Labour conference RECAP: Rachel Reeves promises to unveil Budget with ‘real ambition’ to rebuild Britain but Chancellor’s speech is marred by Gaza protester who heckles her over arms sales to Israel

Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband told the conference the British people have the right to benefit from natural resources as set out the party’s mission to become a ‘clean energy superpower’.

Trumpeting Great British Energy, Labour’s policy to harness renewable energy and lower bills, Mr Miliband said:

We believe the British people have the right to own and benefit from our natural resources and friends, we’re making it happen.

Great British Energy, demanded by this conference, at the heart of our manifesto, overwhelmingly backed by the public, now being delivered by your Labour government. That’s the difference a Labour government makes.

The Tories and their friends on the right said we should turn away from climate action and clean energy. We said no, and we won the argument.

And I’ll tell you why. Because the British people know our mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower is the way to put energy policy back in the serve of working people.

Lord Alli, the Labour peer at the centre of a row involving free gifts, has told a journalist not to ask him about donations because it ‘isn’t nice’.

He was spotted at Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool by Sky News journalist Serena Barker-Singh who attempted to ask him a questions about donations but was told: “Please don’t. This isn’t very nice.”

Sir Keir Starmer’s biggest donor has tens of thousands of pounds in clothing to the Prime Minister and Lady Starmer, his wife.

Britons across the country have blasted Sir Keir Starmer for accepting ‘freebies’ after it emerged that the Prime Minister has received substantially more donations than any other MP since 2019.

The Labour leader is facing a major backlash over the thousands of pounds in gifts he has received, including how he has now accepted a hospitality box to watch his beloved Arsenal play at the Emirates.

Sir Keir and his wife, Lady Victoria Starmer have also been embroiled in a ‘wardrobegate’ scandal over accepting lavish gifts from millionaire businessman Lord Waheed Alli.

Read more here and watch the responses:

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has urged the party to ‘finish the job’ by winning the general election in Scotland next year.

Mr Sarwar said Labour delivered a ‘politcal earthquake’ in July after a record swing to the party resulted in them winning 37 seats in Westminster.

But speaking in Liverppol, Mr Sarwar urged the party to go further.

The truth is that the story of Labour’s revival is only half written. You see, conference, for lots of you there was only one incompetent government you had to get rid of. But in Scotland we were stuck with two.

So at the general election we got rid of one incompetent government, and in 2026 at the general election we finish the job and we get rid of the other one.

Angela Rayner said Rachel Reeves’s speech had shown the Government was both ‘optimistic and serious’ about the economic challenges the government faces.

The Deputy Prime Minister said the Labour administration was ‘under no illusion about the task ahead of us’ but confident it could ‘fix the foundations.’

Speaking at Labour’s largest ever business day at its annual conference in Liverpool, she said speeches by Ms Reeves and Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds had been ‘optimistic and I think serious about the task ahead, but also what this woman wants to do to enable Britain to thrive and grow the economy so we can pay for our public services.’

When business thrives the whole economy does.

Transport Secretary Louise Haigh told delegates at the Labour conference that the party is the ‘greatest force for social change’ as she vowed to end the ‘age of privatised chaos’.

She told the crowd in Liverpool, the party was ‘ripping up the very roots of Thatcherism’ which had undermined the transport system and caused it to decline.

We are bringing the age of privatised chaos underwritten by public money to an end for good. There are those that say that it could never change, that our politics is too small to stand up to a challenge like this, that it doesn’t matter the colour of the rosette, things will always stay the same.

But that has never been Labour. That has never been us. There is a reason our party is the greatest force for social change our country has ever seen.”

By the end of this Parliament, our railways will be in public ownership, run by great British Railways in the service of you, the British people, and change does not stop there.

We’ve hauled in failing train operators and put them on remedial plans. We’ve announced world leading legislation to ensure flying will be greener. We’ve called time on divisive culture wars around walking and cycling. We’ve repealed the toxic minimum service level legislation, green lit hundreds of affordable homes by stations, and we got round the table with the unions to put an end to the longest ever industrial dispute on our railways.

Because of what we achieved together, we are not just cleaning up the mess of the last 14 years, we are ripping up the very roots of Thatcherism that have undermined and run down our transport system for decades.

Privatisation of our transport is not pragmatism. It hasn’t spurred innovation. It hasn’t made things better. It belongs to a past that failed.

