Reform UK conference – live: Nigel Farage ‘gives up party ownership’ as Keir Starmer’s Sue Gray row deepens
Sir Keir Starmer insists he is in ‘complete control’ of his government ahead of Labour Party conference
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Nigel Farage has announced he is “relinquishing” his majority shareholder position of Reform UK, one day before the party begins its annual conference.
In a post on social media, the Clacton MP said: “I’ve now made a decision. I no longer need to control this party. I’m going to let go.”
Unlike most other political parties, Reform UK is a registered company with its deputy leader Richard Tice also listed on Companies House as a person with significant control.
The annual party conference, which is taking place in Birmingham on Friday, has been hailed as the “coming of age” for the party, which gained success in July’s election by winning five seats.
Meanwhile, Sir Keir Starmer was forced to insist that he is in “complete control” of his government amid a row ahead of Labour’s annual conference on Sunday over the salary of his chief of staff Sue Gray and the acceptance of luxury gifts by himself and his wife.
Reform UK conference: Key timings to keep an eye on
Here are some key timings to keep an eye on today during the Reform Party Conference in Birmingham:
12:15pm: Speech from James McMurdock, MP for South Basildon and East Thurrock
12:30pm: Ann Widdecombe, Reform UK Immigration and Justice spokesperson
12:45pm: Ant Middleton, TV personality and former Special Forces soldier
3pm: Rupert Lowe, MP for Great Yarmouth
3:15pm: Chief whip Lee Anderson
3:30pm: Deputy Leader Richard Tice
3:45pm: Zia Yusuf, Reform Chairman
4pm: Grand finale speech from party leader Nigel Farage
Row erupts after Farage claims he was told not to hold face-to-face MP surgeries over knife attack fears
Nigel Farage has ignited a row after he claimed security concerns had prevented him from holding surgeries in his Essex constituency.
Before he was elected, the Reform UK leader famously asked: “Do I want to be an MP? Do I want to spend every Friday for the next five years in Clacton?”
Now he has said he was told not to hold the face-to-face meetings with voters, traditionally held on Fridays, for safety reasons.
Read the full report below:
Row erupts after Farage says he cannot hold face-to-face surgeries over attack fears
Reform UK leader expresses concern the public would ‘flow through doors with knives in their pockets’ when asked if he had held meetings in his seat in Clacton
Government borrowing jumps in August ahead of upcoming Budget
Chancellor Rachel Reeves faces a fresh headache ahead of her first Budget this autumn after official figures revealed Government borrowing jumped by more than expected last month.
Borrowing rose to £13.7 billion last month, marking the third highest August on record, driven by higher spending on public services due to increased running costs and pay increases.
The increase means public sector debt hit 100% of gross domestic product (GDP) at the end of August 2024.
The figure, which excludes public sector banks, means national debt is at levels last seen in the early 1960s, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
Domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms to help victims, government announces
Domestic abuse specialists will work in 999 control rooms under a new ‘Raneem’s Law’, Yvette Cooper has announced.
Speaking this morning, safeguarding minister Jess Phillips said she wants to do more than give domestic abuse victims “a good call”, as she outlined the Government’s plans.
“We have to stop this happening in the first place, and the Government has a mission to halve the incidences of violence against women and girls in a decade,” she told Sky News.
“And so much of that work is going to have to be about the prevention of perpetration, the changing of attitudes around healthy relationships within education, this is a mission that is going to take every Government department.”
Read the full report from The Independent’s Whitehall Editor Kate Devlin here.
Minister says Serco could face ‘penalties’ after some offenders left without electronic tags
Jess Phillips has suggested that Serco could face “penalties” for delays in fitting some offenders with electronic tags after they have been released from prison.
Speaking to LBC News radio, the Home Office minister said she was “disappointed” to learn of the delays, adding: “It’s not the Government who has made the backlog in tags, it is a contract signed with Serco in May this year.
“And I have been in meetings with regard to ensuring that … any perpetrators of domestic abuse, are put to the top of the list, to ensure that they are being fitted with those tags.”
She went on to say: “The prisons minister, I believe, has had some pretty robust meetings, and is meeting with Serco today, but the contract certainly has in it the allowances for there to be penalties.”
“I’m almost certain that in this case, that unless something massively improves very, very quickly, that all of those things will be considered,” she added.
