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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow

Keir Starmer says Labour can deliver change and national renewal in conference speech – as it happened

Sir Keir Starmer George Osborne John McDonnell

Starmer's speech - verdict from the commentariat

And here are some more takes on Keir Starmer’s speech.

From the New Statesman’s George Eaton

That was Starmer’s most personal conference speech but with serious policy arguments at its heart: growth depends on the active state, workers must be properly rewarded, progressive tax rises needed to fund public services.

From Ailbhe Rea at Bloomberg

Overall, this was a plea for time. Starmer isn’t a man who sees much value in speeches like that — he’d far rather just get on with things and be judged on his record. But with his approval ratings now at the level Rishi Sunak’s were when he lost, there was an urgent need to reset things in the immediate term. Whether his speech was enough to do that is far from clear.

From the Sunday Times’ Tim Shipman

Starmer: very strong theoretically, a coherent argument well delivered. The “if you want this, you’ll have to put up with this” section was very good. Immigration section less persuasive. Still very thin on detail. But his team will be happy with that

From Rachel Cunliffe at the New Statesman

This was not a speech bursting with optimism. Starmer dismissed “false hope” and “the politics of easy answers”. He called for patience, telling the audience: “We will turn our collar up and face the storm.” The speech all but promised further pain in the upcoming Budget, more unpopularity for the new government – we will all soon become as sick at the phrase “tough choices” as we were at Starmer’s “toolmaker” refrain.

But Starmer was right about one thing. Those listening to the doom and gloom rhetoric Labour has leant into these past two months have indeed been responding: “What will we get to show for it?” This speech offered the beginnings of an answer. It wasn’t a magic trick. More the magician levelling with the audience that magic tricks – politics of easy answers, deceptively appealing populist solutions – won’t work this time. And inviting them to come with him to find something that can.

From Jack Kessler at the Standard

The real problem with the speech is that it had no centre. It touched on plenty of issues – energy, crime, foreign policy, migration and public services. But it was not obvious what hung it all together, other than the fact that the prime minister was now responsible for it. All the bases were covered, but few runs were scored, other than a reiteration of the short-term pain to come.

From Adam Bienkov from Byline Times

Keir Starmer’s conference speech may have had some promising moments, but it has done little to lift a growing sense of unease and disappointment within the Labour party towards their new Prime Minister.

From Patrick O’Flynn (a former Ukip MEP) in the Spectator

Keir Starmer gave a formidable speech to the Labour conference today. It was easily good enough to inspire the party’s natural supporters to cut him some slack over the bumpy months ahead.

Updated

Here is the verdict from the Guardian’s panel on Keir Starmer’s speech, with contributions from Frances Ryan, Tom Baldwin, Alan Finlayson, Nesrine Malik, Tom Belger, Chi Onwurah and Ella Michalski.

Starmer on his brother and sister, and why everyone deserves equal respect

And this is what Keir Starmer said in his speech about his brother and his sister. He talked about them to make the point that everyone is entitled to equal respect. It is a point he has made before, but these passages were probably the most moving in the speech.

My brother – who had difficulties learning – he didn’t get those opportunities.

Every time I achieved something in my life, my dad used to say: “Your brother has achieved just as much as you, Keir”.

And he was right. I still believe that.

But this is what we do in this country now, isn’t it?

We elevate the stories of the individuals who go to the Guild Hall School of Music.

The prime minister from a pebble-dashed semi.

The working class few who do break through the class ceiling.

I don’t blame anyone for that – I’m guilty of it.

It gives people hope. It’s important to tell those stories.

But it’s not everyone, is it?

And we must remember everyone, Conference …

My sister was a care worker in the pandemic. She’s still a care worker.

Work that surely we know by now is so important for the future of this country.

So Conference, wouldn’t it be great if this was also a country, where because of that contribution, that vital, life-affirming work, she could walk into any room and instantly command the same respect as the prime minister?

Starmer accuses Tories of indulging in 'politics of easy answers'

There has been a lot of talk about populism in British politics in recent years. In his conference speech, Keir Starmer said he preferred to describe it as the politics of “easy answers”.

After accusing the Tories of treating politics as “an act, a charade, a performance”, he said:

You can call it populism – many people do. But I prefer to call it the politics of easy answers. Because at its core that’s what it is. A deliberate refusal to countenance tough decisions because the political pain is just too much to bear. Party first, country second.

Take Rwanda – a policy they knew, from the beginning, would never work, was never supposed to work. £700m of your money, frittered away on something that was never a credible option because politically it was an easier answer.

This was at the heart of his argument against the Tories. He said:

For 14 years the Tories performed the politics of easy answers rather than use the power of government to serve our country.

Goverment to roll out independent legal advocates to help rape victims, Mahmood announces

In her speech Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, also announced that the government will roll out “independent legal advocates” to help protect the rights of rape victims as cases go through courts. She explained:

]In Northumberland, back in 2018, a radical new model evolved – developed by one pioneering Labour woman, Dame Vera Baird KC, here with us today, and delivered by another, Kim McGuinness. They introduced a historic innovation into our legal system Independent Legal Advocates. Who ensured that victims’ interests were represented, without fear or favour, just like a defendant’s.

For the first time, victims were able to seek counsel from lawyers who were there for them, and them alone. They ensured that victims of rape knew their rights, and could challenge decisions they believe are wrong. In Northumberland, two out of three challenges to a request for victims’ data were successful. The number of indiscriminate requests reduced dramatically, and the efficiency of trials improved as well.

Today, I can proudly announce that – from next year - this government will begin to roll out independent legal advocates. The first step to delivering our manifesto promise of having an independent advocate for rape victims in every part of the country. They do not undermine the right to a fair trial. They do not prevent evidence from coming to light. They simply take the rights victims already have, and make them a reality. And, by so doing, they rebalance the scales of justice.

Justice secretary Shabana Mahmood unveils plan to cut number of women going to jail

Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, has announced that the government wants to cut the number of women going to jail. She explained why in her speech to the Labour conference. She told delegates:

Now, there will always be women imprisoned for the protection of the public. That will never change. But we imprison women on minor charges to a far greater degree than men.

Around two thirds did not commit a violent crime. Yet they are sent into prisons that are desperate places. Self-harm in women’s prisons is nine-times higher than in the male estate. But perhaps worst of all, women’s prisons are hurting mothers and breaking homes.

With only a few women’s prisons, dotted across the country, women are often held far from their families, over half are mothers. The damage passes down generations, with three quarters of children leaving the family home when their mother is sent to jail.

