Labour conference live: Rachel Reeves’ speech interrupted by pro-Palestine protester

Gary Neville has defended Sir Keir Starmer after he accepted free tickets to Premier League matches, saying criticism of the prime minister was “absolutely incredible”.

He told a Labour Party conference fringe event: “I’m struggling with the free football tickets one quite a bit, to be honest with you, when I look at the absolute corruption we’ve seen in the last five, six, seven, eight years with people getting billions of pounds worth of contracts in VIP lanes.”

He added: “Keir Starmer’s paid for his season ticket to go with his family to watch Arsenal all his life and he’s now being told he can’t go to that same seat, when I’m sure he would – you know he would, everybody knows he would – he’s been told he’s got to go in a hospitality box, a private box.

“To be fair, a lot of the people complaining about him will end up in those types of boxes themselves, including myself at times.”

Mr Neville continued: “I find it absolutely incredible that this level of attention is now being paid to a Labour prime minister when I look at the absolute cronyism we watched for years under that lot.”

The chancellor is preparing to address the crowd at the main stage at the Labour conference in Liverpool.

Ms Reeves is expected to promise there will be “no return to austerity” despite warning of “tough spending decisions” ahead.

She has insisted there will be “real terms increases to government spending in this parliament” as part of the 30 October budget.

You can follow live the latest updates from 12pm.

The Tories have accused the Labour Party of hypocrisy after it emerged Angela Rayner used taxpayer funds to hire a “vanity” photographer.

Simon Walker was reportedly payed a salary of £68,000 to take photos for Ms Rayner’s Ministry of Housing.

John Glen, the shadow paymaster general, said: “This is just the latest in a long line of Labour ministers saying one thing and then doing another.

“Labour’s promise to cut the size of the government spin bill was nothing more than empty words, they’d rather spend taxpayers’ money on their own vanity projects than on keeping pensioners warm this winter.

“After scrapping Conservative plans to slim down civil service headcount, Labour should stop pretending that their decision to cut the winter fuel allowance was anything other than a political choice.”

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) said the photographer had been hired to chronicle the work of the department, not just Ms Rayner.

“Many government departments employ official photographers to share the work of the department and ministers with the public,” the department said.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves turned the tables on the BBC’s Nick Robinson while being grilled on her free clothes, pointing out the presenter took her to the Proms in an outing paid for by the broadcaster.

In an interview with the BBC, just hours before her speech to Labour’s conference in Liverpool, Ms Reeves defended the party from wider allegations of sleaze and cronyism centred on ministers’ repeated acceptance of gifts and freebies.

Our political correspondents Archie Mitchell and Millie Cooke have the full story:

Labour’s biggest donor Lord Waheed Alli has found himself at the centre of a political row over the acceptance of gifts and hospitality by senior MPs in the party.

In the first controversy to hit Sir Keir Starmer’s new government, questions have been raised over Lord Alli – the business executive who has donated some £700,000 to the party over the past two decades – being handed a Downing Street pass.

In a row dubbed “passes for glasses”, it has emerged that Lord Alli had gifted the Sir Keir eyewear and work clothing worth £18,000, clothes for his wife Lady Victoria Starmer, and a £10,000 donation to the PM’s chief of staff Sue Gray’s son Liam Conlon’s campaign to become a Labour MP.

Read the full article below:

Rosie Duffield, backbencher for Labour, has criticised top cabinet figures including Sir Keir Starmer and Bridget Phillipson for accepting free tickets to the Taylor Swift concert.

Ms Duffield said: “I had Taylor tickets during her last visit to the UK, paid for myself obviously.

“We earn more than most people so why on Earth should we all take free tickets while others save up and queue?”

Nearly a quarter of those who voted Labour (23 per cent) describe their opinion of the party as unfavourable, Archie Mitchell writes from the Labour party conference.

One in four Britons (23 per cent) see Labour as caring about ‘people like them’, with two-thirds (67 per cent) see Labour as not caring about older people

After the general election in July, voters were fairly evenly divided on how they viewed Labour – nearly half (47 per cent) said they had a favourable opinion of the party, while a similar number (46 per cent) said they saw the party unfavourably.

Now, less than three months on, only one in three people (34 per cent) say they have a positive opinion of the party, while a clear majority (57 per cent) view Labour negatively.