Watch: Keir Starmer defends accepting free Arsenal tickets
Sir Keir Starmer has defended accepting free tickets to watch Arsenal FC.
Home Office minister Jess Phillips has also come to Sir Keir’s defence , saying the PM has “lived entirely by the rules”.
Watch below:
Watch: Keir Starmer defends accepting free Arsenal tickets
Sir Keir Starmer has defended accepting free tickets to watch Arsenal FC. The prime minister was gifted a private box to watch Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, worth more than £8,000 a match, for him to watch home games. In an interview with Sky News on Thursday evening (19 September), the prime minister said: “Security advice says I can't go into the stands as it would cost the taxpayers a fortune, so I've been offered tickets where it's more secure and we don't have to use taxpayers money on additional security.”
Reform to claim it plans to win general election in 2029
Reform UK will begin its party conference on Friday with claims that it plans to win the next general election.
The party, which secured five seats in July, is set to begin its two-day conference in Birmingham with speeches from party leader Nigel Farage, deputy leader Richard Tice, chair Zia Yousuf and MPs Lee Anderson, Rupert Lowe and James McMurdock.
Mr Anderson, Reform’s chief whip, is expected to say: “We have five MPs and we are growing our membership and support every day. Next year we will win hundreds of council seats across the UK. We must take this fight to Parliament so we can take back control of our country and in 2029 win the general election.”
Mr Anderson was Reform’s first MP after he joined the party in March following his suspension from the Conservatives over Islamophobic comments about London mayor Sadiq Khan.
James McMurdock, whose victory in South Basildon and East Thurrock was an unexpected gain for Reform, will also talk up the party’s prospects in five years, saying the 2029 conference will be “ready to welcome prime minister Nigel Farage”.
Starmer has ‘lived entirely by the rules’, minister says
Sir Keir Starmer has “lived entirely by the rules”, Jess Phillips said, after the prime minister was criticised for accepting lavish gifts and tickets to football matches.
The Home Office minister told Times Radio: “The prime minister has lived entirely by the rules that have governed every single member of parliament, certainly since I’ve been there – he received gifts and things, and he declared them.”
“Let me tell you, it feels like he’s breathing down my neck to make sure that we’re doing things right in my department,” she added.
Asked whether she would accept similar gifts, Ms Phillips replied: “I don’t like the Arsenal.”
She added: “We get invited to theatre performances and things, and you go along and you support the arts, and people want you to go to their things because they want it supported.
“So if you can find me a politician who has never done anything like that, has never ever, you know, gone to their local theatre to watch something then, well, I think they’re lying to you.”
Reform’s Rupert Lowe pledges to donate MP’s salary to local good causes
Local MPs have sniped at Reform’s parliamentarian in Great Yarmouth after he pledged to donate his MP’s salary to local causes.
Multimillionaire Rupert Lowe – a businessman and former Southampton FC chair elected to parliament for the first time in July – has promised to donate around £5,000 every month to a different local cause, including to fund redecorations at the tea room of a local football club and to take local schoolchildren to visit Westminster.
But his generosity has sparked annoyance from fellow local MPs, with an unnamed Labour MP telling the Financial Times: “It’s all very well for him to do this, but of course there are some people who think MPs shouldn’t be paid and that we should do the same.”
And a Tory MP sniped: “He’s a multi-millionaire and he’s not really an MP in the way that most of us are.”
Mr Lowe told the paper that he found the criticim “pretty petty”, adding: “It’s a personal choice. Certain Labour MPs are richer than me and still don’t do it. I think being an MP should be a vocation, not a gravy train.”
Farage says he will hold in-person surgeries ‘when Parliament allows me’
Mr Farage has repeatedly been accused of not prioritising his Commons role, coming under fire for spending time in the US endorsing Donald Trump’s presidential campaign following the July 4 election.
Asked during a phone-in on LBC whether he was holding physical surgeries in Clacton, Mr Farage said “not yet”, but that he would “when Parliament allows me”.
On whether he had been advised for his own security not to hold surgeries, he replied: “I would have thought that would make sense, wouldn’t you?”
He said the guidance had been given by “the Speaker’s (Sir Lindsay Hoyle’s) Office, and beneath the Speaker’s Office there is a security team who give advice and say you should do some things and not do others”.
“So we’re not in a fit state to do the old-style surgeries, but do you know what, if you’ve got something to say to me as a Clacton resident, Zoom is not the end of the world,” Mr Farage added.
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