Gary Neville today offered his staunch support to Sir Keir Starmer over the ‘freebies’ row that has dogged Labour’s conference in Liverpool.

The former footballer claimed criticism of the Prime Minister was ‘absolutely incredible’ as he defended Sir Keir for taking top-end football tickets.

Neville, a Labour Party member, said he was ‘struggling’ with the focus on the PM’s donations as he hit out at the ‘absolute corruption’ of the previous Tory government.

Protesters against the scrapping of the winter fuel allowance have protested outside the Labour conference as it emerged a vote by delegates on whether to axe the policy has been delayed.

The big event of the second day in Liverpool was undoubtedly Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ speech at midday but more Cabinet ministers and the leaders of the Labour in Scotland and Wales are yet to feature.

Here’s a rundown of what has happened today

• Labour delegates boo after it is announced a vote on whether to axe the winter fuel allowance vote will be delayed to an unspecified date
• Gary Neville has defended Keir Starmer accepting free football tickets as the freebies row continues to engulf the party. Mr Neville said he found the level of scrutiny towards the Prime Minister ‘unbelieveable’ given what he described as Tory ‘cronyism’
• Rachel Reeves’ speech was interrupted by hecklers as climate activists interrupted the Chancellor during her address as they objected the UK selling arms to Israel
• Ms Reeves announced Labour’s free breakfast plan for thousands of primary schoolchildren will start in April ahead of a national rollout of the £315million scheme
• Nurses rejected a new pay award which would have seen salaries increase by 5.5 per cent – at the same time as the Chancellor boasted about ending public sector strikes

Stick with us as we bring you the major developments from Liverpool.

Labour’s free breakfast plan for thousands of primary schoolchildren will start in April, Rachel Reeves announced today.

The Chancellor used her party conference address to announce a pilot scheme involving hundreds of schools would start in the spring, ahead of the national rollout of the £315million scheme.

Ms Reeves confirmed up to 750 schools in England would be offered the chance to take part in the first stage of the process next year.

We can now bring you more pictures of the moment climate protesters disrupted Rachel Reeves’ conference speech in Liverpool earlier this afternoon.

A campaign group called The Climate Resistance has claimed responsibility for the protest.

Rachel Reeves was left embarrassed today after nurses rejected a new pay award – at the same time as the Chancellor boasted about ending public sector strikes.

Mid-way through Ms Reeves’ speech to Labour’s conference in Liverpool, the Royal College of Nursing announced they were refusing to accept the Government’s offer.

The union said two-thirds of members had voted against a 5.5 per cent pay increase for this year, which ministers had hoped would settle a long-running row.

In what would have been one of Rachel Reeves’ biggest speeches in her life, her first at a Labour conference as Chancellor, she had a very familiar face offering her support.

Reeves’ sister Ellie, also a Labour MP, was among the first to congratulate her after she finished her address in Liverpool alongside Sir Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the Government is making ‘an investment in reducing child poverty’ as she announced that hundreds of primary school children will receive free breakfast clubs in April, ahead of the national rollout.

She told the Labour conference:

I will judge my time in office a success if I know that at the end of it there are working-class kids from ordinary backgrounds who lead richer lives, their horizons expanded, and able (to) achieve and thrive in Britain today.

That starts by taking the first steps on delivering another manifesto commitment, our promise, led by our Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, to introduce free breakfast clubs in every primary school across England.

Today, I can announce that that will start in hundreds of schools for primary school-aged pupils from this April ahead of the national rollout, an investment in our young people, an investment in reducing child poverty, an investment in our economy.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has made her speech at the Labour conference in Liverpool today, attempting to inject some optimism as we approach her first Budget next month.

In case you missed it, here are the key takeaways from her address:

• Perhaps the most significant moment was when a Gaza protester interrupted the Chancellor to object to the UK selling arms to Israel. Ms Reeves was knocked off course but countered by saying Labour was no longer a party of protest.
• Ms Reeves insisted there would be no return to austerity when she unveils her Budget which will include ‘real ambition’ to rebuild the country amid accusations Labour had been too gloomy in its early days of government
• She said the British public had decided Labour could be trusted with their money as she vowed not to risk people’s finances or play ‘fast and loose’ with taxpayers’ money
• Announcements included free breakfast clubs for primary schools, a new industrial strategy that would ensure the Britain’s wealth was shared across the country and a new Covid commissioner to claw back money wasted on VIP contracts during the pandemic
• Turning her attentions to the Conservative Party, Ms Reeves mockingly dismissed the ongoing the leadership contest as a ‘clash of the titans’ and insisted the Tories had yet to learn lessons from their election defeat

Labour conference descended into chaos today as Rachel Reeves’ big speech was disrupted by a Gaza protest.