Some women enter prison pregnant with around 50 children a year starting their lives in prison. Tragically women losing their children in childbirth. Conference, let me be clear. Nobody wants to live in a world where children are born in prison. But that is the world we live in.

And for all that harm, what do we get. For women, prison isn’t working. Rather than encouraging rehabilitation, prison forces women into a life of crime. After leaving a short custodial sentence, a woman is significantly more likely to commit a further crime than one given a non-custodial sentence. The shameful fact is we have known all this for two decades.

And this is what Mahmood said about how she would reduce the number of women in jail.

I am today announcing that this government will launch a new body, the Women’s Justice Board. Its goal will be clear. To reduce the number of women going to prison, with the ultimate ambition of having fewer women’s prisons.

In spring next year, it will publish a new strategy, focused on three things. Firstly, how we intervene earlier, looking at how to resolve cases before they go to court, secondly, how we make community support – such as residential women’s centres – a viable alternative to prison, and thirdly, how we address the acute challenge of young women in custody, who are less than a tenth of the population, but account for over a third of self-harm.

As part of this work, we will embrace the expertise of the voluntary sector. We won’t just invite them to join us, we will ask them to report on our progress, publicly, holding us to account.

Sharon Graham, the Unite general secretary who has frequently criticised Labour this week, accusing it if returning the UK to austerity, has issued a statement about Keir Starmer’s speech welcoming his “serious intent”. She said:

Today was a historic moment: A Labour prime minister addressed the Labour party conference for the first time in 15 years.

These is no doubt that Britain is a better off under a Labour government and the speech showed serious intent.

However, the fact is that the cut to the winter fuel allowance was not reversed and investment for jobs in the future not clear. We still have some way to go for a plan for Britain.

Labour pulls vote on Border Security Command motion following criticism from unions and leftwing activists

Labour has withdrawn a conference vote on its new border security proposals which would have committed the party to deport more asylum seekers more quickly, designate more countries as ‘safe’ in order to deport asylum seekers to them and create more counter-terror laws to ‘tackle’ irregular arrivals.

The party pulled the vote soon after Keir Starmer said in his speech:

I will never accept the argument made not just by the usual suspects, but by people who should have known better, who said that millions of people concerned about immigration are one and the same thing as the people who smashed up businesses.

Who targeted mosques.

Attempted to burn refugees.

Scrawled racist graffiti over walls.

Nazi salutes at the cenotaph.

Attacked NHS nurses.

And told people, with different coloured skin, people who contribute here, people who grew up here, that they should “go home”.

The vote was brought forward by the Wellingborough and Rushden CLP and seconded by the Hammersmith and Chiswick CLP but has sparked criticism from leftwing affiliated groups and MPs who have questioned the party’s immigration stance including Nadia Whittome who was pictured at Labour conference holding a banner opposing the motion. The Fire Brigade union, Unite, CWU and Unison were expected to vote against the motion.

Bridget Chapman, a spokesperson for the Labour Campaign for Free Movement said:

The Border Security Command motion would have called on Labour to adopt many of the worst aspects of the Tories brutal and immoral border policy.

The withdrawal of the motion is a clear sign that the Labour leadership knew it would lose. They know that party members and trade unions do not support this agenda.

The policy proposed in this motion has been praised by far-right parties and figures across Europe. Those who support such a policy should have the courage to put it to a democratic vote and see it defeated.

The government cannot legitimately implement a policy which they know does not have the support of conference.

Labour must offer an alternative to hate and border-building. We need decent jobs, homes and public services, and a politics of working class unity.

What Starmer said about what renewal will look like

Here is the passage from Keir Starmer’s speech where he addressed the question: what is the light at the end of the tunnel? He said:

Still that question calls to us, “What will we get to show for it?”

So let me answer that directly and address anyone nervous about the difficult road ahead, because I know this country is exhausted by and with politics.

I know that the cost-of-living crisis drew a veil over the joy and wonder in our lives, and that people want respite and relief. May even have voted Labour for that reason.

So first, let me be clear.

Our project has not and never will change.

I changed the Labour party to restore it to the service of working people and that is exactly what we will do for Britain.

But I will not do it with easy answers.

I will not do it with false hope.

Not now, not ever.

That is how we got here in the first place.

So I know, after everything you’ve been through, how hard it is to hear a politician ask for more.

But deep-down, I think you also know that our country does need a long-term plan and that we can’t turn back.

The state of our country is real.

However, I would also say this. This is a Government of Service. And that means, whether we agree or not, I will always treat you with the respect of candour, not the distraction of bluster.

And the truth is that if we take tough long-term decisions now, if we stick to the driving purpose behind everything we do – higher economic growth so living standards rise in every community; our NHS facing the future – waiting lists at your hospital down; safer streets in your community; stronger borders; more opportunities for your children; clean British energy powering your home – then that light at the end of this tunnel, that Britain that belongs to you, we get there much more quickly.

And look – I understand many of the decisions we must take will be unpopular.

If they were popular – they’d be easy. But the cost of filling that black hole in our public finances, that will be shared fairly.

Steven Swinford from the Times sees this as “a very explicit suggestion that higher taxes will be necessary to improve public services”.

From the BBC’s Iain Watson

While the Scottish government’s energy secretary, Gillian Martin, welcomed confirmation that GB Energy will be headquartered in Aberdeen, she also urged her UK counterparts to “make sure that this announcement brings real decision making to Aberdeen and adds value to the great work already taking place in the energy transition.”

Martin is thought to have a decent working relationship with her opposite number, Ed Milliband, working well together over the Grangemouth oil refinery transition proposals, but the SNP has been highly critical of Labour energy policy, warning before the election that Starmer risked 10,000 jobs with his windfall tax back in February.

There’s yet to be any confirmation of how many jobs GB Energy – which will also operate sites in Glasgow and Edinburgh – will provide, though it’s the projects it funds that are likely to have the most impact on a sustainable transfer of jobs to renewables.

On a visit to Aberdeen last week, I detected plenty of residual scepticism about the company, with lots of appetite for more certainty about what it will do in practice, in particular from younger people who were concerned that they were entering an industry where they could be facing mass redundancies before they were established.

What Starmer said about need for politicians to level with public about trade-offs

One of the best passages in Keir Starmer’s speech come when he said politicians must be honest about the trade-offs involved in politics. Here is it in full.

More broadly, I also say this. That as we take on those massive challenges the Tories ignored, the time is long overdue for politicians to level with you about the trade-offs this country faces.

Because if the last few years have shown us anything, it’s that if you bury your head because things are difficult, your country goes backwards.

So if we want justice to be served some communities must live close to new prisons.

If we want to maintain support for the welfare state, then we will legislate to stop benefit fraud. Do everything we can to tackle worklessness.

If we want cheaper electricity, we need new pylons overground otherwise the burden on taxpayers is too much.

If we want home ownership to be a credible aspiration for our children, then every community has a duty to contribute to that purpose.

If we want to tackle illegal migration seriously, we can’t pretend there’s a magical process that allows you to return people here unlawfully without accepting that process will also grant some people asylum.

If we want to be serious about levelling-up, then we must be proud to be the party of wealth creation. Unashamed to partner with the private sector.

And perhaps most importantly of all, that just because we all want low taxes and good public services that does not mean that the iron law of properly funding policies can be ignored, because it can’t. We have seen the damage that that does and I will not let that happen again. I will not let Tory economic recklessness hold back the working people of this country.

Blair McDougall, a new Scottish Labour MP, has said the party should approach its often hefty election majorities “with trepidation” because they are now much more fragile than in the past.

The ex-chief executive of the Better Together campaign, which won the Scottish independent referendum in 2014, McDougall has since been a political strategist and a consultant to democracy activists in Belarus, Kosovo and Serbia.

He told a Fabian’s event at Labour conference he was delighted to win East Renfrewshire, one of Scotland’s most volatile three-way marginals, for Labour at the general election with the largest increase in the vote share of any UK constituency. He said:

I view that not with a reason for celebration but maybe for trepidation.

An electorate which can take me from 18,000 votes behind to 8,500 votes ahead in an election can just as easily take it away.

This is not just a distinctly Scottish question, even though the very close link between constitutional preferences and party support, which has dominated every election since the referendum, was now broken in Scotland.

If you look at global politics and British politics since then you can see that old tribal loyalties behind parties has largely evaporated. At every election that coalition and that relation with voters needs to be remade and rebuilt.

If we are honest in terms of our result in Scotland, we were able to reframe the conversation away from the constitutional debate because the conversation was largely taking place somewhere else. The conservation was taking place across the UK in a UK context about change.

After 10 years where Labour felt it was their job to defeat the SNP in an argument about independence, “we need to begin to understand that is not the test for the next decade”, McDougall said.

While the yes/no divisions in Scotland may not have changed much since 2014, the constitutional debate “is now in the background of people’s minds”, he argued. He went on:

We don’t keep it there by continuing to want to defeat nationalism as a political project. We need to want to defeat poverty, injustice, poor educational standards, waiting lists, and that is a matter of political leadership but is also a matter of [equipping] our activists with the confidence to step back from that argument [and] remind them the way of winning that argument is by not having it.

Starmer confirms GB Energy HQ will be based in Aberdeen

In his speech Keir Starmer confirmed that the GB Energy HQ will be based in Aberdeen.

Labour had already said it would be in Scotland and, given Aberdeen is the energy capital of Scotland, it was expected to get the GB Energy head office.

Starmer said:

Today I can confirm that the future of British energy will be powered, as it has been for decades by the talent and skills of the working people in the Granite City with GB Energy based in Aberdeen.

Both sides of industry largely welcomed Keir Starmer’s speech, with union leaders saying that workers “desperately” needed change, PA Media reports.

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said:

Keir Starmer showed today that he’s determined to deliver that change for communities across Britain and to make work pay for everyone.

Unions stand ready to work with him and his government to urgently repair and rebuild this country.

CBI chief executive Rain Newton-Smith said:

The prime minister is right to say that government is facing challenges too complex to resolve alone.

The ‘shared struggle’ to put the country back on the path to prosperity serves as a rallying call for a partnership between business and government that harnesses the innovation, investment, and optimism of industry to deliver lasting change.

Shevaun Haviland, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, said:

The prime minister rightly set out the importance of stabilising and growing the economy.

Businesses stand ready to work hand in hand with government to reach those goals.

Firms also wanted to hear an upbeat plan for the future, so it was encouraging to hear the prime minister talk of light at the end of the tunnel.

How Labour plans to ensure social housing available for veterans, young care leavers and domestic abuse victims

Labour has released more details of the pledge in Keir Starmer’s speech to protect veterans, young care leavers and domestic abuse victims from homelessness. (See 2.33pm and 2.35pm.)

In a news release it says:

Armed Forces veterans, young care leavers and domestic abuse victims will be able to apply for social housing in any local authority in the UK, for life, as part of a push to strengthen support for those who have served, and those most vulnerable - announced by Prime Minister Keir Starmer today at the party’s first conference in government in 15 years.

Armed forces personnel often spend years posted across the country or overseas, which can dislocate them from family and friends. Current rules allow veterans an exemption from local connection tests for five years after leaving the armed forces, but over 80% of homeless veterans referred for housing support left the forces more than five years ago. These rules unfairly punish the veterans who have served our country and kept us safe, putting those most in need at risk of homelessness. Domestic abuse victims and care leavers often must leave their local area for their own safety or to receive suitable support and do not have a local connection to the place where they would best be able build a safe and stable life. Labour’s plans will ensure security for veterans, domestic abuse victims and young care leavers is secured for the long term.

Today, the Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, has written to local councils telling them to prioritise veterans for life and support vulnerable groups through their social housing allocation. Regulatory changes will be brought forward as a priority when parliamentary time allows. The Labour government has already given councils more flexibility to use their Right to Buy receipts to build and buy more social homes and allocated an additional £450m for councils to secure homes for families at risk of homelessness.

Here is the full text of Keir Starmer’s conference speech.

Daniel Riley, 18, who heckled Keir Starmer in his speech at the Labour party conference said he was moved to shout due to Labour’s stance on the Middle East, PA Media reports. PA says:

He told reporters after being released by security:

Everyday we’re still sending British bombs and British bullets that are being used in Lebanon and in Gaza right now and the prime minister – he could stop that, he could stop that right now but he doesn’t.

And he says that he wants things to stop but he won’t lift a finger to actually stop it.

Asked if he had planned to disrupt the leader’s speech, Riley said:

No, I was a delegate, I’m a Labour party member, I hoped I’d be one for life but I suspect not now.

Starmer's speech - snap verdict

That was a disappointment. In fact, for the first 20 or 30 minutes it was coming across as a flop. There was no structure, no thread, no argument, and at times it was quite hard to work out the thrust of what he was saying. He veered from one topic to another, as if the person drafting the speech had dropped all the paragraphs on the floor and picked them up at random. And that is if you ignore the sausages slip of the tongue, which seems to be the only bit of the speech taking off on social media.

But about half way through, it suddenly improved. That is because Starmer started making hard-headed political arguments. The most interesting was on legal migration, where he made a “taking back control” argument on immigration, appropriating Brexit language but dressing it up as a Labour, anti-capitalist stance. Diane Abbott will hate it (see 2.05pm), but many of the people who voted Labour for the first time in July care about immigration, and believe it is too high, and this suggests Starmer won’t ignore them.

But he was also quite explicit about the fact that processing asylum claims quickly will (and should, he implied) mean quite a lot of people being granted asylum. This might seem obvious, but it was not something Labour figures liked to admit during the election campaign.

And he signalled that ministers are tooling up for a proper fight with nimbies over pylons.

But overall, if this was a speech that was meant to explain why people should look forward to “the light at the end of the tunnel”, it probably did not work. There were too many generalities, and not enough specifics. Even Alastair Campbell thinks Labour is not communicating its mission with enough clarity (see 9.59am) and this did not feel like a speech that will remedy that.

The biggest test of these speeches is what anyone is likely to recall a week or so later. The danger for Starmer is that it will just be the verbal slip.

Starmer is now coming to the peroration.

People said we couldn’t change the party – but we did.

People said we couldn’t win across Britain – but we have.

People say we can’t deliver national renewal – but we can and we will.

He has finished, and as the audience applaud he is off the stage quite quickly.

Starmer tells the story about visiting the house in the Lake District where he used to holiday as a child, and not being recognised by the owner.

A protester interrupts him. Starmer says the protester must think they are at the 2019 conference.

Starmer says migration debate about control, not race, and 'taking back control a Labour argument'

Starmer says he does not accept that people concerned about immigration are the same as the people who rioted over the summer.

He says the debate about immigration is not about the worth of migrants. It is about control.

It’s about control of migration. It’s always been about control.

That is what people have voted for time and again.

They weren’t just ignored after Brexit.

The Tories gave them the exact opposite, an immigration system deliberately reformed to reduce control.

Because in the end, they are the party of the uncontrolled market.

Now, don’t get me wrong, markets are dynamic.

Competition is a vital life force in our economy.

This is a Labour party proud to say that we work hand in hand with business.

But markets don’t give in control – that’s almost literally their point.

So if you want a country with more control, if you want the great forces that affect your community to be better managed, whether that’s migration, climate change, law and order or security at work, then that does mean more decisive government, and that is a Labour argument.

Taking back control is a Labour argument.

Updated

Starmer says net immigration too high, and government will 'get tough' on this

Starmer says he accepts the immigration is too high.

I have always accepted that concerns about immigration are legitimate.

It is – as point of fact – he policy of this government to reduce both net migration and economic dependency upon it.

I have never thought we should be relaxed about some sectors importing labor when there are millions of young people, anxious and highly talented who are desperate to work and contribute to their community.

And trust me, there are plenty of examples of apprenticeship starts going down at the very same time that visa application for the same skills are going up.

So we will get tough on this.

Starmer says talking illegal migration must mean some people being granted asylum

Starmer says Labour also wants to see more homes built, and that dealing with asylum claims will mean accepting that some people have to have their asylum claims granted.

If we want home ownership to be a credible aspiration for our children, then every community has a duty to contribute to that purpose.

If we want to tackle illegal migration seriously, we can’t pretend that there’s a magical process that allows you to return people here unlawfully without accepting that process will also grant some people asylum.

Starmer says drive for green energy will mean more pylons erected

And Starmer says the Labour wants to see more pylons erected.

If we want cheaper electricity, we need new pylons overground. Otherwise, the burden on taxpayers is too much.

Starmer confirms Labour will legislate to tackle benefit fraud

Starmer confirms the government will legislate to tackle benefit fraud.

If we want to maintain support for the welfare state, then we will legislate to stop the benefit fraud. Do everything we can to tackle worklessness.

Starmer accepts concerns about winter fuel payments, but says 'every pensioner will be better off with Labour'

Starmer says he understands why people are unhappy about the winter fuel payments cut.

But he says, with prices kept low, NHS waiting lists cut and the triple lock secured, “every pensioner will be better off with Labour”.

Starmer seeks to explain what benefits lie ahead if government takes difficult decisions now

Starmer says people ask what they will get from the difficult decisions that lie ahead.

He claims he will answer that directly.

I know that the cost of living crisis drew a veil over the joy and wonder in our lives, and that people want respite and relief. They may even have voted Labour for that reason.

So first, let me be clear.

Our project has not and never will change.

I changed the Labour Party to restore it to the service of working people, and that is exactly what we will do for Britain.

But I will not do it with easy answers.

I will not do it with false hope. Not now, not ever. That’s how we got here in the first place …

And the truth is that, if we take tough, long term decisions now, if we stick to the driving purpose behind everything we do – higher economic growth so living standards rise in every community; our NHS facing the future, waiting lists at your hospital down; safer streets in your community, stronger borders, more opportunities for your children, clean British energy, powering your home – than that light at the end of this tunnel, that Britain belongs to you, we get there much more quickly.

Starmer accuses the last Tory government of refusing to fix the problems facing the country.

As a result, people do not trust politicians.

You may call it populism. Many people do, but I prefer to call it the politics of easy answers, because at its core, that’s what it is, a deliberate refusal to countenance tough decisions because the political pain is just too much.

As an example, he cites the Rwanda policy.

Starmer says young care leavers and domestic abuse victims also to be protected from homelessness

Starmer says the government is making the same promise to other people at risk of homelessness: young care leavers, victims of domestic abuse.

They will have the security they deserve.

They will have a roof over their heads.

Starmer is talking about his missions.

He understands “the power and responsibility of government”, he says – “the way it can make or break a life”.

As chief prosecutor, looking into the eyes of victims, “trust me, you learn what government can and must do”.

He refers to crime victims, and the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire.

They have all shown that the difference between service and government – true service is service that listens to people, he says.

Starmer says government will ensure housing for all veterans in housing need

Starmer turns to another injustice. He says the government will house all veterans in housing need.

Updated

Starmer pivots to the Middle East.

He says Labour is calling for restraint and de-escalation, a ceasefire in Gaza, a secure Israel and a two-state solution.

He says Labour must show what politics can achieve.

Above all, they must have faith “in practical solutions that work”.

Easy answers “may well move a crowd, but do not move a nation forward”.

Updated

Starmer lists some of what the government has achieved.

And he promises “a Britain that belongs to you”.

Change must mean “nothing less than nothing renewal, not a return to the old days, nor a new path entirely, but a rediscovery in the full glare of the future of who we are”.

No one doubts that the UK is a great nation, he says.

