Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

As it happenedended

Labour conference conference - live updates: John McDonnell plans to nationalise key services as Jon Ashworth calls for £500m NHS cash injection

Benjamin Kentish
Brighton
,Joe Watts,Lizzy Buchan,Ashley Cowburn
Saturday 23 September 2017 16:23 BST
Comments
(Rex)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

John McDonnell has been outlining Labour's plans for widespread nationalisation of services - including the scrapping of the Private Finance Initiatives (PFI) and moves to bring existing deals back "in house".

The Shadow Chancellor made the announcement during his keynote speech at the party's annual conference in Brighton.

Mr McDonnell confirmed that Labour would nationalise water, rail and energy industries, as well as bringing Royal Mail back under public control.

Elsewhere, the party's National Executive Committee published a statement on its Brexit position after criticism that the issue will not be properly debated at the conference.

Delegates will now be given the opportunity to discuss the current policy but there will be no vote on contentious issues such as whether the UK should remain in the EU's single market.

The truce between Labour's warring factions seems to have held in Brighton so far, but it is clear that a debate over the party’s Brexit policy is looming behind the scenes. One Labour MP, Heidi Alexander, said the failure to fully debate Brexit made the party a "laughing stock".

Earlier in the conference, Jeremy Corbyn suggested he was ready to “listen” to party members who want the UK to stay in the single market. It came after 30 senior figures, including Labour MPs, signed an open letter calling for the party leadership to commit to full and permanent membership of the single market after Britain’s exit from the European Union.

"I'm not the best person to ask about the first 100 days of a Labour government," says McCluskey at @TWT_NOW . "I'll… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…

Ashley Cowburn25 September 2017 20:20

Senior Tories warn Boris Johnson 'no one would back him' in a leadership challenge independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…

Joe Watts25 September 2017 22:59

At an "acid corbynism" event. Absolute scenes.

Ashley Cowburn25 September 2017 23:50

Tweet of the conference, by miles twitter.com/ashcowburn/sta…

tompeck100026 September 2017 01:50
Lizzy Buchan5 June 2018 19:36
willgtucker5 June 2018 19:37

This is heart-rending. Frankly more members of the lobby should have been to see Ivo's stand up tour, which 'culminated' in the audience testing his claim to know all 650 MPs and their constituencies. twitter.com/IvoGraham/stat…

tompeck10005 June 2018 19:50

Hearing terrifying news that more people applied to go on Bargain Hunt this year than read Torquato Tasso's epic po… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

eageryoungman5 June 2018 20:22

Jeremy Corbyn’s latest Brexit move dismissed as “nowhere near enough” by pro-EU MPs as he attempts to stave off backbench rebellion independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…

Benjamin Kentish5 June 2018 20:33

Eyal is an absolute bellend. #LoveIsland

tompeck10005 June 2018 21:04

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in