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

The home secretary is at the main hall delivering her keynote speech on street crime.

Yvette Cooper has begun her address by pledging to back efforts to “save young lives”. She added: “This government will pass Ronan’s Law - a ban on ninja swords.”

The minister also confirmed that buffer zones at abortion clinics will be implemented, adding: “No woman should be harassed on the way to a healthcare appointment that is her legal right.”

Addressing this summer’s far-right violenece, she said: “We saw looting of shops, attacks on mosques, a Citizens Advice Bureau torched, an asylum hotel set alight, and people targeted on the streets of Britain because of the colour of their skin.”

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Northern trains risk being forced to run slower with fewer sears than they do currently, Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has warned.

The Labour mayor slammed the previous Conservative government for cancelling a plan to extend HS2 between the West Midlands and Manchester.

Put to him on the BBC’s Today programme that he is saying train services might get worse, he said: “It’s barely believable, isn’t it, after the promises of the northern powerhouse and all of the debates about HS2, that in the kind of middle of this century, you would find it harder to get a seat on a train going north.

“Because there would be smaller trains serving Manchester, because the HS2 trains couldn’t go at full length, and then they’d have to go at lower speeds because the tilting pendolinos can go faster on the curvy West Coast mainline, but not the HS2 trains, and that’s the point.

“You know, how can this country rely on an overcrowded West Coast mainline and a saturated M6 for the connectivity between the West Midlands and the North West? But that was the effect of the decision taken last year.”

Attendees are braced for a packed Labour Party conference today with Sir Keir Starmer headlining the show. But he is not the only name on top of the agenda. Here’s everything you can expect today:

Conference speeches:

• 10am Yvette Cooper will deliver a speech to outline the government’s “mission” for safer streets
• 11.30am Lisa Nandy’s speech
• 2am Sir Keir Starmer will address the conference to say there is “light at the end of this tunnel” but they must first join a “shared struggle” through tough short-term pressures
• 4pm Shabana Mahmood’s speech

Fringe events:

• 9am Seema Malhotra on migration and plugging skills gaps
• 9.30am Peter Kyle and Patrick Vallance (in conversation with SAGE + Labour Together)
• 9.30am Linsey Farnsworth MP, Chris Vince MP and Caroline Abrahams talking about social care
• 11am Pat McFadden on how Labour won the election
• 11am Bridget Phillipson in conversation with the Spectator
• 12pm Andy Burnham at an event on tackling housing crisis
• 12.30pm Event on whether Labour can tackle child poverty with Andrew Western MP
• 12.30pm In conversation with Jonthan Reynolds
• 12.30pm Angela Rayner at ‘The road to building 1.5 million homes’
• 5.30pm In conversation with Darren Jones (before drinks reception with Rachel Reeves)

Sir Keir Starmer will deliver his headline speech today where he is expected to promise a “light at the end of tunnel” for the country.

It will be the prime minister’s first conference speech since Labour’s election victory in July. The conference has returned to Liverpool for a third year in a row.

Sir Keir’s conference speech is expected to start at 2pm.

It is today’s main event, and one of the most important across all four days, with delegates likely to fill up ACC Liverpool’s main conference hall.

It is a significant occasion, marking the first time in 15 years that a Labour leader has addressed conference as prime minister.

To watch the full speech follow The Independent’s live stream.

The government will not scrap the single person council tax discount, Pat McFadden has indicated.

The move has been rumoured in the run up to next month’s budget as the government looks to save more money to fill the reported £22 billion black hole in the public finances.

Speaking to Good Morning Britain, the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster said: “If that’s been briefed by the Treasury, that will be the case. They write the budget, the Labour chancellor writes the budget, and the chancellor will put all this together over the next few weeks.

“If that’s what the Treasury has said, of course I can confirm it. I don’t see every briefing that goes out. I don’t think there’s any plans to do that, that’s for the Treasury. If that’s what they’ve said, that’ll be right.”