Evening summary
No 10 is braced for a potential defeat on a Labour conference vote to condemn cuts to the winter fuel allowance, as major trade unions lined up to back the motion to reverse Rachel Reeves’s decision.
Angela Rayner, the deputy PM, has said she understands why some voters are perturbed by donations accepted by her and other government ministers, while arguing that a complete stop to such gifts would require a wider debate about how politics is funded. As Peter Walker reports, she pushed back strongly against claims she might have not properly declared donations such as accommodation on a holiday in New York, saying she had done everything necessary. In another interview Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, said she had accepted donations for a 40th birthday event and another reception because they were held “in a work context”. As Sam Coates from Sky News points out in a blog, the two replies indicate the lack of coherence at the heart of Labour’s response to the freebies controversy. Coates says:
It is increasingly easy to find Labour figures railing about “disproportionate” focus in the media on donors and gifts and freebies as new stories arrive hourly.
Yet, they have come unprepared to answer questions; cabinet teams still making up contradictory answers on the fly.
On Sunday morning, education secretary Philipson said taking donations from Lord Alli was fine because the birthday party he funded was a work event.
An hour later and deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, said that taking donations in kind – namely the New York apartment – is fine because the holiday was a private event.
How do we reconcile both?
David Lammy, the foreign secretary, indicated that delicate negotiations with the White House to allow Ukraine to use Storm Shadow missiles inside Russia are ongoing, arguing it was a time for “nerve and guts”.
Hollie Ridley, Labour’s new general secretary, said the far right is just as much a threat now as it was in the days of the BNP, only “better dressed”. (See 3.47pm.)
Keir Starmer said Labour’s plans for “planning passports” to enable homes to be build more easily in urban areas will “put rocket boosters under housebuilding”. (See 11.15am.)
Updated
Here is John Crace’s sketch on the first day of the Labour conference.
Robert Peston from ITV and Sam Coates from Sky News have both written good takes on Labour conference, the freebies controversy, and the challenge facing Keir Starmer this week. Both are worth reading. Here are two extracts.
From Coates’ blog
Somehow [Labour] are struggling to communicate how they are changing the country - a problem that risks undermining so much of their agenda if they can’t get this fixed.
Take the announcements this weekend. Today’s policy was “planning passports” for brownfield sites, yet one cabinet minister admitted to me they couldn’t explain it.
The party literature says it changes the presumption so that proposals that meet certain design and quality standards will be automatically approved.
But if this can’t be communicated, and people can’t explain why this measure - amongst many - is critical to the planning reform project, will anyone notice?
From Peston’s blog
There are two big lessons [from the freebies controversy].
First is that Starmer must close the gap urgently between his rhetoric and administrative reality. Saying that he stands for new transparent honest politics jars with a decision by his office not to automatically and instinctively disclose a £5k donation of clothes and fashion items made by a party donor Waheed Alli to his wife.
Second, the sheer volume of the furore around the gifts is an illustration of the cast-iron law that politics abhors a vacuum.
If Starmer since being elected had engaged the nation in a very specific project of national renewal, the free frocks and Arsenal boxes might have seemed annoying oversights, misdemeanours at worst.
Starmer has loudly, repeatedly and credibly warned that the economy and public services are a disaster area inherited from the Tories. But the public recognised that in delivering the worst election result for the Conservatives in more than a hundred years.
What voters who rejected the Tories wish to know - including millions of them who voted Reform, LibDem and Green, rather than Labour - is what difference Starmer will make.
Some readers have been asking why Keir Starmer says he accepts hospitality to watch football in a corporate box because he cannot go in the stands for security reasons, when Rishi Sunak, his predecessor as PM, was photographed watching a football match from the stands.
In his Sunday Times long read today, Tim Shipman provides an answer.
The prime minister owns season tickets for him and his son, which he continues to pay for. He has been able to take two seats in a box, moving around each game so he is never in the same place twice, a requirement of his security team. Starmer has already twice paid the difference between the value of his seats and those he has been given. The sums are “a few hundred pounds”.
More understandably, his team has not been able to brief about the security threat, which sources say is much higher than it was when Cameron or Sunak sat in the stands. This is because Islamist extremists are targeting Starmer and senior cabinet ministers over the government’s approach to the war in Gaza.
Renewed 'austerity drive' will make racism worse, says Diane Abbott
The Labour MP Diane Abbott has said the government is engaged in a new austerity drive which will make racism worse.
Speaking at a fringe meeting organised by the campaign group Stand Up To Racism, she said:
We are in a very difficult period. There is both a renewed war drive and a renewed austerity drive.
Whenever either of these happens, they are always accompanied by an increase in racism. Now that both are happening simultaneously, black and Asian people in this country, as well as Muslims, are bearing the brunt of the government attacks.
Sue Gray, the PM’s chief of staff, is not at Labour conference, Sam Coates from Sky News reports.
I understand the PM’s chief of staff is not here because she’s working in Downing Street on government business and in preparation for the major international UNGA conference next week. https://t.co/EkdCv9vUe0
— Sam Coates Sky (@SamCoatesSky) September 22, 2024
I understand the PM’s chief of staff is not here because she’s working in Downing Street on government business and in preparation for the major international UNGA conference next week.
Labour MP Rachael Maskell says she's 'sickened' by revelations about colleagues accepting donations
The Labour MP Rachael Maskell says she has been “sickened” by the revelations about colleagues accepting donations. In a post on X, she also says she hoped delegates vote against the winter fuel payments cut.
