Labour conference live: Rachel Reeves gives speech after crowd boos winter fuel allowance debate delay
Labour delegates protest over decision to delay vote on winter fuel payments cut ahead of Reeves’ speech
Your support helps us to tell the story
My recent work focusing on Latino voters in Arizona has shown me how crucial independent journalism is in giving voice to underrepresented communities.
Your support is what allows us to tell these stories, bringing attention to the issues that are often overlooked. Without your contributions, these voices might not be heard.
Every dollar you give helps us continue to shine a light on these critical issues in the run up to the election and beyond
Eric Garcia
Washington Bureau Chief
Rachel Reeves is delivering her first speech at Labour’s annual conference as the party faces criticism over its decision to drop the winter fuel allowance and controversy around gifts received by ministers.
The chancellor will promise there will be “no return” to austerity at her first budget due on 30 October in a move to “rebuild Britain”.
Minutes into the speech a protester shouted about the sale of arms to Israel before he was removed from the hall.
Ahead of Ms Reeves’ speech, boos were also heard in the hall as a debate on union calls for the winter fuel allowance cut was pushed back from today to Wednesday, the final morning of the conference.
Ms Reeves’ keynote speech has also been overshadowed by a row over thousands of pounds’ worth of gifts and freebies accepted by the prime minister and a raft of cabinet ministers.
The Independent’s political team will be reporting live throughout the Labour Party conference in Liverpool.
Watch live: Labour’s John Healey urges gamers to sign up to military as he addresses conference
Watch live: Labour’s defence minister urges gamers to sign up to military
Watch live as defence secretary John Healey addresses the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool on Monday, 23 September, as he urges gamers to sign up to the military.
Tories launch parody ‘Go Fund Keir’ campaign
The Tories have launched a “Go Fund Keir” campaign to support Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour conference.
Lord Alli ‘attends Labour conference’ amid donations row
Lord Waheed Alli is reportedly at the Labour conference amid a row about his donations to senior figures in the party.
Sky News reported the Labour peer, who has given tens of thousands of pounds worth of clothing to the prime minister and his wife Victoria, was spotted at the Liverpool conference.
Sir Keir Starmer recently faced criticism after it emerged he was late to declare a donation from Lord Alli, although there is no suggestion the peer has done anything wrong.
Pictured: Transport minister Louise Haigh meets Metro Mayors at The Liver Building
Long queues to get into Labour conference
There are long queues to get into the Labour conference as Rachel Reeves prepares to make her speech today.
The chancellor will be speaking at noon. She will be trying to inject more positivity into the doom and gloom Labour had projected on the economy since it came to power.
Wes Streeting jokes Sue Gray ‘shot JFK’ and ‘no one should earn more than the PM’
Wes Streeting has joked that Sir Keir Starmer’s embattled senior aide Sue Gray had “shot JFK” and “no one should earn more than the prime minister” amid a row over her salary.
The health secretary made light of suggestions of mounting acrimony at the heart of government as he spoke at an event on the sidelines of the Labour Party conference in Liverpool.
Speaking to a crowd at the gathering hosted by think tank Labour Together, Mr Streeting: “I want to welcome the BBC’s conviction that no one should be paid more than the prime minister, that no one should receive hospitality, and that we should judge performance on social media mentions.
“Be careful what we wish for, comrades.”
Our political correspondent Archie Mitchell has the full story:
Wes Streeting jokes Sue Gray ‘shot JFK’ and ‘no one should earn more than the PM’
The health secretary joked about Sue Gray’s influence amid repeated negative press briefings about Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff
Stephen Flynn urges Reeves to ‘put down the axe’ and reverse cuts
The SNP Westminster leader has called the chancellor to “put down the axe” and boost investment to deliver economic growth.
Mr Flynn accused Rachel Reeves of “repeating the Tories’ mistakes” by planning “damaging austerity cuts”.
Ahead of her keynote speech at the Labour conference, he said: “Rachel Reeves is repeating the Tories’ mistakes by imposing damaging austerity cuts, which will starve the economy of investment and make things worse for families and public services.
“Fourteen long years of Tory cuts proved beyond doubt that austerity simply doesn’t work. Instead of ‘fixing the foundations’ it weakened them – reducing economic growth, squeezing wages, harming public services and pushing families into poverty.
“It’s no wonder the Labour Party is plummeting in the polls, when it has broken its promises to voters and is imposing billions of pounds of cuts, which economists are warning will hit growth.”
Three in five voters believe Labour will lose next election
A new poll has revealed that three in five people expect Labour to lose the next general election in 2029.
Less than three months after Sir Keir Starmer’s landslide election, 60 per cent of voters think he will not secure a second mandate.
The poll, conducted by the More in Common think tank, also found more than half of those surveyed do not believe Sir Keir will lead Labour into the next election.
48 per cent of respondents said they believed he would still be prime minister by the next election, while 52 per cent said he will not.
Reeves insists she did not want to cut winter fuel payments
The chancellor has said that she had not “expected” or “wanted” to make changes to winter fuel payments.
Rachel Reeves told the BBC’s Today programme on Radio 4 this morning that “I was not planning to make these changes to winter fuel payment.
“These were not changes that I expected to make or wanted to make, but when faced with a situation when there’s a £22 billion black hole – not some year in the future – but this year in the public finances, it requires difficult decisions.”
Chancellor vows ‘no return to austerity’ but spending by department will be ‘negotiated'
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said there will not “be a return to austerity” but that “detailed” spending by department will be “negotiated”.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning, Ms Reeves said: “There won’t be a return to austerity, there will be real terms increases to government spending in this parliament.”
She told the programme that she has been “really clear” that the “only way to sustainably fund public services is through growing the economy.”
When pushed further on her spending plans, Ms Reeves added: “What I’m saying is there will not be real terms cuts to government spending, but the detailed department by department spending will be negotiated.”
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments