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Eric Garcia
Washington Bureau Chief
Nurses across the country have rejected Rachel Reeves’ offer of a 5.5 per cent pay rise – just as the chancellor was delivering her keynote conference speech.
The announcement by the Royal College of Nursing came as Ms Reeves addressed Labour activists in Liverpool.
Sir Keir Starmer’s government has faced heavy criticism over its winter fuel allowance cut and gifts accepted by ministers.
The chancellor’s message is that there will be “no return” to austerity at her first budget on 30 October in a move to “rebuild Britain”.
She also defended her decision to scrap the winter fuel allowance, blaming the unpopular cut on the economic inheritance left by the last Conservative government. Earlier, boos were heard in the hall as a debate on the cut was pushed back from today to Wednesday, the final morning of the conference.
Minutes into the speech, a protester shouted out and was removed from the hall.
The Independent’s political team will be reporting live throughout the Labour Party conference in Liverpool.
Key Points
- Nurses reject Rachel Reeves’ 5.5 per cent pay rise during speech
- The Climate Resistance claims responsibility for pro-Palestine protester
- Reeves speech interrupted by pro-Palestine protester
- Reeves announces Covid corruption commissioner to tackle ‘carnival of fraud’
- Chancellor defends decision to means test winter fuel payment
What is austerity – and is Rachel Reeves ‘returning’ to it?
Rachel Reeves has promised that there will be “no return to austerity” at the Labour conference in Brighton, responding to critics who have compared her to previous Conservative governments.
Speaking at the party’s first conference in power for 14 years, Ms Reeves said: “Conservative austerity was a destructive choice for our public services – and for investment and growth too.
Ms Reeves’ latest speech could be seen as a direct response to the critics, but it is unlikely to put a stop to the comparisons. Here’s everything you need to know about austerity and the criticisms Labour faces:
What is austerity – and why is Rachel Reeves accused of bringing it back?
The chancellor stared down her critics at her first conference speech in power – but do they have a point?
Salma Ouaguira23 September 2024 22:00 1727123420Rachel Reeves to announce investigations into £600m Covid contracts
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”.
Read the full story below:
Rachel Reeves to announce investigations into £600m worth of Covid contracts
Chancellor to use speech at Labour conference to pledge reversal of Conservative approach to ‘waive’ £670m worth of disputed contracts
Salma Ouaguira23 September 2024 21:30 1727121621Thornberry challenges Starmer to cut post-Brexit border checks
Emily Thornberry has indicated that she intends to use her powerful new position in the Commons to push Keir Starmer to go further on undoing the harms of Brexit.
The newly elected chair of the foreign affairs committee urged Keir Starmer to cut vast amounts of unnecessary checks at the border as part of his planned Brexit EU reset.
There was “no need” for small businesses to give up trading with the European Union because of the friction, she said.
Our Whitehall editor Kate Devlin has the full story:
Thornberry challenges Starmer to cut post-Brexit border checks to help small business
The new chair of the powerful Commons foreign affairs committee, a surprise omission from the prime minister’s cabinet, said she had a list of improvements she was happy to give the government
Salma Ouaguira23 September 2024 21:00 1727120205Labour MP urges pro-Palestine protesters to keep marching as battle intensifies
A Labour MP has urged pro-Palestine protesters to continue marching, as she was heckled at the Labour conference.
Bell Ribeiro-Addy told a fringe event called Justice for Palestine that “the conflict is intensifying, so our political lobbying must intensify as a result”.
During her speech in Liverpool, a heckler called on the MP for Clapham and Brixton Hill to resign from Labour, before accusing the party of being “racist”.
On Monday, Ms Ribeiro-Addy said: “We represent the majority, both the global majority, and the clear majority in this country – the question is how to turn that majority into action and into a change of policy.
“The conflict is intensifying, so our political lobbying must intensify as a result.
“All the marches and the lobbying must continue, all the local meetings must continue, so must the letter writing, take to your local radio station phone-in, write to your local newspaper, canvas outside your local supermarket on a Saturday morning.”
Intervening, the heckler shouted: “And resign from the Labour Party, resign.”
This was met with shouts of “shut up” and “nonsense” from other members of the audience.
Ms Riberio-Addy continued: “Horrific things have been happening since 1948, and unfortunately even this phase of the conflict looks like it will be a prolonged one. So we have to be prepared for both an intense struggle and a prolonged one.”
Later in the session, the heckler shouted: “The Labour Party is a racist party.”
Speakers at the event also called on the Labour Government to do more to protect Palestinians and ban arms sales to Israel.
Tara Cobham23 September 2024 20:36 1727119800Reeves defends Angela Rayner in row over ‘vanity photographer’
Rachel Reeves has defended Angela Rayner in a row over the deputy prime minister reportedly hiring a vanity photographer to publicise her work.
The chancellor said it is normal for government departments to have communications budgets and stressed the photographer would not just promote Ms Rayner, but the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) as a whole.
On Monday morning she told Times Radio: “All government departments under all governments have press officers and communications budgets. It’s not a personal photographer. It’s to promote the campaigning work of governments.”
Our political correspondent Archie Mitchell has the full story:
Rachel Reeves defends Angela Rayner in row over ‘vanity photographer’
Chancellor has also defended clothing donations she has received as Labour freebies row grows
Salma Ouaguira23 September 2024 20:30 1727118013Chancellor not ruling out capital gains tax rises
Rachel Reeves has recommitted to Labour’s pledge not to raise income tax and national insurance at the October Budget.
But the chancellor refused to rule out a potential hike in capital gains tax.
Speaking to Sky News, she said: “I’m not going to get into speculation about individual tax changes.
“But our manifesto commitment, which was not to increase taxes on working people, that means income tax, national insurance and VAT rates, but also not to increase corporation tax, to cap it at its current level for the duration of this parliament, those are things we committed to in our manifesto and we’re going to deliver on those manifesto commitments.
“Trust in politics is at an all time low, and that is largely because governments have promised one thing at elections, and then they haven’t followed through.”
SNP MP slams Labour’s acceptance of free gifts ‘totally indefensible'
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.”
Salma Ouaguira23 September 2024 19:30 1727114400What is the Labour gifts row?
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 Boris Johnson’s publicity campaign when he became mayor of London in 2008.
Read the full story below:
Starmer and Gray took football freebie from Boris Johnson’s former aide
Keir Starmer has opened the Labour conference with a defence of his gift-taking but is facing questions about hospitality at another football match
Salma Ouaguira23 September 2024 19:00 1727112928Starmer says he’s a ‘leaner-in’ who doesn’t want to keep AI at ‘arms length'
Sir Keir Starmer said he was a “leaner-in” who does not want to keep artificial technology (AI) at “arms length”.
Speaking at a business event at Labour’s annual conference, the Prime Minister said: “AI is obviously a big game-changer, you can already see the potential but we’re still in the foothills…
“But do you lean in and say that this is a great opportunity or do you lean out and say woah, this is a bit risky. I’m a leaner-in.”
He added: “The first thing is to lean into it and say it’s an incredible set of opportunities, not to keep it at arms length.”
Tara Cobham23 September 2024 18:35 1727112855Employer concerns about workers’ rights package ‘addressed and understood’, says Reeves
Employer concerns about the Labour Government’s workers’ rights package have been “addressed and understood,” Rachel Reeves has said amid speculation over whether the legislation could be watered down.
The Chancellor indicated the Government does not want to make it harder for companies to hire temporary workers or students with its Employment Rights Bill.
She told a business event at the annual Labour conference in Liverpool: “We’ll be publishing more details in the next couple of weeks, but I hope that you see that your concerns have been addressed and understood.”
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