I have been sickened by revelations of 'donations'. It grates against the values of the Labour Party, created to fight for the needs of others, not self. Meanwhile pensioners are having their Winter Fuel Payments taken, risking going cold. I trust conference votes to change this.
— 💙Rachael Maskell MP (@RachaelMaskell) September 22, 2024
I have been sickened by revelations of ‘donations’. It grates against the values of the Labour Party, created to fight for the needs of others, not self. Meanwhile pensioners are having their Winter Fuel Payments taken, risking going cold. I trust conference votes to change this.
In theory, conference is the Labour party’s supreme decision-making body. But in practice, it isn’t, and leaders can and do ignore conference votes if they want to. A vote against the winter fuel payments would not persuade Rachel Reeves to reverse it.
Labour delegates expected to vote on motion opposing winter fuel payment cuts tomorrow
The Labour leadership faces a conference battle over cuts to winter fuel payments as trade unions push for the policy to be reversed, PA Media reports. PA says:
Delegates to the party’s annual conference in Liverpool are expected to debate Labour’s economic plans on Monday, with the decision to remove winter fuel payments from 10 million pensioners set to feature.
The exact wording of the motion delegates will vote on will be determined tonight, but trade unions Unite and the Communication Workers Union have put forward proposals calling for the policy to be scrapped.
Unite has already unveiled billboards around Liverpool with the slogan “Defend the winter fuel payment” and plans to stage a demonstration outside the conference centre ahead of the debate on Monday.
Labour should aim to be 'natural party of government', in power for another 25 years, Treasury minister Darren Jones suggests
The prize for the most ambitious speech of the day goes to Darren Jones. As chief secretary to the Treasury, his main job is to say no to spending bids by ministers, which is not a stance liable to make you popular at Labour conference.
But today he did float an idea likely to appeal. Most Labour MPs are focused on winning the next election (which cannot be taken for granted because the government was “cautiously hired, on a trial basis, liable to prompt dismissal if it deviates even slightly from its focus on voters’ priorities”, according to a new analysis of the election produced by Labour Together, the thinktank closest to No 10).
Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have talked about a decade of renewal, implying they envisage being in office for 10 years,
But Jones today floated the idea of Labour winning five more terms (which would take them to 2049, if all parliaments were to run a full term). Or even longer. He told the conference:
I want our Labour party to become the natural party of government.
A title the Conservative party claimed for years, but we can take it from them.
We have the chance to prove that we are the changemakers. That our changed Labour Party can be trusted to govern.
Not just for one or two terms, but three, four and five.
That together, as a united Labour Party, we can deliver for Britain.
Updated
Union leaders urge Reeves to change fiscal rules, saying 'if you use Tory measures, you get Tory results'
Transport union leaders Mick Lynch and Mick Whelan have added to the pressure from Unite’s Sharon Graham for Labour chancellor Rachel Reeves to ditch the fiscal rules and increase spending.
Speaking at a fringe event, RMT general secretary Lynch said Labour should “look up” from the immediate political agenda and negative headlines. He said:
They cannot keep the bosses and media happy every day. They’ve got to step out of the straitjacket they’ve put themselves in economcially with these fiscal rules. They’ve got to be bolder.
It’s got to start with Rachel Reeves changing her position. If you use Tory fiscal measures you’ll get Tory results.
We’ve got to have a progressive budget… [Councils and services] need adequate funding, that means proper taxation.
Sharing the platform was Whelan, Aslef’s general secretary, who said that when it came to public spending decisions, the “worst analogy was that of a household” - an analogy used by Reeves, and Rishi Sunak before her. Whelan argued the UK could raise new money to fund services in the way it had done to bail out banks in the financial crisis.
Meanwhile, Lynch said the RMT would back Labour, but said it “must go further” on nationalisation, including bringing rail freight back into public ownership.
He said governments had allowed the “leeching of £11bn of profit” from rail to private shareholders, including to off-shored rolling stock companies.
Lynch said that it was also time for Labour mayors including London’s Sadiq Khan to address their practices on locally run transport services.
He said:
There are problems ahead of us. This railways bill is good – but it’s like a ratchet, we move it up and don’t let it slip back. Privatisation of passenger services will be illegal on national rail – but not on Merseyrail or London Transport.
People like [Liverpool mayor] Steve Rotheram and Mayor Khan have to stand up and say do they believe in what [transport secretary] Louise Haigh is doing, or are they going to go their own way and keep concessions? Because the money will keep being milked out. We can’t have that any more.”
Is he on board with public ownership, or with money being leeched out?
Labour should consider how it 'looks and speaks' so it does not seem too middle class, MP says
The Sunderland Central MP Lewis Atkinson also cautioned that his party be aware of how it “looks and speaks” and not to be a turn off visually to working class voters.
Referring to Labour’s “identity and how we look and talk”, Atkinson gave the example of campaigning on Friday in a working class council estate in his Sunderland AFC shirt.
We need politicians and the Labour party to be appealing in how it speaks and not to be visually a turn-off to working class voters. That doesn’t mean always being in suits and talking about, you know, broadly middle class concerns.
The class of Labour party membership has switched very much middle class over the last five or 10 years, and we need to reverse some of that. or at least be aware of it.
Labour MP calls for tactical voting to keep out Reform UK
A Labour MP who believes his Sunderland constituency would be Reform UK’s “number one target” at the next general election has said his party needed to defeat the challenge of Nigel Farage’s party by backing tactical voting on the scale used to oust the Tories.