A nation known for our creativity and our artistic skill, our scientific genius and, of course, our pragmatism – qualities that combined with the industry and pride of working people have not just rewritten our own story, but that of the world.

We could do that again.

Starmer says he won't 'get everything right', but he won't let 'fantasy of populism' distract him from politics of service

Starmer says service is “the responsibility and opportunity of power”.

That “does not mean we will get everything right”, he says.

But they will take decisions together.

Service doesn’t mean we’ll get everything right.

It doesn’t mean everyone will agree.

It does mean we understand that every decision we take, we take together, and that it is our duty to the British people to face up to necessary decisions in their interests.

And, conference you know me by now, so you know, all those shouts and bellows, the bad faith advice from people who still hanker for the politics of noisy performance, the weak and cowardly fantasy of populism, it’s water off a duck’s back.

Starmer says two years ago, in Liverpool, he promised a Labour government would bring in a Hillsborough law, a law for Liverpool. It is doing that, he says. (See 9.32am.)

He says clause 1 (the bit of the Labour constitution saying it has a duty to seek power at Westminster) means this will be introduced.

Starmer thanks Matthew Conroy for his speech.

He starts with a thank you to conference. They have fulfilled “the basic duty of our party” – winning an election, to return the party “to the service of working people”.

He says this is a far cry from his first conference speech – during Covid, when he had a live audience of one. Do you remember that? Most people don’t, he says.

He recalls the conference in Brighton three years ago, when people resisted change, he says.

(He may be referring to the hecklers he had to face down.)

Starmer says his side of the argument won. And they won at the election in every region of England.

That was because they put country first, he says.

It is.

Keir Starmer is coming on stage now. He asks for silence quite quickly, although it sounds like the cheering might go on for ages.

They are now showing a film about what Labour has done since it won the election.

At the conference Keir Starmer is now being introduced by a young Labour member, Matthew Conroy. Conroy says Starmer was the first in his family to go to university and that he understands how giving people opportunities can change lives.

In her conference speech this morning Yvette Cooper said net migration was too high. She said:

A serious government sees that net migration has trebled because overseas recruitment has soared while training has been cut right back, and says net migration must come down as we properly train young people here in the UK.

Diane Abbott, a former shadow home secretary, has accused her of anti-immigrant rhetoric.

Shocking speech by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper. We will never compete with the right on anti-immigrant rhetoric.

Extracts from Starmer's speech released in advance

Here are some extracts from the speech released in advance.

On what Labour has done so far

A Government of Service must act in everything it does to show - to the working people of this country, that politics can be a force for good, that it can be on the side of truth and justice, and that it can secure a better life for your family through the steady but uncompromising work of service.

Make no mistake, the work of change has begun. Planning – reformed. Doctors - back in theatre. New solar projects. New offshore wind projects. The onshore ban – lifted. Great British Energy – launched. One-word Ofsted judgements – ended. MPs second jobs – banned. A Border Security Command. A National Wealth Fund - getting Britain Building Again. The Renters Reform Bill - stopping no fault evictions. The Railway Services Bill – bringing our railways back into public ownership.

And we’re only just getting started.

On national renewal

The politics of national renewal are collective. They involve a shared struggle. A project that says, to everyone, this will be tough in the short-term, but in the long-term - it’s the right thing to do for our country. And we all benefit from that.

On light at the end of the tunnel

The truth is that if we take tough long-term decisions now, if we stick to the driving purpose behind everything we do: higher economic growth - so living standards rise in every community; our NHS facing the future - waiting lists at your hospital down; safer streets in your community; stronger borders; more opportunities for your children; clean British energy powering your home; making our country more secure … then that light at the end of this tunnel, that Britain that belongs to you, we get there much more quickly.

On no easy answers

I know this country is exhausted by and with politics. I know that the cost-of-living crisis drew a veil over the joy and wonder in our lives and that people want respite and relief, and may even have voted Labour for that reason. Our project has not and never will change. I changed the Labour party to restore it to the service of working people. And that is exactly what we will do for Britain. But I will not do it with easy answers. I will not do it with false hope.

On the £22bn black hole left by the Tories

It will be hard. That’s not rhetoric, it’s reality. It’s not just that financial black hole, the £22bn of unfunded spending commitments, concealed from our country by the Tories, it’s not just the societal black hole – our decimated public services leaving communities held together by little more than good will - it’s also the political black hole.

Just because we all want low taxes and good public services, does not mean that the iron law of properly funding policies can be ignored. We have the seen the damage that does, and I will not let that happen again. I will not let Tory economic recklessness hold back the working people of this country.

On being a reforming government

We have to become serious and mission-led, and have to put respect and service deep in the bones of our institutions. That’s not a debate about investment or reform, it’s always been both.

But again, I have to warn you, working people do want more decisive government. They do want us to rebuild our public services and they do want that to lead to more control in their lives. But their pockets are not deep - not at all. So we have to be a great reforming government.

On giving equal voice to everyone

As a country, we elevate the stories of the individuals who go to the Guildhall School of Music, the prime minister from a pebble-dashed semi, the working class few who do break through the class ceiling.

It’s important to tell those stories. But it’s not everyone, is it? And we must remember everyone.

Through the power unleashed by renewal, we can build a country that gives equal voice to every person. A country that won’t expect you to change who you are, just to get on. A country that doesn’t just work for you and your family, but one that recognises you, sees you, and respects you as part of our story. A Britain that belongs to you.

Updated

This is from Lewis Goodall from the News Agents podcast.

Here are some pictures from Labour MPs waiting for Keir Starmer.

From Oliver Ryan, MP for Burnley

From Luke Akehurst, MP for North Durham

From Christian Wakeford, MP for Bury South

Keir Starmer’s favourability rating is down 21 points since the general election, according to polling by Savanta.

Starmer to address Labour conference

Keir Starmer is due to speak to the conference at 2pm.

Here is a picture of the queue for seats in the halll.

Labour must stay focused on what voters want, not what members want, says McFadden

Labour must not retreat to the comfort of being a “members’ club” and must remain focused on being an “election-winning machine”, Pat McFadden has said.

The Cabinet Office minister made the comment at a fringe meeting where he was asked about the changes introduced since Labour’s defeat in 2019 that enabled it to win with a landslide this summer.

McFadden said:

I think we had become too much focused internally, too much focused on internal stakeholder management.

And so the changes that we made, they weren’t just a little bit of a change in policy or in economics or in a single thing, it was a change in job description.

Are you a members’ club just in existence to keep your members happy? Or are you an outward-focused, election-winning machine, an election-winning party?

