Labour conference live: Blow for Keir Starmer as members back union bid to reverse winter fuel payments cut

Following the dramatic unions’ motion, party chairman Ellie Reeves takes the stage to conclude the Labour party conference.

She said: “The British people have given us that chance. We will not let them down.”

Delegates are now taking part in a traditional rendition of the socialist song The Red Flag.

The Tories have taken the opportunity to use the crushing vote against winter fuel allowance cuts from Labour members and unions to attack Sir Keir Starmer.

A Conservative Party source told The Telegraph: “Starmer has lost support of the Labour Party, his MPs and paymasters.”

Despite the bruising vote, the decision remains non-binding as it was already passed in parliament.

Labour member Maggie Cosin said she did not need the winter fuel payment and the money should be used to help children and others in need.

The member from Dover and Deal Constituency Labour Party told conference: “Every single year, £200 comes into my bank account and every year I go and buy stuff for the food bank with it.

“I don’t need it, the children of this country need it.”

Ms Cosin said there is a need to “sort the economy”, adding: “It’s not a matter of taking it away from poor pensioners, it’s a matter of getting it to others.”

Sir Keir Starmer has suffered a blow on the last day of Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool, Archie Mitchell reports.

After the prime minister jetted to New York for the United Nations General Assembly, attendees at the get-together voted to overturn his decision to scrap winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners.

Left-wing unions forced a vote on the issue, which has sparked fury as struggling pensioners are bracing for higher energy bills this winter.

The PM’s loss makes him look out of step with his party and calls into question his authority.

But, given parliament has overwhelmingly supported the move, the vote was largely symbolic and will have little impact on the policy change going ahead.

Sir Keir Starmer accepted £20,000 worth of accommodation to help his 16-year-old son study for his GCSEs, it has emerged.

The prime minister was asked by the BBC about a £20,437 donation from Labour peer Waheed Alli between May and July, confirming that the sum was for somewhere his son could study “peacefully”.

He told the broadcaster: “At the beginning of the election, which we didn’t know when it was going to be called, my boy was in the middle of his GCSEs.

“I made him a promise that he’ll be able to get to his school, do his exams without being disturbed.”

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Dozens of union delegates are gathered around the main stage at the Labour Party conference.

Following her speech, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham prepares to move forward the motion to reverse cuts on the winter fuel allowance.

Seconding the motion, the Communication Workers Union’s Alan Tate has said that he has been “inundated” with calls from worried union members.

He told the crowd: “We should be taxing them, not taking away a lifeline for vulnerable people.”

Sharon Graham has told the conference that the UK is the 6th richest economy in the world.

She added: “We have the money. Britain needs investment, not austerity mark two. We won’t get any gold badge for shaving peanuts off our debt.

“These fiscal rules are self-imposed and the decision to keep them is hanging like a noose around our necks.”

During a passionate speech, the general secretary of Unite has slammed the new Labour government for cutting winter fuel payments.

She said: “People simply do not understand and I don’t understand how our new Labour government can cut the winter fuel allowance for pensioners and leave the super-rich untouched.”

She added: “This is not what people voted for. It is the wrong decision and needs to be reversed.”