Keir Starmer speech - live: Labour leader shakes off glitter ambush and unveils ‘mission for government’
Heckler storms stage shouting ‘we are in crisis’ before being dragged off by security
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Your support makes all the difference.Keir Starmer vowed to oversee a “decade of renewal” if Labour wins the next election after his conference speech got off to a shaky start when a protester stormed on stage and covered him in glitter.
The Labour leader set out his mission for government, promising to build 1.5 million homes in what he described as a “new generation of towns”.
Shocking footage captured the moment the heckler evades security and dumps glitter over the Labour leader while wrapping his arms around him and shouting “we are in crisis” before finally being bundled to the ground.
The heckler was heard shouting: “We demand a people’s house, we are in crisis – politics needs an update. We are in crisis”. Footage emerged online afterwards of the protester being dragged from the building by police.
Removing his jacket and rolling up his sleeves, Starmer was applauded for keeping his cool and regaining control of the podium. He told the audience: “If he thinks that bothers me he doesn’t know me. Protest not power, that is why we changed our party conference.”
Labour promises stronger protection against stalkers
Shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry has said Labour would give more rights to women in cohabiting couples, as well as strengthening protection against stalkers and sexual harassment at work, Adam Forrest reports.
“No woman should be forced to get married or stay in an unhappy relationship just to avoid ending up on the street,” she said.
She said women who report sexual harassment at work would get the same sort of protection as whistleblowers. And she vowed to strengthen protections for women from stalkers.
“It is time we treated stalking with the seriousness it deserves – strengthening the use of stalking protection orders, developing the right for women to know the identity of their online stalkers, and working to end the sick practice of stalkers abusing our court system to bring vexatious claims against their victims.”
We need to get a ‘lot slicker’ at infrastructure projects, admits Jeremy Hunt
Jeremy Hunt has admitted that the Tory government has to get a “lot slicker” at big infrastructure projects after HS2’s northern leg was scrapped, Adam Forrest reports.
The chancellor held a meeting with “big global infrastructure investors” this morning.
The Tories seem determined to smash political convention and interrupt the Labour conference in as many ways as possible.
Labour will introduce legal advocates for rape victims - shadow justice secretary
Labour will introduce legal advocates for rape victims if it wins the next general election, the shadow justice secretary has said.
Shabana Mahmood says the representatives would be brought in in every police force area across the country.
“I am proud to announce that a Labour government will introduce legal advocates for the victims of rape in every police force area,” she said in a speech at her party’s conference.
“We will do this by redirecting a portion of the funding police and crime commissioners receive for victims’ services.
“Today, rape victims are systematically failed.”
Labour MPs will vote for smoking ban - Streeting
Labour will whip its MPs to vote in favour of the prime minister’s plan to stop children who turn 14 this year and those younger from ever legally buying cigarettes or tobacco in England.
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting told a Labour conference fringe event on cancer care: “I know he’s given Liz (Truss) a free vote because the Conservative Party sadly dances to the tune of Nigel Farage these days, quite literally.
“But the good news I can offer Rishi Sunak is that when it comes to that free vote, Labour will be whipping, we’ll be whipping in favour and we will deliver the votes he needs.
“So this generation of children grow up smoke-free and are in fact even less likely to smoke than they are to vote Conservative.”
Pinned post: ‘Britain trapped in time loop of Tory incompetence’, says Emily Thornberry
Britain is “trapped in a never-ending time loop of Tory incompetence,” Emily Thornberry has said as she unveiled new protections for women who are bullied and sexually harassed in the workplace, Archie Mitchell reports.
The shadow attorney general launched a stinging attack on the Conservative Party, which she said is responsible for a “multiverse of crapness”.
And, announcing the new measures, she said: “It is time we offered the same protections to people reporting sexual harassment, bullying and discrimination in the workplace as we do to other whistleblowers. No woman should be forced to stay quiet for fear of being sacked.”
Labour will build new towns and Georgian housing, Starmer to promise
Sir Keir Starmer will announce plans for a new generation of new towns and Georgian-style housing in urban areas, as he vows to “get Britain building” during his big conference speech.
The Labour leader will promise new towns developed by state-backed companies with compulsory purchase powers – recalling the Atlee government’s building of Stevenage, Crawley, Basildon and Milton Keynes.
Full report:
Labour will build new towns and Georgian housing, Starmer to promise
State-backed companies to get compulsory purchase powers, as Labour leader reveals housing plans
Will Young vows to leave UK if Tories win next election: ‘It’s just terrifying’
Will Young “won’t stay” in the UK if the Conservatives win the next election, as he opened up about his fears as a gay man living in Tory Britain.
Speaking from the Labour Party conference in Liverpool on Monday (9 October), the singer said that the UK had become a hostile environment for LGBT+ people.
Isobel Lewis reports:
Will Young vows to leave UK if Tories win next election: ‘It’s just terrifying’
Singer said he felt ‘scared’ seeing Suella Braverman’s speech about LGBT+ migrants
Peter Mandelson wants GB News to survive – because it ‘stirs’ up Tory divisions
Labour grandee Peter Mandelson has said he wants GB News to survive because it is “stirring” Tory divisions and helping “undo” Rishi Sunak’s premiership.
The architect of New Labour backed the under-fire channel to “keep going”, as it reels from the controversy over host Laurence Fox’s misogynist rant about a female journalist.
Adam Forrest reports:
Peter Mandelson wants GB News to survive – because it ‘stirs’ up Tory division
New Labour mastermind says channel is ‘undoing’ the Tory party. ‘And very timely it is too’
Bibby Stockholm migrants to be moved back onto barge after legionella scare
Migrants evacuated from the Bibby Stockholm have been sent letters by the Home Office telling them they will be moved back onto the controversial barge imminently.
Some 39 migrants were moved off the barge in August after the bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease was discovered in its water supply.
Holly Bancroft reports:
Bibby Stockholm migrants to be moved back onto barge after legionella scare
Home Office starts telling asylum seekers they will be moved back onto barge
ICYMI: Welcome to the Rachel Revolution – where the less you say, the more they love you
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves wowed the Labour conference hall with a succession of weary sighs – and the more humdrum she was and the less carried away she got, the louder they clapped, writes Tom Peck.
Read Tom’s sketch in full below:
Welcome to the Rachel Revolution, where the less you say the more they love you
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves wowed the Labour conference hall with a succession of weary sighs – and the more humdrum she was and the less carried away she got, the louder they clapped, writes Tom Peck
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