Labour conference live: Starmer to deliver speech after Cooper says riots an insult to Southport families

Rachel Reeves has gathered a raft of criticism from the left of the Labour party over her vow to not return to austerity.

Much of the backlash came in response to the government’s decision to cut winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners.

Veteran Labour MP for Hackney Diane Abbott has now joined John McDonnell and the Tories to slam her colleague.

She posted: “I don’t think any of the poorest or most vulnerable people will think that austerity is coming to an end.”

Winter fuel payments to pensioners rose to 11.6 million last year, new figures show.

The number of people who received the payment last winter was 214,000 more than the 11.4 million in 2022-23, and it has steadily risen from 11.1 million in 2020-21, statistics released by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) show.

The annual tax-free payment of between £100 and £300 was introduced in 1997 to help eligible pensioners meet the costs of heating their homes in winter.

The government is facing fierce opposition to its decision to means-test the payment, stripping it from millions of pensioners.

Pensioners yesterday staged a protest outside Labour’s annual conference to criticise the plan.

Our social affairs correspondent Holly Bancroft has the full story:

Home secretary Yvette Cooper has accused the Conservatives of “making excuses for the mob” during the summer riots which rocked England and Northern Ireland, , Millie Cooke reports from the Labour conference.

She said she was “shocked by the response from some of those in political parties on the right who once claimed to care about law and order”, saying they should have “given full throated backing to our brave officers”.

Ms Cooper accused right wing politicians of having undermined “the integrity and the authority and the police”.

Referring to the sacking of Suella Braverman - which came after she accused the Metropolitan Police of bias in the policing of protests in 2023 - the home secretary said: “If you remember back in the run up to Armistice Day last year, disgraceful slurs that were made against the police which made it harder for them to do their job that day were treated as a sacking offence for a Tory home secretary.

“A year on those same slurs have become an article of faith for every Tory leadership contender. It is shameful what that party has become.”

The Labour conference has been accused of being a somewhat gloomy affair this week, not just because of the rain but also the tone of Keir Starmer’s first weeks in government.

Our political editor David Maddox writes from the Labour Party conference:

But ministers have privately recognised that they need to cheer up and actually seem pleased about winning power for the first time in almost 15 years.

It seems though that the source of that cheer has come from a surprising source.

Pat McFadden, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, is outwardly a fairly sombre individual although well known as a ruthless operator at the heart of government.

This morning Sky’s Kay Burley accused him of being a “dour Scot” but in another exchange on Times Radio, Mr McFadden pushed back on his dry presbyterian style reputation.

Times Radio’s Stig Abel said: “No one’s going to accuse you of being a happy clappy chap.” With barely a ripple on his absolutely straight face, Mr McFadden asked: “Why not?”

Abell responded: “Maybe I’m misjudging you Pat, we’ve spoken several times over the course of the last couple of years.”

“Why not?” repeated McFadden.

A floundering Abell explained: “It doesn’t strike me. you’re a natural cheerleader. I just wonder whether it’s occurring to you as a government that you’ve been too gloomy, you’ve been too dour as a government.”

But with a wry smile, McFadden hit back: “I’m shocked. If it’s optimism and sunshine you want, I am your man.”

Labour will put domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms, Yvette Cooper has announced.

The home secretary declared “our daughters deserve better that this” as she outlined new measures to tackle domestic violence against women and girls.

Ms Cooper said: “New laws on spiking and online image abuse a radical, ambitious Labour mission for the whole of government, for the whole of the country, to halve violence against women and girls in a decade.

“Because we cannot and we will not let the next generation of women and girls face the same violence as the last.”

Yvette Cooper has promised to bring in Ronan’s Law to ban ninja swords, following the death of Ronan Kanda who was murdered in Wolverhampton aged 16 in 2022, Millie Cooke reports from the Labour conference.

Speaking on the main stage of Labour conference in Liverpool, the home secretary said the government will aim to half knife crime over the next ten years.

She said: “This Labour government will bring in new laws to crack down on dangerous online sales and the gangs who draw children in, alongside new youth hubs to steer young people away from violence, a teenage sure start to build hope in the future.

“And we will make it our mission for our whole country to half knife crime in a decade and yes, this labour government will pass Ronan’s law, a ban on ninja swords.”

Ronan’s attackers bought the knives online and killed the teen after mistaking him for his friend, a trial heard last year.

Ms Cooper added: “’This Labour government will.’ It’s fifteen years since I’ve been able to say those words at a Labour party conference. All those years we said things but couldn’t do them. So don’t let anyone tell you that politics doesn’t matter.

“Because six months ago our party tried to ban ninja swords but we didn’t have enough MPs to win that vote. Because of the election, because of the change you campaigned for, now we do.”

Now addressing the issue of migration, Yvette Cooper has insisted Labour is “serious” about migration and “net migration has trebled because overseas recruitment has soared”.

Ms Cooper added: “A serious government sees an asylum system in chaos and says we have to clear the backlog and end asylum hotels.

“And a serious government looks at the criminal gangs who are profiting from undermine our border security, while women and children are crushed to death in crowds, flimsy small boats and says the gangs have got away with it for too long. We will not stand for this vile trade in human lives.

“A serious government knows that immigration is important, and that is why it needs to be properly managed and controlled.

“So the system is fair. So rules are properly respected and enforced. Where we never again see a shameful repeat of the Windrush scandal that let British citizens down.”

Her anger has now shifted towards the Tories and Reform whom she accused of “undermining the respect for the rule of law”.

The home secretary said political figures on the right have “fractured the very bonds that keep communities safe” and have brought “fear, division and anger”.

Ms Cooper added: “But that’s not who we are. That’s not what Britain is about.

“Our country has always championed respect and the rule of law, and that is what this Labour Party will always stand up for. The party of law and order, now a government of law and order once more.”

Yvette Cooper has angrily condemned the Southport riots, describing the violence as a “shocking insult to a grieving community”, Millie Cooke writes from the Labour conference.

Yvette Cooper has said the riots that took place in England and Northern Ireland in August were “racism, thuggery and crime”, that took place because of “cracks in the system” following fourteen years of Tory rule.

She said “plenty of people have strong views on immigration” but they “don’t pick up bricks and throw them at the police”.

Speaking about the unrest that broke out following the murder of three young girls during a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, the home secretary said: “Don’t anyone tell me that was protest. Don’t anyone tell me that was about immigration or policing or poverty.

“Plenty of people have strong views on immigration, on crime, on the NHS and more, but they don’t pick up bricks and throw them at the police.

“They don’t set light to buildings with people inside. It was arson. It was racism. It was thuggery. It was crime.”

She added: “And, you know, it happened because criminals thought they could get away with it. They saw the cracks in the system, the impunity that built up through the Tory years.”