In a highly candid assessment of his own party, Lewis Atkinson also spoke of his “moments of frustration” during the election in July when Farage held a rally in Sunderland and “for whatever reason that wasn’t a priority for the national party to tackle”.
Atkinson, who took his Sunderland Central Constituency after coming 6,073 votes ahead of a Reform UK candidate in second place, also warned that his party “needs to be skilful” in how it responded to Reform – even as he said there was a clear “overlap” between its supporters and extremists who encouraged violence during the summer riots.
He told a fringe meeting organised by the anti-extremism campaign group, Hope not Hate (HNH):
What we cannot do is label 27% of people Sunderland as far right.
If I think ahead to the general election in 2029 or the local elections in 2026, we in Sunderland know we will be Reform’s number one target, certainly in the north-east of England and probably across the whole of the country.
Atkinson said he wanted two things to happen.
First, Labour had to “retain and gain support in white working class communities”, he said, adding that the new government had to deliver “palpable change”.
Second, he said he would like to see tactical voting on the scale that was used to oust the Tories, but directed against Reform UK.
At the same event, HnH’s chief executive Nick Lowles said:
Reform is an existential threat to the Labour party and this country and there can be no accommodation to both Reform UK as a party, and to the racism that they pedal.
Lowles also said it would be a mistake for Labour to go easy on Reform UK in some constituencies on the grounds that a strong Reform UK vote would hurt the Tories more.
Updated
Labour's new general secretary Hollie Ridley says far right just as much threat now as in days of BNP, but 'better dressed'
At the conference this morning Hollie Ridley was unanimously endorsed as Labour’s new general secretary. In her speech, Ridley talked about her upbringing, and said she was inspired to join Labour to campaign against the far right. She said:
As a working class girl born in 1987, I was never supposed to be on this stage. It wasn’t in the script.
At school, like so many girls from my communities like mine [she’s from Dagenham], some told me to lower my expectations, that politics wasn’t for people like me.
But when Nick Griffin [the BNP leader] descended on my hometown, I knew that I had to roll up my sleeves and get stuck in. That was the very first time I went door knocking.
I was not prepared to let the far right sow hatred and division in my community.
Doing nothing was not an option. The far right filled vacuums. They exploited fear. But the local party worked hard to show local residents that politics could be a force for good, that their vote could make a difference, and when they finally sent the BNP packing, I was hooked.
The local activists who run that campaign were incredible, and they lit a fire in me that still burns today. It was at that point that I knew that I wanted to do something that every girls dreams of growing up - I wanted to be a Labour party organiser.
Ridley also said the far right remained a threat.
The threat of the far right that got me involved is as real now as it was then. They may better dressed, but you know what they say about a wolf in sheep’s clothing. And we are going to have to work together every single day to defeat that threat. But we know that we can do it.
The line about the far right being “better dressed” seemed to be a reference to Reform UK, but Ridley did not say that explicitly. Reform UK are a worry for Labour; there are 89 seats that Labour won where Nigel Farage’s party is in second place. But in the speeches today ministers have not been talking about them.
Congratulations Hollie Ridley - unanimously confirmed as Labour’s new General Secretary 👏🏽#Lab24 pic.twitter.com/WcMVTQLAFZ
— Shabana Mahmood MP (@ShabanaMahmood) September 22, 2024
Updated
Lammy restates Labour's commitment to two-state solution for Israel and Palestine
Labour lost four seats at the general election (five if you include Jeremy Corbyn) to independent candidates because the party was seen as too pro-Israel and not supportive enough of the Palestinian’s cause. In his speech David Lammy defended Labour’s stance on the Israel-Gaza war, and restated its commitment to the two-state solution. He said:
In my first weeks of government, I went to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories to call for an immediate ceasefire.
Words no previous foreign secretary had even used.
We have used the full weight of Britain’s diplomacy to push to protect civilians, now.
Get all the hostages out, now.
Allow unrestricted aid into Gaza, now.
We have provided millions to fund field hospitals in Gaza.
We brought the security council together to demand polio vaccinations for Palestinian children.
We have respected the independence of the international courts. And we have made the right decisions to stand up for international law.
We have called out the violent settlers in the West Bank. We have continued to fight for the hostages and to support their families.
We have never lost sight of the end goal: an irreversible pathway towards a two-state solution.
I believe in the right of Israel to be safe and secure.
And I also believe in the justness of the Palestinian cause.
It is only once Palestinians and Israelis have the same fundamental rights: Sovereignty, security and dignity in their own independent, recognised states that we can achieve a just and lasting peace for all.
Labour foreign policy has been about showing 'Britain is back', Lammy says
David Lammy, the foreign secetary, told delegates that foriegn policy under Labour has been about showing that “Britain is back”. In his speech in the conference hall, he explained.
On my first weekend as foreign secretary - when I travelled to Germany, to Poland, to Sweden in less than 48 hours - I was proud to say: Britain is back.
When Keir Starmer, and my dear friend John Healey and I flew to Washington DC a few days later to meet with world leaders and commit unshakeably to NATO. We were proud to say: Britain is back.
When the Labour government hosted 45 European leaders at Blenheim Palace, to reset our relationship with Europe, we said: Britain is back.
When we restored funding to UNRWA for their work in Gaza, what did we say?
Britain is back.
When we stood up for international law when it was not easy: what did we say?
Britain is back.
In my first four months, I visited 10 countries, engaged over 20 world leaders and 40 foreign ministers and what did I tell them?
