Labour conference live: Rayner takes to stage after defending government in freebies row with ‘all MPs do it’
Angela Rayner says she has broken no rules on accepting political donations
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Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner is due to speak at the Labour party conference after defending the government over freebies accepted by senior ministers.
Ms Rayner told the BBC on Sunday morning that gifts and donations were “a factor in our political life”, adding: “MPs have accepted gifts and donations for years. All MPs do it”.
She said she had accepted donations to help her stand as deputy leader and that she had not broken any rules by accepting a free New York holiday stay last year from donor Lord Alli.
Ms Rayner will be opening the Labour party conference in Liverpool. She will focus on her plans for housing, promising decent homes for all and a kick-started programme of building.
Sir Keir Starmer and his chief of staff Sue Gray are also facing a deepening row over football freebies after it was revealed yesterday that Sir Keir shared a corporate box at Tottenham Hotspur last Sunday with a powerful lobbyist who backed plans for a breakaway Super League.
The Independent’s political team will be reporting throughout the day from the Labour party conference in Liverpool.
Angela Rayner defends Labour government over donations row saying ‘all MPs do it’
Watch live as Angela Rayner addresses Labour Party conference amid donations row
Angela Rayner shown public reaction to Labour donations row in awkward moment on live TV
If he fails to get a grip on his government, Starmer’s five missions will become impossible
Starmer claims ‘transparency’ is key as it emerges he and Gray accepted more football freebies
Recap: Watch as Starmer defends accepting free Arsenal tickets
Starmer promises to protect public services from future austerity cuts
Sir Keir Starmer has promised to protect public services from swingeing cuts, as he made a bid to move on from rows over donations and strife at No 10, after arriving at the Labour Party conference.
The Prime Minister said his Government was not “going down the road of austerity”, like that pursued by David Cameron’s administration.
It may signal that the Treasury has found new ways to free up funds, after the halt on spending to address a £22bn black hole in the public finances announced not long after Labour came to power.
David Lynch reports:
Starmer promises to protect public services from future austerity cuts
The Prime Minsiter said his Government was not ‘going down the road of austerity’, in a possible signal of future money for public services.
Starmer wants Government to be compared with Labour’s post-war administration
Sir Keir Starmer said he wanted his Government to be compared with Clement Attlee’s transformational post-war administration.
The 1945 Labour government set up the NHS and helped rebuild the UK after the devastation of the Second World War.
The Prime Minister told Labour activists he wanted his plans for the country to be viewed with the same sense of pride.
He also joked that since entering No 10 he had bonded with Larry the cat because they both had experience “chasing pests out of Downing Street”.
At a reception at the Labour conference in Liverpool he said: “In less than 14 weeks, we’ve achieved more than the Tories did in 14 years. We’ve ended the strikes in the NHS so our doctors are back in the surgeries, carrying out operations, getting waiting lists down.
“We’ve set up a national wealth fund to get the investment we need into our country. We have launched GB Energy, that publicly owned company.
“We talked about this for years, now we are doing it, to generate the next generation of clean power.
“We have begun to end no-fault evictions.
“We’ve reformed planning, we’ve got rid of the ban on onshore wind, we are moving ahead with solar.
“Buses across the country will be better regulated, with fares and routes regulated by local people and railways are coming back into public ownership.”
He added that Labour had a “10-year plan for the NHS so we get it back on its feet and fit for the future so that people will, in years to come, look back with the same pride at the 2024 Labour Government as they do the 1945 Labour government”.
The Government was also carrying out “the biggest levelling-up of workers’ rights in a generation”.
Drones seized by police for breaching Labour Party conference restrictions
Drones have been seized by police after they were flown in breach of airspace restrictions during the Labour Party conference in Liverpool.
Merseyside Police said they seized three drones on Saturday after a temporary airspace restriction covering much of Liverpool city centre was put in place.
The restriction means it is an offence for any unmanned aircraft to fly below 2,000 ft above sea level in the specified area between 10pm on September 20 and 5am on September 26, without the explicit permission of Merseyside Police.
In a post on social media, Merseyside Police said: “We seized three drones in Liverpool today, Saturday 21 September, as they were being flown in breach of restrictions put in place for the duration of the Labour Party conference taking place in the city this week.”
Drone users flying inside the restricted airspace that have not been granted permission could be prosecuted, as well as have their equipment seized and confiscated, police said.
Chief Inspector Iain Wyke, of protective security operations at Merseyside Police, said: “Our policing plans for the Labour Party conference are extensive and take into consideration land, sea and air.
“These airspace restrictions, like other security measures we will have in place such as road closures or patrols on the River Mersey, are aimed at keeping delegates and the wider public safe.”
He added: “Specialist resources, made up of Merseyside Police officers and officers from regional and national teams, including air support, will be in place for the duration of the conference.”
Anyone who wants to seek consideration to fly a drone in the restricted area must obtain permission from Merseyside Police by emailing drone.exemptions@merseyside.police.uk.
Keir Starmer had a plan to win the election, but no plan for government
Nobody had high expectations of this Labour government. That could have been one of its strengths: that people would accept it had taken over at a time when the public finances were in a bad way, and so any small improvement would be a welcome relief, earning generous approval from the voters.
But I am afraid Keir Starmer has blown it. He has taken people’s low expectations and said, in effect, that they were not low enough. It has become an established view – already – that the government has made a bad start, which means that a lot of the coverage of Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool, starting this weekend, will be organised around the question: Can he turn things around?
That such a question is being asked at this early stage is almost a guarantee that the answer is “No”.
John Rentoul writes:
Keir Starmer had a plan to win the election, but no plan for government
The prime minister has made a disappointing start, and will find it hard to recover, writes John Rentoul
In pictures: Sir Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner arriving ahead of Labour conference
Starmer’s approval rating drops to lowest ever ahead of Labour conference
Sir Keir Starmer’s approval rating has dropped to its lowest ever ahead of his party’s first conference since coming into power, a new poll has revealed.
The prime minister’s net approval rating has plunged even further to -26 per cent, with a majority now disapproving of the way he is handling his job, according to Opinium’s lastest poll.
On the eve of the Labour Party Conference, which begins in Liverpool on Sunday, the research showed Sir Keir’s score is down 13 points from -13 a fortnight ago, standing at his lowest ever by 12 points.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has an almost equally low approval rating of -25 per cent.
By contrast, Rishi Sunak’s approval ratings have risen 5 points to -25 per cent, which has been stable for most of the post-election period, and Ed Davey’s ratings are relatively stable at +3 per cent.
Almost half of the public now have a more negative view of Starmer (45 per cent) and Labour (45 per cent) since they came into office.
Labour continues to lead on most issue areas, but has almost lost its lead on the economy, standing at only +1, down from +10 in July.
Will the chaos in Starmer’s government make his missions impossible?
For a party which won a stonking majority of 174 only two months ago, Labour’s annual conference starting this weekend would normally be a celebration. Yet Keir Starmer can’t allow more than a brief nod to his landslide victory, which already feels a long time ago.
Instead, he must use the Liverpool gathering to get his government back on track. In theory, Labour should be able to set a positive media agenda at the conference but it now needs to move on from revelations about Starmer’s £107,000 of freebies since 2019 and infighting among Downing Street aides, both of which have distracted the government.
Sue Gray, his chief of staff, should have ensured she did not earn more than the prime minister. Her lack of a political radar, coupled with Starmer’s similar background as a public servant rather than party political animal, has created an absence of political judgement at No 10.
Andrew Grice writes:
Will the chaos in Starmer’s government make his missions impossible?
Ahead of its annual conference in Liverpool, a series of unforced errors has already put Labour on the back foot, writes Andrew Grice. Can the PM get his party back on track before it’s too late?
Recap: What did we learn from Farage’s Reform UK conference speech?
Full story: Starmer arrives at Labour conference with promise to rebuild UK
Sir Keir Starmer said Labour was “rebuilding our country”, as he arrived at his party’s conference intent on shifting attention away from rows over donations and internal No 10 infighting.
The Prime Minister said “change has started” as he arrived at the Liverpool conference centre.
But the feel-good factor of Labour’s landslide win in July’s general election has already begun to wear off, as Sir Keir battles a backlash over donations of clothing to him and his wife and damaging briefing revealing splits within his No 10 operation.
David Lynch reports:
Starmer arrives at Labour conference with promise to rebuild UK
Sir Keir Starmer and Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner arrived at the party’s ‘biggest ever’ conference.
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