The Chancellor was addressing delegates in Liverpool when a member of the audience started shouting that the UK is still supplying arms to Israel – forcing her to stop.

When the demonstrator was removed Ms Reeves swiped that Labour is ‘not a party of protest’ any more before continuing.

The Chancellor has ended her conference speech by telling the conference ‘this is our moment, our chance to show that politics can make a difference, that Britain’s best days lie ahead’.

We will bring you reaction to the Chancellor’s address.

Rachel Reeves has said ‘wealth created and wealth shared in every part of Britain’ would be the ‘prize of the Labour Government’s industrial strategy.

The Chancellor said the ‘era of trickle-down, trickle-out dogma is over’.

Britain is open for business once again

If you have felt the quiet desperation of jobs, opportunities and investment slipping away, then be assured your ambitions, your hopes, your future will not be held back any longer.

Shovels in the ground, cranes in the sky, the sounds and the sights of the future arriving. Wealth created and wealth shared in every part of Britain. That is the prize, that is the Britain we’re building, that is the Britain I believe in.

A campaign group called The Climate Resistance has claimed responsibility for the protest which disrupted Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ conference speech.

Sam Simons, a spokesman for the group said:

Labour promised us change – instead we’re getting more of the same. The same pandering to the fossil fuel industry; the same arms licences that are fuelling a genocide in Gaza, and the same austerity that sees the poorest hit hardest.

It’s time for Labour to start putting the needs of people before the interests of profit. That means immediately stopping arms licences to Israel, blocking new oil and gas, and standing up for the communities already being devastated by the climate crisis.

This is the moment a Gaza protester interrupted Rachel Reeves’ speech at the Labour conference.

The heckler shouted about the sale of arms to Israel before he was removed from the hall.

After he had been removed Ms Reeves said Labour was no longer a party of protest.

Rachel Reeves has insisted Tory austerity had been a ‘destructive choice’ which would not be repeated but admitted there were ‘tough decisions’ in the upcoming Budget

Because I know how much damage has been done in those 14 years, let me say one thing straight up: there will be no return to austerity. Conservative austerity was a destructive choice for our public services, and for investment and growth too.

Yes, we must deal with the Tory legacy and that means tough decisions, but I won’t let that dim our ambition for Britain. So, it will be a budget with real ambition, a budget to fix the foundations, a budget to deliver the change that we promised, a budget to rebuild Britain.

Ms Reeves repeated her promise not to ‘turn a blind eye’ to ‘Covid fraudsters’ and those who ‘used a national emergency to line their own pockets’.

She drew her loudest applause yet as she said:

That money belongs in our police, it belongs in our health service and belongs in our schools. Conference, we want that money back.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said she is following through on her promise to ‘wage a war on Tory waste’ as she hit out at Rishi Sunak’s £14 million spend on helicopters.

Ms Reeves told conference:

I know you are impatient for change, I am too, but because of that legacy left by the Conservatives, the road ahead is steeper and harder than we expected.

I know how hard people work for their money, taxpayers’ money should be spent with the same care with which working people spend their own money.

So, one year ago I promised you this Labour Government would wage a war on Tory waste, it has begun.

I pledged that we would cut down on the excesses of Tory ministers’ private air travel and we have already cancelled the £14 million contract for Rishi Sunak’s VIP helicopter.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves derided the Conservative leadership contest as a ‘clash of the titans’ during her conference speech.

She told the crowd in Liverpool:

You will hear many things at their conference next week but you won’t hear an apology.

No apology for the cost of your mortgage, no apology for crumbling classrooms and rising waiting lists, no apology for mismanaging our public finances, degrading our institutions and crashing our global standing in the world.

They do not care and they have learned nothing, so be in no doubt – given the chance, they will try and do it all over again. Only we, only the Labour Party can stop them, so we must have no complacency, a relentless focus on the priorities of the British people and iron discipline.

We cannot give them that chance. So, let’s resolve together today that we will not give them that chance.

Watch the speech on our live stream:

Rachel Reeves said the British public had ‘looked at us, looked at me, and decided Labour could be trusted with their money’ at the general election.

The Chancellor told party conference:

Why is it that the British people put their trust in us for the first time in five generations?