Britain is back.
And when, unlike Rishi Sunak last year, the Prime Minister and I travel later this week to the UN General Assembly later this week; what will I say?
Britain is back.
.
Lucy Powell admits transparency 'not always easy' - but 'totally' refutes claim Labour same as Tories on standards
Lucy Powell, the leader of the Commons, used her speech to the Labour conference this afternoon to rebut claims that her party was no better than the Conservatives on standards.
She only made an oblique reference to the recent stories about donations to Labour politicians – saying transparency is '“not always easy” – but her argument was clearly relevant to the stories dominating the headlines this morning.
She said:
Let’s be honest, conference, some want to paint a picture that nothing will change, that we are just the same.
I totally refute that.
First, conduct matters.
That’s why one of the first things I did as leader was to pass a motion to limit MP’s second jobs. And we will go further. I’ve set up the House modernisation committee to drive up standards, tackle bad culture and make parliament more effective.
Transparency matters too and it’s not always easy. But the question is ‘are we delivering on our promises, without fear or favour?’
And judge us by our actions. We are on the side of fans, passengers, consumers, and workers.
This couldn’t be more different from the recent past.
Instead of strengthening the rules for MPs, when one of theirs was found in serious breach for lobbying Tory MPs voted to get him off the hook. And what about their fast lane for mates, billions of tax-payers cash spent on crony Covid contracts?
And let’s never forget they changed the law so we couldn’t socialise, while secretly partying themselves and then lying to parliament about it for months.
So, don’t let anyone tell you we are all the same, conference, because we are not.
Updated
In his speech this morning as the outgoing Labour general secretary, David Evans told delegates that Keir Starmer explained at a meeting that, in its 124-year history, only three Labour opposition manifestos had every meant anything – in 1945, in 1964 and in 1997. All the others had been “chip paper”, Evans said. But he said now there was a fourth manifesto that would be implemented.
Lammy argues against full ban on arms sales to Israel, suggesting it could lead to 'escalation' in conflict
David Lammy, the foreign secretary, has said that further sanctions on Israel over settler violence in the West Bank have not been ruled out.
Speaking at a Labour party conference fringe event, he said he was in talks with G7 allies about responding to “deeply” concerning “escalatory behaviour” in the occupied region.
He said:
I’m deeply, deeply worried by the growing violence and settler violence that we see in the West Bank.
I’m in discussions with G7 partners, particular European partners on that. I’m not announcing further sanctions today, but that is kept under close review.
But Lammy also signalled that he was opposed to a full ban on arms exports to Israel. Some export licences have already been suspended, but when Lammy was asked about going further, he replied:
I don’t think it would be quite right to suspend licences, for example, that the Israelis could use in relation to the Houthis, that Israel may need to use in relation to the challenges it has with other proxies in the area.
I think that would be a mistake. It would lead to a wider war and an escalation that we here in the UK are committed to stopping, so I’m afraid I disagree with that position.
Ministers not offering 'gloom', says Pat McFadden, just being 'honest' and 'serious' about problems facing UK
In his speech to the conference Pat McFadden, the Cabinet Office minister, explained why he thought Labour was able to win over new voters at the election.
We welcome every supporter old and new.
And why did they come to us?
Because they could see that we were serious.
Economic stability over unfunded wish lists.
National security, support for NATO, 100% behind Ukraine’s fight for survival.
A party of wealth creation as well as wealth distribution.
A party that learned from its defeat rather than telling the voters that they had got it wrong.
That isn’t caution. It’s our duty. It’s our job description. It’s our founding purpose to learn from the people and to win.
McFadden argued Labour government’s all had the same mission.
The Attlee government gave us a welfare state out of the ruins of war.
The Wilson government saw how society was changing and let us live more freely together.
The Blair government renewed the country and restored the public realm.
And what unites them all?
Every Labour government modernises a Britain that has been allowed to fall behind by the Tories.
Every Labour Government is about the future, it’s about a better tomorrow, not the siren call of retreating to the past.
The government has been criticised for being too negative in the weeks after the election which have seen ministers repeatedly stress the dire state of public services left by the Conservatives. But, in his speech, McFadden said this was not “gloom”, just seriousness.
Being honest about what the Tories left us with, about the damage they did to our country, is not gloom. It’s serious.
And it’s time we got serious about the governance and the future of the country.
Phillipson challenges Tories to explain how they would would fund removing Labour's VAT on private school fees
Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, has challenged the Tories to explain how they would fund reversing Labour policy of putting VAT on private school fees.
In an interview with GB News, she also described Tory claims that the policy will drive large numbers of pupils out of private schools and into state schools as “scaremongering”.
Labour expects to raise about £1.3bn a year from the policy, which will into effect from January next year.
In her interview, Phillipson said:
I don’t accept the premise that we will see a significant movement from the private to the state sector. That was what the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies were also clear about where they said they thought the change would be minimal.
What we’re seeing in certain areas, in a small number of areas, because of that demographic bulge that we’re seeing that’s coming through the system, particularly with older teenagers, is that there are some pinch points.
But I just don’t anticipate or recognize the characterisation of the kind of change that people are scaremongering about, frankly. And I’d say to the Conservatives who are peddling this, look, if they want to reverse this, how are they going to pay for it?
All the Tory leadership candidates have strongly opposed the plan for VAT on private school fees – one of the Labour policies most unpopular with Conservative party members and rightwing newspapers.