That’s what we have to be. And so I saw the changes that we were making, whether it’s rule changes at conference and all the rest of it, as a rediscovery of the Labour party’s job description, something much more fundamental than a change in policy.

And I’m very clear-eyed about that. And one of the things I say about the future … is don’t go back.

Don’t go back to the old job description, which we’d fallen into, which was focusing purely on our own members. Stay focused on the public.

He also defended the cautious approach adopted in the Labour election manifesto. He said:

The easiest thing in the world is just to say yes, with loads of things, staple them together in a manifesto. Call it radicalism. And then lose, and it changes nothing.

We had to say ‘no’ to things.

Prisons minister James Timpson says courts should put more faith in community orders as alternative to jail

James Timpson, the prisons minister, has said that he wants the courts to put more faith in community orders as an alternative to prison.

He was speaking at a fringe event this moring where he also said that he thought his appointment as a minister meant Keir Starmer wanted to change the criminal justice system.

Starmer’s decision to make Timpson prisons minister, with a seat in the Lords, came as a surprise after the election. The former boss of the eponymous shoe repair company, Timpson was known for employing ex-offenders, and for believing that far too many offenders get sent to jail.

When Starmer was asked at a press conference soon after the election if he agreed with Timpson, Starmer said he wanted to reduce the number of offenders who return to jail because they reoffend. He has not said that he believes jail sentences are handed out too often.

At the fringe meeting, Timpson was asked if he agreed that community sentences should be used more regularly as an alternative to custody. He replied:

I completely agree with you about the positive impact of community sentencing but I think it needs to be trusted more by the courts.

I’m in this for the long haul and I hope by putting me in this position the prime minister has sent a signal that we need to change the system and I’m hopefully going to be around long enough to do it.

Lisa Nandy accuses Tories of 'cultural vandalism', and says Labour will reverse it

Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, has accused the last Conservative government of “cultural vandalism” and promised that Labour will reverse it.

In her speech to the conference, she said:

Successive Tory governments running down our rich and proud heritage in arts and music and the right of every child to it.

At the stroke of a pen: enrichment funding in schools, gone.

Libraries, theatres, youth workers, gone.

That lifeline for young people, broken.

The promise of a generation inspired by sport, broken.

This is what cultural vandalism looks like. And conference, it ends today.

Nandy said the government was also going to reset relations with the charity sector, and other civil society groups like trade unions and community organisations. Describing them as “a lifeline in the darkest of times”, she said:

They were silenced by the Tories. No more. Our government believes they are essential partners in the country we seek to build and they have not just a right, but a duty to speak out.

She also said she and Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, were reviewing the school curriculum to include a greater emphasis on arts.

Bridget and I have kickstarted a review of the curriculum to put arts, sports and music back at the heart of our schools and communities where it belongs.

It is our ambition that when, in five years’ time, we turn to face the nation again, we will face a self-confident country that can celebrate the rich diversity and inheritance of our communities and all the people in them.

Protesters spray 'genocide' at entrance to conference in protest at Labour government arming Israel

Campaigners from Youth Demand sprayed the words “genocide conference” on the building at the conference entrance used for security checks.

A Youth Demand spokesperson said in a statement:

Labour is still arming Israel despite a majority of the public backing a complete arms embargo. Despite admitting there is a ‘clear risk’ of ‘serious violation of international humanitarian law’, they have spinelessly suspended less than 10% of arms licenses.

Updated

Angela Rayner, the deputy PM and housing secretary, has said that planning application statistics for England out today show that applications were slowing when the Tories left office.

The figures, which cover the second quarter of the year (April, May and June), show:

-Applications down 9% compared to the same quarter a year earlier.

-Decided applications down 6%

-Granted applications down 7%

-Granted residential applications down 5%

-Granted commercial development applications down 9%

Rayner said:

The Tories have not learnt their lesson and will not apologise for the mess that they left.

They watered down housing targets, torpedoed housebuilding, and took a sledgehammer to the dream of a secure home.

As the BBC reports, Andy Burnham, the Labour mayor of Greater Manchester, was asked this morning if he agreed with what John McDonnell said about Keir Starmer sounding like George Osborne on welfare fraud. (See 8.17am.) Burnham did not accept the comparision. He replied:

I understand the nature of the [government’s] inheritance. programme.

It is something of a mess the chancellor has inherited, so difficult things do need to be done just to put public finances back on a sound footing.

But I was really encouraged to hear her [Rachel Reeves] say clearly yesterday, in her speech, no return to austerity, and that’s what we wanted to hear.

Cooper announces measures to tackle antisocial behaviour and street crime

In her speech Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, also promised a new drive to tackle street crime. She told delegates:

For too long rising town centre and street crime have been driving people away from our high streets, corroding the fabric of our communities.

So this Labour government will bring in new powers on antisocial behaviour, shoplifting and off-road bikes and we will put neighbourhood police back in our communities and back on the beat.

In a briefing note on the plan, Labour said:

Legislation will be brought forward next year to introduce new respect orders to ban prolific antisocial offenders from town centres, and to enable the police to more swiftly seize off-road vehicles that are deliberately being used to terrorise town centres and neighbourhood estates. Following years of campaigning by Usdaw and the Co-Op, the Labour government will also deliver on its plans of creating a new standalone offence of assaulting a shopworker.

The plans will draw on the work of the last Labour government’s Street Crime Initiative, which brought down street robbery in the early 2000s. Cooper was involved in the Blair-era programme as courts minister, and was responsible for overseeing the Merseyside street crime partnership as part of the programme. She says the same dedicated, determined focus is needed now to ensure that “local communities can take back their streets from thugs and thieves”.

Alongside 13,000 neighbourhood officers and PCSOs, the action plan on street crime will see the creation of a new Knife Enabled Robbery Taskforce, to stymie the sharp rise in knife-enabled robbery, which has seen a 13% increase in the last year alone. The taskforce will bring together ministers, police chiefs and community safety partners, pulling together best practice on the policing of geographic hotspots, blocking the onward pipeline of stolen goods and disrupting supply chains to disincentivise theft. The Home Office will work with the NPCC [National Police Chiefs Council] on week-long intensification initiatives when violent robberies are likely to peak, including around the release of new iPhones. The increased focus on knife-enabled robbery is a critical part of the government’s mission to halve knife crime within a decade, as knife enabled robbery now makes up 42% of all police-recorded knife crime.

Updated

Yvette Cooper says Tory leadership candidates, and Reform UK, harming respect for law and order with two-tier policing talk

Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, has accused the Tory leadership candidates of lining up with Reform UK to undermine faith in the police.