We left no stone unturned to show Labour is the party of economic responsibility and the party of working people.

People looked at us, looked at me, and decided Labour could be trusted with their money.

She said she would not ‘risk’ playing ‘fast and loose with the public finances’, which she accused the previous Tory government of doing.

I will not take that risk, I will repay the trust that people put in us.

Rachel Reeves has been heckled during her conference address.

An anti-Israel protester interrupted the Chancellor’s speech to say ‘we are still selling arms to Israel’ and ‘I voted for change Rachel’.

He was then removed from the hall by security.

Rachel Reeves said Labour is “not a party of protest” after her speech was derailed by a heckler in the audience.

“This is a changed Labour Party, a Labour Party that represents working people, not a party of protest,” the Chancellor said.

Rachel Reeves is inside the main conference hall and is about to give her speech.

Stick with us for the best lines from the Chancellor’s address.

Gary Neville has defended Sir Keir Starmer accepting free tickets to Premier League matches, saying criticism of the Prime Minister was ‘absolutely incredible’.

He told a Labour Party conference fringe event:

I’m struggling with the free football tickets one quite a bit, to be honest with you, when I look at the absolute corruption we’ve seen in the last five, six, seven, eight years with people getting billions of pounds worth of contracts in VIP lanes.

Keir Starmer’s paid for his season ticket to go with his family to watch Arsenal all his life and he’s now being told he can’t go to that same seat, when I’m sure he would – you know he would, everybody knows he would – he’s been told he’s got to go in a hospitality box, a private box.

To be fair, a lot of the people complaining about him will end up in those types of boxes themselves, including myself at times.

I find it absolutely incredible that this level of attention is now being paid to a Labour Prime Minister when I look at the absolute cronyism we watched for years under that lot.

Wes Streeting has risked fuelling Labour infighting by mocking attacks on Sir Keir Starmer’s embattled chief of staff Sue Gray.

Leaks about Ms Gray’s £170,000 salary – which is larger than the Prime Minister’s – have added to reports of civil war within Sir Keir’s No10 team.

There have also been bitter briefings about Ms Gray’s role in Downing Street amid claims of a power struggle between the PM’s senior aides.

Jonathan Reynolds, the Business Secretary, has told Channel 4 News that free tickets to sporting occasions is in ‘no way’ similar to ‘corruption’ presided over by the previous Conservative government.

Speaking to Cathy Newman at he Labour Party conference, Mr Reynolds dismissed similarities between his government and the previous administration amid an ongoing row over free gifts and donations.

Asked whether accepting free hospitality to watch Premier League football made you ‘corruptible’, Mr Reynolds said:

No, I don’t think so. I think that’s why the transparency rules are as they are. And look, ministers, people in public life, have always been invited to things. You say no to the vast majority where you are invited. But can I just come back to your point about change, because I think, the prime minister going to see Arsenal, declaring that in the proper way, is in no way the same thing as the kind of corruption we saw with the last government around Covid contracts where donors were getting things other people got…

Mr Reynolds went on to suggest that Covid contracts and free football tickets should not be ‘conflated’ as it would be ‘dangerous’.

We saw something there which is totally unacceptable. This is all transparent, a personal interest in a sporting event, that’s fine. I don’t think anyone who goes to an event, as long as they declare that openly, fairly, transparently, I have no problem with that.

Mr Reynolds is speaking at the conference at 11:50am.

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner beams as she drinks whisky through a straw while posing for pictures taken by her ‘vanity photographer’.

The lighthearted image captured on a visit to Scotland sits alongside more serious shots of her hard at work in the short weeks since Labour won the election taken by Simon Walker.

She is shown variously meeting her Pakistani counterpart, hosting a Make Work Pay breakfast meeting and visiting a John Lewis department store with London mayor Sadiq Khan in other glossy PR photos.

*This article is available only to Mail+ subscribers*

by Stephen Glover for The Daily Mail

Four weeks before the July 4 election, I asked in these pages how long it would take the country to hate Labour as much as it hated the Tories. Two years? Three?

I was far too cautious in my prediction. Labour’s ­collapse has taken place with dazzling speed. Nothing quite like it has ever happened before in Britain to a newly installed Government.

The latest Opinium poll reveals that Sir Keir Starmer’s approval rating has plunged 45 points since July. While 24 per cent of voters approve of the job he is doing, 50 per cent disapprove, giving him a net rating of minus 26 per cent – slightly worse than poor, unloved Rishi Sunak.

This is moment boos rang out at the Labour Party conference as a vote on whether to axe the winter fuel allowance was delayed.

Lynne Morris, who chairs the conference arrangements committee (CAC), was heckled by some delegates as she said:

This is a really busy conference and we are trying to accommodate as much as we can, and I’m going to take this back straight to CAC and I’ll come back to you with an answer ASAP.

Unions have been trying to force a debate at Liverpool on the controversial move to strip 10million pensioners of up to £300 a year.

But the timing has now been pushed back after intense wrangling on the party’s organising committee – with claims the schedule is ‘too busy’ for a debate this afternoon.

There was booing as the news was announced this morning.

Instead the clash – which the leadership is resigned to losing – is likely to take place after the PM has given his keynote speech.

And Keir Starmer will not even be present as he is due to be travelling to the UN general assembly.

Rachel Reeves has insisted there will not be any U-turn on the plan.

Rachel Reeves admitted Labour’s freebies bonanza ‘looks a bit odd’ today as she tries to quell infighting at conference.

In a round of interviews, the Chancellor defended taking £7,500 worth of clothes from a donor during the election campaign. She also confirmed that she accepted free holiday accommodation in Cornwall valued at £1,400 for her family.

But she stressed that she will not be receiving free clothes in future, after a furious backlash at the host of gifts accepted by senior party figures including Keir Starmer.

by Greg Heffer, political correspondent

As if the pouring rain in Liverpool isn’t miserable enough, attendees at Labour’s conference have been moaning about the long security queues to enter the venue.

‘We never had this problem while in opposition!,’ quipped one delegate, as they joined a long line through a car park.

A mixture of party members, lobbyists, exhibitors and media were seen in the snake of people trying to get inside the conference centre.

There were wait times of at least half-an-hour before delegates were able to go through the airport-style security at each of the venue’s entrances.

It left some fretting as to whether they would be late for various events they were due to appear at.

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.

The Chancellor toured the broadcast studios this morning ahead of her midday speech at the Labour Party conference.

Let’s summarise the main talking points from her round of interviews:

• Rachel Reeves said she does not think hospitality gifts ‘brings (her) into conflict in any way’ when it comes to decisions made at the Treasury
• She defended her acceptance of £7,500 of clothing donations from friend Juliet Rosenfeld but conceded it looks ‘a bit odd’
• Insisted a personal donation of £98,500 for her shadow office when she was in opposition was not for clothing or personal effects, but did say donations for clothes did help her while shadowing the Tories
• She said a taxpayer-funded photographer was hired to support Angela Rayner’s department, not the Deputy Prime Minister herself as a politician, Ms Reeves insisted
• Elsewhere, Ms Reeves said there will not be a return to austerity but that ‘detailed’ spending by department will be ‘negotiated’
• The Chancellor insisted she had not “expected” to make changes to winter fuel payments but was forced to as a result of a ‘£22 billion black hole’

The Chancellor Rachel Reeves, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar are all expected on stage at the Labour conference today.

Here is a list of timings

• 9.30am – John Healey, Defence Secretary (pictured)
• 11:50am – Jonathan Reynolds, Business Secretary
• 12:00pm – Rachel Reeves – Chancellor
• 1.45pm Peter Kyle – Science Secretary
• 1.50pm Louise Haigh – Transport Secretary
• 2:50pm Ian Murray – Scotland Secretary
• 2:55pm Anas Sarwar – Scottish Labour leader
• 3pm Jo Stevens – Welsh Secretary
• 3:05pm Eluned Morgan – Welsh Labour leader
• 3:10pm Hilary Benn – Northern Ireland Secretary
• 3:15pm Steve Reed – Environment Secretary
• 3:25pm Ed Miliband – Climate Change and Net Zero Secretary

Hello and welcome to MailOnline’s live coverage from the Labour conference in Liverpool.

The economy will be at the heart of the day on Merseyside.

At 12pm, Chancellor Rachel Reeves will deliver her speech about how the party plans to manage the public finances amid criticism over the decision to scrap the winter fuel allowance and a freebies row which threatens to engulf Sir Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner.

Also on the agenda today are environment secretary Steve Reed, energy secretary Ed Miliband and Scottish labour leader Anas Sarwar.

Stick with us as we bring you developments throughout the day with our political reporters on the ground in Liverpool watching the action as it unfolds.