Updated
Getting rid of two-child benefit cap should be in Labour's DNA, says Anas Sarwar
Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, has said that getting rid of the two-child benefit cap should be in the party’s DNA.
In an interview with Times Radio, he said:
Do I want us to see the financial situation improve that allows us to remove the two child benefit cap to lift children out of poverty? Absolutely. But that’s in the Labour party’s DNA.
The Labour party is formed to lift people out of poverty, put the children out of poverty. And I want to see poverty come down.
And I want the financial circumstances to be there for us to be able to do even more than what we promised in our manifesto.
The government has hinted that at some point it will get rid of the cap, which stops claimants getting child-related benefits for third and subsequent children, because it is a major contributor to child poverty. But the Institute for Fiscal Studies says getting rid of it would cost about £3.4bn, and at the moment the government says it cannot afford to remove it.
Tories claim Starmer running 'government of self-service'
The Conservatives are continuing to attack Labour over donations. In a statement issued by CCHQ after the Sunday morning interview round, the Tory MP Paul Holmes said:
As Labour’s party conference begins after fewer than 12 weeks in power, Keir Starmer’s government has been engulfed in scandal and infighting, showing that the only change they offer is a change of clothes.
Keir Starmer promised a government of service and all we’re seeing is a government of self-service – from handing their trade union paymasters an inflation-busting pay rise to failing to declare thousands of pounds of clothes, parties and holidays for their top team and Starmer’s wife in return for a Downing Street pass, or giving Starmer’s chief of staff a bumper pay rise – it’s clear Labour are not acting in the interests of the country.
Matt Wrack, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), has called the government’s decision to get rid of the winter fuel allowance for most pensioners “politically inept”.
Speaking at a fringe meeting at the Labour conference, he said:
Ordinary voters are baffled by the decision. Within the first few weeks of the government, there are some worrying trends.
The treatment of the question of poverty has been appalling. The approach to the two-child benefit limit and the winter fuel allowance has been politically inept.
Wrack said the decision to cut the winter fuel allowance would “haunt” it for years.
John Healey says he will get rid of 'outdated' entry requirements to encourage more people to join armed forces
The government is getting rid of what it calls “outdated and unnecessary entry requirements” to encourage more people to join the armed forces, John Healey, the defence secretary, has announced.
And he is creating a new “cyber track” for recruits, with different selection and training requirements, to boost the armed forces’ cyber resilience.
In a statement Labour said:
Labour has pledged to address the dire Tory inheritance on armed forces recruitment and retention. Recruitment targets were missed every year in the last 14 years under the Conservatives, allowing UK troop numbers to fall below target levels and more people to leave the forces that joining …
These new measures will help unblock the bottlenecks in armed forces recruitment which sees high-quality applicants turned away or abandoning the process due to avoidable delays.
Healey is due to say more on this in his speech to the conference later.
As as an example of what it describes as unnecessary entry requirements for recruits, Labour say it will get rid of “measures blocking some sufferers of hay fever, eczema and acne, and some injuries that have fully healed”.
Lammy says west must show 'nerve and guts' in backing Ukraine
Allies must show “guts” and “nerve” in their support for Ukraine, David Lammy, the foreign secretary, has said.
Speaking at a Labour fringe event alongside Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Lammy said:
This is a critical time for nerve and for guts and for patience and for fortitude on behalf of allies who stand with Ukraine.
I am not going to, as foreign secretary, of course, comment on operational detail, because that can only aid Putin.
But there is a very real-time discussion across allies about how we can support Ukraine as we head into the winter.
As PA Media reports, at the same event Zaluzhnyi insisted that lifting restrictions on the weapons would be crucial to Kyiv’s defence. He said:
Modern weapons with long-range air and ground abilities are critically important.
Lifting restrictions on use of weapons against military targets in Russia is critical. This would help protect civilians from Russian missiles and … bombs.
This winter in Ukraine will be the most difficult. As we know, I believe in the resilience of the Ukrainian people, but without additional help the price will be very, very high.
Rayner promises further devolution for north of England
Rayner is now talking about another of her responsibilities – local government and devolution.
She says she has recently announced new devolution deals.
And she goes on:
And today, I’m proud to announce the next step in our devolution revolution. This government will change the future of the north of England so northerners will no longer be dictated to from Whitehall.
Put like this, it sounds like Rayner is proposing independence for the north of England – which definitely would be a story big enough to overshadow the donations controversy. But Rayner is talking about metro mayors.
We will be the government to complete the devolution in the north, the change will be irreversible, and I will get it done.
Here is the news release about the devolution deals recently agreed by Rayner’s department. And here is an extract.
Mayors will be elected in Greater Lincolnshire and Hull & East Yorkshire – the last part of Yorkshire to be covered by a devolution deal – in May 2025 and will have control over transport, housing, skills, and investment to shape the future of their area.
For Devon & Torbay and Lancashire, combined county authorities will be established in early 2025 handed the responsibility for adult education. Ministers are encouraging local leaders to deepen these devolution deals and take strides towards mayoral devolution as a gold standard …
The government is also minded to progress with the four non-mayoral ‘Level 2’ Single Local Authority devolution agreements with Cornwall Council, Buckinghamshire Council, Warwickshire County Council, and Surrey County Council, subject to further statutory tests being met.
The press release also confirms that Labour has abandoned a plan from the last government for a single local authority mayoral deal covering Norfolk and Suffolk.
Updated
Rayner restates the government’s determination to build more homes.
The government is pushing ahead to get dangerous cladding removed from flats, she says.
She says she wants to see more social housing built
And the government will bring in Awaab’s law, to ensure landlords can’t ignore problems with mould and damp. It will cover social tenants and the private sector too, she says.
Rayner says the government will table its employment rights bill in parliament next month.
After years of opposition, we are on the verge of historic legislation to make work more secure, make it more family friendly, go further and faster to close the gender pay gap, ensure rights are enforced and trade unions are strengthened. That means repealing the Tories’ anti-worker laws … a genuine living wage and sick pay for the lowest earners, banning exploitative zero hour contracts and unpaid internships, ending fire and rehire, and we will bring in basic rights from day one on the job.
Rayner sets out what government has already done in 80 days
Rayner says the government cannot wish its problems away.
But “things can get better if we make the right choices”, she says.
She says, although it has only been in office for 80 days, the government is already delivering.
Eighty days in government, and we’ve been busy: a devolution revolution, a bill to deliver new rights and protections for renters, planning reform to get Britain building and a review to fix our NHS, a child poverty taskforce, 100 new specialist officers to tackle criminals, an end to one-word Ofsted inspections, ending the ban on onshore wind and fines for bosses who pollute our waters, bills to kickstart Great British energy and to prevent another Liz Truss disastrous mini budget, put busses in local hands and bring rail into public ownership. Conference change has begun.
Rayner speaks to Labour conference
In the conference hall Angela Rayner, the deputy PM, is starting her speech.
She starts by thanking the British people for entrusting Labour with the task of change.
You kept faith with us, and we will keep faith with you.
Labour won because it changed, she says.
We won because we had the courage to change our party, the discipline to make hard decisions and the determination to remain united. And now change begins.
Phillipson says imposition of VAT on private schools should not lead to them cutting bursaries
Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, has said that the imposition of VAT on private schools should not lead them to cut bursaries.
A report in the Sunday Times today claims that is happening. It says:
Heads said they fear the new tax, which comes into force in January, means schools will become “more exclusive” and that local children whose place might have been paid for with a bursary will lose out.
The incoming leader of the Heads’ Conference (HMC), which represents top private schools such as Eton and Harrow, said that “additional bursary places that could have been open to children … will now not be open [because of VAT]”. Philip Britton, the head of Bolton School, warned that “the rise in fees, however it is managed, will make [private] schools more exclusive”.
Asked about the story, Phillipson said the VAT policy should not have this effect. She said:
That list in the Sunday Times had some very wealthy schools with significant assets and big levels of income who aren’t putting a huge amount of that money towards bursaries and support in terms of partnership working with the state sector.
Changes around VAT should not and must not impact on the work that they are doing around bursaries. There is an expectation of course that that would continue.
Private schools are under pressure to offer bursaries to help to justify their charitable status.
Wes Streeting yet to meet pledge to hold cross-party talks on social care crisis
Labour has made no contact with other parties over new talks to resolve England’s social care crisis, amid fresh demands for a workable plan that secures cross-party support, Michael Savage reports.
Starmer claims Labour's 'planning passports' will 'put rocket boosters under housebuilding'
Labour is today announcing plans for what it describes as “planning passports” to enable homes to be build more easily in urban areas. Toby Helm has written up the story for the Observer.
The Labour party has now sent out a news release. There are two features to the announcement.
First, they will involve an assumption that, in some areas, there will be a default assumption that planning applications will be approved if standards are met. Labour says:
The proposals, set out in a call for evidence, aim to accelerate urban densification by setting high standards for design and quality, which, if met, will mean then the default answer will be yes.
This sounds like what is called “zoning” in other countries. Potentially, it could make a big difference.
Second, they involve a preference for densification in urban development. Labour says:
Only by building denser cities can we drive growth and prosperity across the country, because denser cities mean people are closer to work, have better transport infrastructure, and business has the widest talent pool. This sort of gentle density, with multi-storey townhouses built in a style that is loved by local residents, already exists in pockets of UK cities, like Kensington and Chelsea in London, Manchester’s Northern Quarter or Edinburgh New Town, and is commonplace across European cities.
In a statement with the release, Keir Starmer said:
Working alongside our mayors and local leaders, the new planning passports will put rocket boosters under housebuilding. They mean that where development proposals meet design and quality standards, the default answer will be yes, not no. Because I mean what I said before the election: Labour are the party of aspiration, security and growth. We don’t shy away from tough decisions. We are the builders, not the blockers.
Vicky Spratt, the housing journalist and campaigner, says that in theory this sounds great, but that a lot will depend on what standards are imposed.
New ‘planning passports’ for developments that meet high design and quality standards will mean the default answer is ‘yes’ not ‘no’. Sounds great, but who is deciding what is and isn’t high quality? Given the crisis in building control, this is a key Q about this announcement
— Vicky Spratt (@Victoria_Spratt) September 22, 2024
New ‘planning passports’ for developments that meet high design and quality standards will mean the default answer is ‘yes’ not ‘no’. Sounds great, but who is deciding what is and isn’t high quality? Given the crisis in building control, this is a key Q about this announcement
Unite leader Sharon Graham accuses Labour of 'walking us into austerity mark 2'
Sharon Graham, the Unite general secretary, has accused the Labour government taking the country towards “austerity mark 2”.
