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

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 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.”

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.”

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.

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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.

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.

Rachel Reeves has insisted the row over senior Labour figures’ acceptance of “freebies” was because they had been transparent about the donations.

The chancellor told Times Radio: “The really important thing is that we’re always transparent.

“These are not things we’re going to do in government, but everything was declared.”

Asked whether tickets to pop concerts and football matches would still be accepted, she said: “As long as things are declared properly, so people can see if there’s any conflict of interest, I think it’s fine to go to the football and to go to a pop concert. I don’t begrudge people doing that.”

Rachel Reeves is set to announce an investigation into more than £600m worth of Covid contracts and will pledge to chase down firms who have ripped off the taxpayer.

The chancellor will use her speech at the Labour conference on Monday to announce she has reversed a Conservative approach to “waive” £674m worth of disputed contracts, as her party attempts to re-establish its moral standing during an ongoing row over donations.

She will confirm that a new Covid corruption commissioner will be appointed next month to claw back the money wasted on deals, saying the government will not “turn a blind eye to rip-off artists”.

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Rachel Reeves has defended her acceptance of £7,500 of clothing donations from friend Juliet Rosenfeld.

She told Times Radio: “Juliet and me have been friends for a long time, and she said to me about a year-and-a-half ago ‘I want to help you in the election campaign and the thing I’d really like to do is make sure that for big events and for the campaign trail, you’re smart and well turned out’.

“I really appreciated that, she’s made a big difference to me. That’s not something that I’m going to do in government.”

She added: “I can understand that to a lot of people it looks a bit odd. I get that.”

The chancellor also defended Angela Rayner’s department’s hiring of a taxpayer-funded photographer.

She told Times Radio: “All government departments under all governments have press officers and communications budgets.

“It’s not a personal photographer.”