Labour conference live: Reeves to vow ‘no return to austerity’ as unions debate ‘new deal for working people’
Chancellor to pledge government’s autumn Budget statement will be used to ‘rebuild Britain’ in speech
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The chancellor is set to join the prime minister in vowing there will be “no return to austerity” when she gives her speech at the Labour Conference.
Speaking at the event on Monday, Rachel Reeves is to pledge that the government’s autumn Budget statement will be used to “rebuild Britain” and deliver on the change Labour offered at the election, as ministers seek to move out from under the shadow of a row about donations.
Her speech will come after Sir Keir Starmer vowed Labour would not return to an austerity agenda to deal with public spending pressures, with Ms Reeves set to join him.
Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner was the first major speaker on Sunday with an optimistic speech on new rights for workers and renters.
On Monday, the unions will debate how the Labour government will deliver a “new deal for working people”.
Leaders including the RMT’s Mick Lynch and Matt Wrack of the Fire Brigade Union will grill transport minister Lord Hendy and potentially also business minister Justin Madders.
The Independent’s political team will be reporting throughout the week from the Labour Party conference in Liverpool.
Angela Rayner strikes emotional chord with Labour members in tub-thumping conference speech amid gifts scandal
Angela Rayner defends Labour government over donations row saying ‘all MPs do it’
Angela Rayner shown public reaction to Labour donations row in awkward moment on live TV
Starmer claims ‘transparency’ is key as it emerges he and Gray accepted more football freebies
If he fails to get a grip on his government, Starmer’s five missions will become impossible
Reeves: It was right to restrict winter fuel payment to poorest pensioners
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has defended the government’s winter fuel policy as she swerved questions about the timing of a debate at the Labour Party conference at which unions plan to push for its reversal.
Asked if the debate being moved from Monday to the final morning of the conference was Labour “running scared of this vote taking place prior to the prime minister’s address”.
She told Nick Ferrari on LBC: “I don’t know the situation about when votes take place, but if delegates want to vote on this, they will get a vote on this.
“I don’t know the timing of the vote, but we’ve already had a vote in parliament where it was overwhelmingly passed.
“This isn’t the decision that I wanted to make. It wasn’t a decision that I expected to make, but given the state of the public finances that I inherited, I think it was right to restrict the winter fuel payment to the poorest pensioners, and to make sure that all of the pensioners entitled to it are getting it.”
Chancellor promises no return to austerity but not ruling out real-terms cuts
Rachel Reeves has promised that there will be no return to austerity ahead of her keynote speech.
Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, the chancellor was pressed over a £17bn economists believe Labour will have to raise to fill the black hole in the budget.
Ms Reeves said: “We’re doing the spending review in two parts. There will be the settlement for next year, made on October the 30th at the budget, and then next spring, we’ll be doing the settlements for the next two years.”
She did not rule out real terms curts to departments but suggested there will be no return to austerity.
Reeves accuses Tories of being ‘dishonest with people’ about £22bn black hole
Rachel Reeves told BBC’s Today programme that she found a £22bn black hole cover up when she became chancellor.
She accused the Tories of being “dishonest with people” about what was coming and said the Conservatives lost because the economy was in bad shape.
But she said today she would be setting out the “prize” on offer if the economy grows.
The chancellor added that she was being “honest” about the scale of the challenge and will be setting out the policies to reform the economy.
Reeves refuses to guarantee HS2 will reach central London
Rachel Reeves has refused to rule out ending HS2 at Old Oak Common rather than Euston, in central London.
The chancellor was asked whether, after Rishi Sunak cut the Birmingham to Manchester leg of the high speed rail project, she could guarantee it would continue as planned.
But she told LBC it was a “decision we will have to set out in the budget” next month.
“I will look at all those proposals,” Ms Reeves said, leaving open the prospect it could be cut further.
Chancellor defends freebies donations to Labour members
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said that a donation of £98,500 for her shadow office when she was in opposition was not for clothing or personal effects.
She told BBC Breakfast it was for “a whole range of things, primarily research in my office, research on the economy, helping with policy development and speech writing – a whole range of things”.
Ms Reeves said: “It’s rightly the case that we don’t ask taxpayers to fund the bulk of the campaigning work and the research work that politicians do, but that does require, then, donations – from small donations, from party members and supporters, from larger contributions, from people who have been very successful in life and want to give something back.
“We appreciate that support. It’s part of the reason why we are in government today, because we were able to do that research work, and we were able to do that campaigning.”
Pressed on whether any of the money was for clothing or personal effects, she said: “No, I’ve been very clear the money that I received to help me for big events and for the campaign trail, and all my donations have been declared in the proper way.”
SNP MP slams Labour’s acceptance of free gifts ‘totally indefensible'
An SNP MP has described Sir Keir Starmer and his top team’s acceptance of thousands of pounds worth of free gifts including clothing from Labour donor Lord Alli as “totally indefensible”.
Angus and Perthshire Glens MP Dave Doogan told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “I think I, like most other ordinary people from ordinary backgrounds, are aghast at the naivety of UK Government ministers leaving themselves open to whatever the donors of these gifts expect in return.
“If something looks too good to be true, then it probably is. Everybody knows that.
“I think we need to ask ourselves why the most senior members of the UK Government are naively walking into gifts for this and gifts for that totalling £800,000, and thinking that there is no strings attached. Of course there are strings attached. It’s such a bad look.”
He added: “Let’s be really clear, Angela Rayner in particular, and Keir Starmer especially – these are not poor people.
“If Keir Starmer wanted £2,500 worth of glasses, he could have easily bought them. But he didn’t. He took it off somebody who was offering it to him, and that’s not the world that the rest of us walk in.
“People up and down these islands who voted Labour will be thinking to themselves, ‘I think I’ve backed the wrong horse here’, especially in Scotland when 37 Labour MPs are dutifully lining up to defend the actions of the prime minister which are actually totally indefensible.”
What is the Labour gifts row?
Keir Starmer has defended his gift-taking as he took part in two eve-of-conference interviews, insisting that it is transparency that matters.
But the prime minister is facing new questions about a football match he and his controversial chief of staff Sue Gray attended after hospitality was arranged by Spurs.
He was also pictured at the game with lobbyist Katie Perrior, who ran Mr Johnson’s publicity campaign when he became mayor of London in 2008.
Read the full story below:
Starmer and Gray took football freebie from Boris Johnson’s former aide
Keir Starmer has opened the Labour conference with a defence of his gift-taking but is facing questions about hospitality at another football match
Pictured: Rachel Reeves at the Labour party conference in Liverpool
Labour’s union conference debate adjourned
The debate at Labour’s annual conference on union calls for the winter fuel allowance cuts to be reversed is being moved from today to the final morning of the conference, union sources have said.
Unite and the Communication Workers Union (CWU) have put forward motions which were due to be debated on Monday afternoon, with strong support expected from other unions.
Sources said unions were told late on Sunday that the debate is being moved to Wednesday morning.
CWU officials will not be at the conference on Wednesday as they will be attending the funeral in Scotland of the union’s former assistant general secretary Andy Kerr, who used to be on Labour’s national executive committee.
Unite and the CWU are opposed to changing the day of the debate and are trying to get the decision reversed.
“It is weak politics and shows a lack of leadership. It should be debated today,” said one union official. Another official described Labour as being “tin-eared”.
Scores of retired members of Unite will stage a protest outside the conference centre at lunchtime as part of the union’s campaign against the winter fuel allowance cut.
Angela Rayner’s Queen of the North act is tiring – but it works for me
I never know quite where I stand when it comes to Angela Rayner. On the one hand she’s a witty, well-informed paragon of working-class excellence, whose presence in Downing Street is a testament to both her own perseverance and the notion that in the UK, hard work reaps vast rewards no matter your background, writes Ryan Coogan.
On the other… well, she does say a lot of really weird stuff, doesn’t she?
The deputy PM kicked off proceedings at the first day of the Labour conference in Liverpool today with an optimistic, at times emotional speech on housing, worker’s rights, and the party’s vision for the future.
Angela Rayner’s Queen of the North act is tiring – but it works for me
It’s a big deal when a major politician acknowledges that half of this country feels like an afterthought, and we’d be served well by being able to dictate our own destinies
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