In interviews ahead of the conference, Keir Starmer specifically rejected this. (See 8.25am.) But, in an interview with Sky’s Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Graham said:
The mood music here is that they are taking away from the poorest in our society now. And actually the conversation they’re having is walking us into austerity mark 2. Nobody wants to see that. Workers don’t want to see it, communities don’t want to see it. And I can tell you, the pensioners don’t want to see it either.
Graham also restated her call for the government to abandon the winter fuel payments cut.
In an article for the Observer, Graham argues taxing wealth more could avoid the need for austerity.
Rayner says she understands why people 'angry' about donations to politicians
In her BBC interview this morning, Angela Rayner, the deputy PM, defended the right of politicians to accept donations, but she said could understand why people were “angry” about the stories they were reading. She said:
I get that people are angry, I get that people are upset.
I think the transparency is there so people can see that. Now, if there is a national debate about how we fund politics and how we do that, and I hear that people are frustrated with that, but we have a system at the moment that says if you get donations, that has to be declared and the rules have to apply to everybody.
I think that is correct so people can see where you’ve had donations and where that potential influence is so that people can see the transparency.
Having to talk about donations 'a distraction', Phillipson says
Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, and Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister, have both given long interviews this morning which ended up being largely dominated by Sunday newspaper stories about donations, and claims that full details were not declared in the register of members’ interests.
Both of them insisted that they had complied with the rules – but both of them looked as if they would rather have been talking about something else. In her interview on Sky, Phillipson admitted that having to talk about donations was “a distraction”. She said:
The reason that we can have this conversation is because colleagues have followed the rules. I followed the rules.
I’ve set out in the register of interests what donations were for, who they were from, and that’s there for the public to see.
What I would say is that, of course, it is frustrating to be having this conversation with you this morning, not talking about the wider agenda that we’re setting up here in Liverpool, because we have delivered an awful lot in the very short space of time that we have been in government.
And of course, this is a distraction.
Last night, after the Sunday Times story about Rayner dropped (see 9.22am), the Conservative party put out a statement saying: “This is a shocking revelation. Not only has Rayner been living the high life with a free holiday paid for by a donor it appears she has breached the rules by failing to be transparent with her declaration.” The Mail on Sunday story about Phillipson includes a quote from Henry Newman, a former Tory adviser in No 10, saying: “Donors have a legitimate role but Labour’s leadership seems freebie-addicted.”
For the Tories, this is a godsend, because these stories, and the prominence they get on TV news, fuel the impression that political parties are “all the same” and that Labour’s record on donations is just as bad as the Conservative party’s.
But it is worth pointing out that these stories are relatively low-grade. No wrongdoing has been proved. The Phillipson and Rayner stories are both about claims that donation declarations could have included more detail, but the same can be said about most items in the register of members’ interests. On another day, these revelations would struggle to make the headlines. They are only dominating the news today because Labour donations have become a big media talking point.
By comparison, in the Conservative years, there were proper donation scandals. For example, the Tories accepted donations from Frank Hester after they knew had had made horribly racist comments about Diane Abbott in private. And Boris Johnson (Newman’s boss) even managed to provoke the resignation of his own ethics adviser by in effect lying to him about a donation to cover wallpaper that originally was not declared. None of the Labour stories are remotely in this league.
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Rayner rejects suggestions Sue Gray might quit as PM's chief of staff, saying she has done 'incredibly job'
Q: Will Sue Gray still be in her job at Christmas?
Rayner says she does not accept that way Sue Gray, Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, is presented in the media. (Gray has been accused of holding up decisions in No 10.) Rayner says Gray has been “incredibly supportive” of ministers.
Q: So will she still be in her job at Christmas.
Rayner replies: “I think so, absolutely.”
She says Gray has been doing “an incredible job”.
As a former union rep, she does not like the way Gray has been demonised in the media.
Rayner rejects claim she broke rules relating to declaring holiday gift, saying if anything she was 'overly transparent'
Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister, is being interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg on the BBC. Normally Keir Starmer gets this slot at Labour conference, but he was on the show a few weeks ago.
Q: Starmer says he would return politics to the service of the people. Why does that involved accepting donations?
Rayner says MPs have been accepting donations for years. But it is important to be transparent about it. She says Labour, and Keir Starmer, have been transparent.
She says she comes from a working class background. She could not have stood for parliament without people helping to fund her campaign.
Q: Why did you need to accept a holiday in New York?
That is a reference to this Sunday Times story. It says:
Angela Rayner appears to have breached parliamentary rules by failing to declare that a friend joined her on a “personal holiday” funded by Lord Alli, the multimillionaire peer at the heart of the Downing Street donor scandal.
The deputy prime minister did not report that Sam Tarry, then the Ilford South MP, stayed with her at a $2.5 million apartment in Manhattan over the festive period. He paid for flights but benefited from free accommodation.
The rules say MPs must declare foreign trips which they, or anyone connected to them, undertake if a donor pays for “part or all” of it as a result of their “parliamentary or political activities”.
Rayner’s team felt she would not ordinarily need to declare even her own use of the flat because Alli is primarily a personal friend. She chose to report it, however, noting that he was also a donor to her political activities, having given her more than £50,000 over the previous four years.
Rayner says she paid for her own flight to New York. But a friend offered to lend her the use of his flat. She she that is what friends do; she has done that herself.
But she says, because the friend had also given political donations, she felt it was right to declare that too.
Q: Shouldn’t you also have declared that Alli paid for Sam Tarry to be there too. Did you break the rules?
Rayner says she does not think she broke the rules. It was a personal holiday; she was not there on parliamentary business. She says, if anything, she was “overly transparent”.
