ready and able to win the next General Election. Now you may say that is fairly standard chat for a political party conference - but there is a very strong feeling that after twelve years of Tory rule, Labour can get back into Downing Street.
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At a Labour to Win rally this evening, there were whoops and cheers as front benchers like Rachel Reeves and Wes Streeting said again and again that Labour will form the next government. Starmer will hope to ram this message home in his keynote speech on Tuesday.
And the polls back this up
There are worse stories to break for a political party on the first day of its conference than one saying it is on course for a comfortable General Election win.
The poll, from Savanta ComRes, shows that if voters were to follow their current intentions at the next election in 2024, Labour would win with a 56-seat majority. The poll shows that if voters were to follow their current intentions at the next election in 2024, Labour would regain a large number of 'Red Wall' seats across the north of the country. It was the loss of these seats that powered Boris Johnson to victory at the 2019 election.
But the pressure really is on Starmer to deliver
While the mood around the conference is very positive, people are acutely aware that Labour currently has a huge open goal that it cannot afford to miss. The timing of Kwasi Kwarteng's bizarre budget, which seeks to grant more cash to bankers and billionaires during a cost of living crisis, could scarcely have come at a better time for Keir Starmer - but the pressure really is now on him to capitalise. There will be a lot of expectation for Tuesday's keynote address.
National anthem goes off without a hitch
It was definitely a gamble for Keir Starmer to kick off this year's conference with a singing of the National Anthem. The Labour leader opened with a tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth, followed by a minute's silence.. After this, the whole main hall rose as the National Anthem was played, with many joining in.
There had been concerns around potential heckles, but the moment went off without a hitch. Starmer will certainly be pleased with the result.
Mick Lynch a conference star
There appears to be a rule at this party conference - wherever Mick Lynch goes, so do most of the other conference attendees. Every fringe event the RMT union leader has spoken at has been packed to the rafters with queues out of the door.
It's not hard to work out why. Mr Lynch is a superb public speaker and knows how to work a room. At one fringe event at the Hilton Hotel this afternoon he had the packed room laughing uproariously one minute, before cheering and clapping the next as he spoke of the ongoing fight for fair pay and to support people during the cost of living crisis.
Angela Rayner a key asset
Keir Starmer's critics have often suggested the Labour leader lacks a bit of charisma or energy when it comes to his public appearances. The same accusation cannot be levelled at his deputy leader.
Angela Rayner kicked the conference off this morning with a trademark tubthumping speech, trashing the Tories' 12 years in office. Full of zingers, quips and powerful attacks - the Ashton MP was the perfect person to get things off to an energetic start. That same energy and charisma will be crucial during an election campaign.
Starmer's team in control
One thing many people commented on around the conference was how calm things seemed. Labour conference's are notorious for drama and fall-outs, but with major rule changes pushed through last year, it feels like the leadership has firm control of proceedings.
This was only day one however, there is plenty of time for some drama to emerge in the days ahead.
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