She criticised them for supporting claims that “two-tier policing” is in force, describing them as “rightwing wreckers, undermining respect for the law”.

In her speech to the Labour conference, she pointed out that when Suella Braverman made similar claims about the police last year, she was sacked by Rishi Sunak as home secretary.

“Two-tier policing” refers to the theory that the police are biased in favour of leftwing, or minority protesters. During the summer riots this allegation was widely spread by far-right figures who argued that white, working-class people people who were rioting were treated much more harshly than people taking part in pro-Gaza protests.

The allegation was widely spread on social media, not least because it was adopted by the X owner Elon Musk, despite the fact that there is an obvious reason why police tactics used in response to riots are different from those used in response to peaceful, or largely peaceful, protests.

After telling delegates the riots were put down after “decent people stood up for their communities”, Cooper said:

But I’ll be honest – I’ve been shocked by the response from some of those in political parties on the right who once claimed to care about law and order.

After rioters attacked the police, they should have given full-throated backing to our brave officers.

Instead, too often we’ve seen them undermine the integrity and authority of the police, even making excuses for the mob.

If you remember, back in the run up to Armistice Day last year, disgraceful slurs made against the police which made it harder for them to do their job were treated as a sacking offence for a Tory home secretary.

A year on, those same slurs have become an article of faith for every Tory leadership contender.

It is shameful what that party has become.

The Tories, with their mates in Reform, are just becoming rightwing wreckers.

Undermining respect for the law, trying to fracture the very bonds that keep communities safe.

They have nothing to offer but fear, division and anger.

Braverman was sacked last November soon after writing an article for the Times accusing the police of bias in the way they were dealing with pro-Palestinian marches in London. “Unfortunately, there is a perception that senior police officers play favourites when it comes to protesters,” she wrote.

Reform UK MPs revived the “two-tier policing” allegation during the summer riots, and Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, claimed that there is “a growing feeling of anger in this country that we are living through two-tier policing and a two-tier justice system” in a question to Keir Starmer at PMQs earlier this month.

To varying degrees, the four Conservative leadership candidates have also endorsed the idea.

Robert Jenrick, the favourite, has explicitly accused the Metropolitan police of “two-tier policing”.

James Cleverly, a former home secretary, has said he is worried about the perception of “two-tier policing”.

Tom Tugendhat, a former security minister, has said that, while he does not believe there is full “two-tier policing”, he thinks there is “inconstency” in how the police act in some cases.

And Kemi Badenoch has said that, while she is relucant to say there is “two-tier policing” in public order matters, the Huw Edwards sentencing was evidence of two-tier justice.

Updated

McFadden knocks down story saying government considering tightening pub opening hours

Labour is not going to order pubs to close early, Pat McFadden, the Cabinet Office minister said today.

Responding to a story in the Telegraph saying ministers were considering restricting pub opening hours, McFadden told the Today programme:

We’ve got a day left of the conference and if that’s on the agenda, I’m going to table an emergency resolution myself in order to make sure it doesn’t happen.

I think we’ve been clear about that overnight, the pub’s a great part of the British tradition and we’ve got no plans to change the opening hours in that way.

The Telegraph story was prompted by Andrew Gwynne, a health minister, saying: “These are discussions that we have got to have – even if it’s just about tightening up on some of the hours of operation; particularly where there are concerns that people are drinking too much.”

According to Politico, officials subsequently said Gwynne was talking about pubs that ignore current opening time rules.

Gwynne was speaking at a fringe meeting about preventative health.

Updated

People don't know what Labour's five missions are, says Alastair Campbell, as he argues its communications must improve

In his Telegraph article this morning Prof Sir John Curtice, the leading psephologist, says Keir Starmer has not been very good at setting out “a clear vision of the kind of country he wants to create”. (See 8.46am.) In an interview with the Today programme this morning, Alastair Campbell, who used to be in charge of communications for Tony Blair and who now co-hosts the very popular Rest is Politics podcast, said much the same.

Campbell argued that the government got off to good start, but he said the riots “knocked them slightly off course, even though they handled it well”. In the run-up to the conference season, a “gap” emerged in communication, he said. He went on:

And I think in this gap there has been maybe just a lack of that strategic communication, where you understand that in government – which is much, much, much harder than opposition – you have to all the time be devising, executing and narrating your strategy, what the government is for, what the government is trying to do, where the government is trying to get to.

And when that doesn’t happen, then what tends to happen – particularly with a pretty hostile media which is not averse to double standards in the way it treats Labour viz a viz the Conservatives – that is when you get stuff filled with clothes and Sue Gray’s salary and all the behind-the-scenes stuff.

If you have that clear, consistent, strategic narrative, that is relentlessly being put out there, then that is when you give the country – which, by the way, doesn’t want to have politics in its face the whole time – that sense of this is what the government is about, this is what the government is trying to do.

Campbell praised Starmer’s five missions for government. He said they related to issues that people care about. But he said that talking to people at the conference last night, he was struck that even “people who are really plugged into politics” were struggling when he asked them to say what the five missions were. He went on:

You can’t blame the public for that. That’s a matter of the government being clear in its communication and the narration of that strategy, so the people cannot get any doubt about what they’re trying to do.

Updated

The Daily Mirror is also running an exclusive line on what Keir Starmer will say in his speech. In her story, Lizzy Buchan says that Starmer will confirm plans for a Hillsborough law. She says:

Speaking at Labour’s conference in Liverpool, the PM will confirm that the new legislation will be brought to Parliament by April. Known as Hillsborough Law, it will give victims of injustice greater power to take on the state, creating a legal duty of candour for public servants such as police officers.

This (unlike the fraud bill – see 8.17am) was is in the king’s speech.

And the Sun is running a story by Harry Cole saying Starmer will tell the conference that “firms found to be abusing visa rules or sponsorships will be outlawed from hiring foreigners”. It says Starmer will say in his speech:

It is the policy of this government to reduce both net migration and our economic dependency on it.

I have never thought we should be relaxed about some sectors importing labour when there are millions of young people, ambitious and highly talented, who are desperate to work and contribute.

McFadden does not rule out welfare cuts in budget

Pat McFadden did not rule out benefits being cut in the budget when he was asked about welfare in an interview with Sky News this morning.

Asked if Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, was considering benefit cuts, the Cabinet Office minister replied:

She won’t start from that point of view, but she will start from saying there are too many people on long-term sickness benefits.

What can we do to get people back into work? There is some fraud in the system too, which we’re going to act on.

It’s really important that if money is spent on benefits, it goes to those who are genuinely in need of it, and where there’s fraud in the system that we try to root that out.