Q: People will think Alli is getting something in return for these gifts.
Rayner says she promised nothing to him and gave him nothing. She says people have donated to her because they see her as someone coming from a working class background.
UPDATE: Rayner said:
I don’t believe I broke any rules.
I had the use of the apartment and I disclosed that I had the use of the apartment.
In fact, I think I was overly transparent because I think it was important despite it being a personal holiday because that person, as a friend, had already donated to me in the past for my deputy leadership.
Updated
Bridget Phillipson defends accepting money from donor to fund receptions linked to her birthday
Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, is being interviewed on Sky’s Sunday with Trevor Phillips.
Phillips asks about a story in the Mail on Sunday about donations that Phillipson received from Lord Alli, a longstanding donor to the Labour party who has been in the news all week because he paid for clothing for Keir Starmer and his wife.
Phillipson declared receiving two donations from Alli worth a total of £14,000 “to host a number of events, including on behalf of the shadow education team”. The Mail on Sunday says one of these events was a party to celebrate Phillipson’s 40th birthday.
Phillips puts it to the minister that people would read the story and conclude that Phillipson should have paid for her own birthday party.
Phillipson says she held two receptions around the time of her birthday. One was primarily with politicians, and another was for journalists, she says. She says these were work receptions, where education was discussed. They weren’t her birthday party, because her family were not even invited. She said her proper birthday celebration involved going out for a pizza with her kids.
She says they were declared properly. Alli is a long-standing Labour supporter, she says. She says he is not a lobbyist trying to influence policy.
Updated
Here are national newspaper front pages featuring the Labour conference.
The Observer and the Sunday Mirror splash on what Keir Starmer has told them in interviews.
The Observer: Starmer: I will protect public services from fresh austerity#TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/WjKOhHOSWr
— Jack Surfleet (@jacksurfleet) September 21, 2024
Sunday Mirror: No more austerity#TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/20gvny7mo8
— Jack Surfleet (@jacksurfleet) September 21, 2024
The Mail on Sunday and the Sunday Express are running much more hostile stories.
The Mail on Sunday: Sir Shameless is at it again!#TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/vFu0EsHtK8
— Jack Surfleet (@jacksurfleet) September 21, 2024
Sunday Express: Ditch 'toxic' aide ton end chaos#TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/IcKnMO9OcW
— Jack Surfleet (@jacksurfleet) September 21, 2024
The Sunday Times and the Sunday Telegraph both feature the conference on their front pages, but they are not splashing it.
The Sunday Times: Fayed escaped charges twice over sex abuse#TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/OiO2LofDYD
— Jack Surfleet (@jacksurfleet) September 21, 2024
The Sunday Telegraph: Terror suspects 'waltz in' on small boats, says Jenrick#TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/WXFsVH4w63
— Jack Surfleet (@jacksurfleet) September 21, 2024
Starmer says he wants to give ‘hope’ he can deliver ‘massively different and better country’
Good morning. The last time Labour held a conference after a summer general election was in 2017. The party lost, but because Jeremy Corbyn did much better than expected, conference ended up feeling like a victory party. This time Keir Starmer won a landslide. But early messaging from the government has focused on the dire economic inheritance, and the need for tough decisions in the budget, Starmer’s approval ratings have plunged, and the past week has been dominated by controversy caused by unforced errors (freebies, and feuding about Sue Gray). It is too early to assess the mood of Labour, holding its conference in Liverpool as a party of government for the first time in 15 years, but no one is describing it as pure celebratory.
In an interview with the Observer ahead of the conference, Starmer said he would protect public services from further austerity.
He had a similar message for the Sunday Mirror, telling them:
I was running a public service when the coalition government went down the austerity route. It did a huge amount of damage to our public services and we are still feeling the damage even now. So we are not going down the road of austerity.
But Starmer also told the Mirror that he wanted to use the conference to give people “hope” that Labour could deliver “a massively different and better country”. He said:
We’ve got to deal with the problems we’ve inherited, that’s what we are doing. What we’ll set out at conference is the why. What do you get for this? The hope, the changed Britain.
Starmer referred to goals like driving up living standards, fixing the NHS, delivering clean energy, improving opportunities for young people and cutting crime. He said:
This would be a massively different and better country, real sunny uplands stuff. But to get there we have to do the tough thing to start with.
Normally Starmer would do a big interview with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg on the first day conference. But he was on the show earlier this month, and so today Angela Rayner, the deputy PM, is in that slot.
Here is the agenda for the day.
8.30am: Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, is interviewed on Sky News’ Sunday with Trevor Phillips. Sharon Graham, the Unite general secretary, is also being interviewed.
9am: Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister, is interviewed on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.
11.10am: The conference formally opens. Angela Rayner, the deputy PM and housing secretary, speaks at 11.25am and Pat McFadden, the Cabinet Office minister, speaks at 12.05. The business is focused on Labour party reports.
Lunchtime: David Lammy, the foreign secretary, Louise Haigh, the transport secretary, and Anneliese Dodds, the development minister, are among the ministers speaking at fringe meetings.
1.30pm: Conference resumes, with a policy plenary. The speakers included Darren Jones, chief secretary to the Treasury at 2pm; Lucy Powell, leader of the Commons, at 2.05pm; and Lammy, at 2.30pm.
Afternoon: Lammy, Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Cabinet Office minister, and Stephen Doughty, the Foreign Office minister, are among the people speaking at fringe meetings. The fringes include a Labour Movement for Europe rally.
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