That’s two things that we do want to do. To get people back to work, and to make sure that money spent in this system goes to those who are genuinely in need of it.

When Reeves made her statement to MPs about the £22bn black hole in the public finances, she said the budget on 30 October would involve “difficult decisions to meet our fiscal rules across spending, welfare and tax”.

Starmer will tell conference 'good times on the horizon', says Pat McFadden

Pat McFadden, the Cabinet Office minister, has been doing an interview round this morning to roll the pitch for Keir Starmer’s “light at the end of the tunnel” speech. Speaking on Times Radio, McFadden said there were “good times on the horizon”.

We’ll hear from the prime minister today in what is a really big moment for us, the first speech from a Labour prime minister to Labour conference for 15 years, is that although the fiscal government budget situation is tough, there are good times on the horizon if we get stability right.

McFadden has never been seen as a purveyor of Boris Johnson-style boosterism – during Labour’s opposition years, his main role in the party was to warn against complacency – and in the interview Stig Abell put it to him that he was an unlikely spokesperson for hope. McFadden seemed willing to joke at his own expense. He replied:

I’m shocked. If it’s optimism and sunshine you want, I am your man.

The Daily Telegraph is running an article this morning by Prof Sir John Curtice, the BBC’s lead elections expert and one of the most respected psephologists in the country. The headline says: “The writing is already on the wall for Labour’s floundering government.” In an interview on the Today programme this morning, Curtice distanced himself from that headline, saying “floundering” wasn’t what he wrote. But his assessment in the article is still quite negative.

Curtice said that Labour won the election, not because voters were enthusiastic about the party, but because they were determined to get rid of the Tories. Reform UK, not Labour, gained most from this, he said. He went on:

Nearly one in four 2019 Conservative voters switched to Reform compared with just one in eight who backed Labour.

As a result, Labour won just 35 per cent of the vote – in an election where only three in five voted. Never before has a party won an overall majority with so low a share of the vote. Consequently, the pool of voters willing to give it the benefit of the doubt is unusually small.

Curtice also said that, although Starmer’s popularity rose at the time of the election, that boost has “rapidly disappeared”. He went on:

The trouble is, Sir Keir entered 10 Downing St having conspicuously failed – in contrast to Tony Blair or David Cameron – over the previous four years to impress himself favourably on voters. It was never going to take much of a slip for Sir Keir’s post-election halo of success to disappear.

One key weakness underlay his lack of popularity before entering office – an apparent inability to articulate a clear vision of the kind of country he wants to create. Labour’s slogan in July was “Change” – and at this week’s conference it is “Change Begins”. Neither makes the intended destination clear.

There was a much more negative assessment of Labour’s position in polling published by More in Common yesterday. I posted the highlights on the blog last night just before we closed down.

Starmer to deliver Labour conference speech with left alarmed by plan for crackdown on benefit fraud

Good morning. Keir Starmer is giving his speech to the Labour conference this afternoon and, as the Guardian reports, his overall message will be one of qualified, long-term optimism. Another leader might have dressed this message up in poetic rhetoric, but Starmer will be using a straightforward cliche, telling the audience “there’s light at the end of the tunnel”. He will say:

The truth is that if we take tough long-term decisions now, if we stick to the driving purpose behind everything we do: higher economic growth - so living standards rise in every community; our NHS facing the future - waiting lists at your hospital down; safer streets in your community; stronger borders; more opportunities for your children; clean British energy powering your home; making our country more secure ... then that light at the end of this tunnel, that Britain that belongs to you, we get there much more quickly.

Our preview story is here.

But the Times has been told the speech will also include plans for a crackdown on benefit fraud. It says Starmer will announce that the government will introduce a fraud, error and debt bill – not something that was mentioned in the king’s speech that happened only two months ago. It says:

The legislation will allow fraud investigators to compel banks to hand over information about people’s finances if there is a suspicion they are claiming benefits they are not entitled to.

It will also give them powers of “search and seizure” of people’s property in cases involving organised criminal gangs that are exploiting the benefits system.

The crackdown is designed to save the taxpayer £1.6 billion over the next five years by tackling fraud and reducing overpayments. Starmer will say that he wants to ensure that “every penny” of taxpayers’ money is spent on Labour’s pledge to “rebuild public services” ….

Banks will be required to tell the benefit system if people have savings of more than £16,000, the cut-off point for claiming benefits, or have been abroad for more than the four weeks allowed for universal credit claimants. Inspectors will then investigate and seek to recover overpayments.

The news that a right-leaning paper has been briefed about a crackdown on benefit cheats will worry the left and, in an interview on the Today programme this morning, John McDonnell, shadow chancellor under Jeremy Corbyn, said this reminded him of George Osborne.

I don’t say this lightly. If you close your eyes, and you listen to the language being used, it’s almost like George Osborne speaking again in 2010.

And when you hear politicians talk about “tough choices” or “painful decisions”, and then you hear some of the rhetoric around fraud and social security, literally that’s a replica of a speech made by George Osborne in 2010.

McDonnell may have been thinking of Osborne comparing benefit cheats to muggers when he was chancellor in 2010, although Osborne also associated with the “strivers versus shirkers” language used to demonise people on benefits by the Tories later during the coalition years.

But, to be fair to Starmer, this does not seem to be the language he is using. The Times story includes a quote from the Starmer speech this afternoon not included in the overnight preview sent to all newspapers. It says Starmer will tell the conference:

We will get the welfare bill down because we will tackle long-term sickness and get people back to work. We will make every penny work for you because we will root out waste and go after tax avoiders. There will be no stone left unturned.

The paper also says the welfare fraud initiative is a response to growing concern that the benefit system is increasingly being targeted by organised crime. Earlier this year the Department for Work and Pensions highlighted the conviction of a gang behind a £54m fraud.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.45am: Conference opens.

10am: Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, opens a debate on “Safe Streets, Stronger Policing”. Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, is also speaking at 11.35am.

11am: Pat McFadden, the Cabinet Office minister, takes part in an ‘in conversation’ event at a fringe meeting.

2pm: Keir Starmer delivers his keynote speech.

4pm: Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, opens a “Fixing the Foundations” debate.

Comments are not available yet, but they will open quite soon. If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line (BTL) or message me on social media. I can’t read all the messages BTL, but if you put “Andrew” in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word.

If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. I’m still using X and I’ll see something addressed to @AndrewSparrow very quickly. I’m also trying Bluesky (@andrewsparrowgdn) and Threads (@andrewsparrowtheguardian).

I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos (no error is too small to correct). And I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.

Updated

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