Starmer news: PM hails changed Labour Party as he tells conference big decisions are not easy

Starmer news: PM hails changed Labour Party as he tells conference big decisions are not easy

Reaction to Keir Starmer’s Labour conference speech

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Sir Keir Starmer has hailed a changed Labour Party as he delivered his first party conference speech as prime minister to a packed hall of delegates in Liverpool.

In a wide-ranging address that lasted over an hour, he covered policies new and old, admitting: “I understand many of the decisions we must take will be unpopular. If they were popular – they’d be easy.”

However, he promised a “light at the end of the tunnel” for Britain.

Sir Keir was met with rapturous applause from delegates – while a lone protester heckled him near the end of his speech, with the “children of Gaza” heard before he was escorted from the venue.

Responding to the heckler, the prime minister said that “this guy has a pass for the 2019 conference”, adding: “While he has been protesting, we have been changing the party.”

Sir Keir also said that pensioners will be better off under Labour despite the party’s controversial cuts to winter fuel payments.

Acknowledging that some may find it hard to “take that on faith” due to the cold weather benefit cut, the PM said: “If this path were popular or easy, we would have walked it already.”

The Independent’s political team will be reporting live throughout the Labour Party conference in Liverpool.

Key Points

Show latest update 1727240400

VOICES | It seems Angela Rayner isn’t quite so ‘working class hero’ after all

…how disappointing (and hypocritical), writes Emma Clarke. When it comes to taxpayers’ money and ‘gifts’, accountability is key:

Salma Ouaguira25 September 2024 06:00

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IN FOCUS | Angela Rayner and what the politician’s ‘vanity photographer’ saw

As a row is sparked over whether the deputy prime minister has or hasn’t hired someone to document her working life, Simon Mills takes a look at everyone from Barack Obama to Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage who has done the same and hears how ‘tacky and tawdry’ it can be on the other side of the lens:

Angela Rayner and confessions of politician’s ‘vanity photographer’

As a row is sparked over whether the deputy prime minister has or hasn’t hired someone to document her working life, Simon Mills takes a look at everyone from Barack Obama to Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage who has done the same and hears how ‘tacky and tawdry’ it can be on the other side of the lens

Tara Cobham25 September 2024 04:00

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GB Energy to be headquartered in Aberdeen, Starmer confirms

GB Energy will be headquartered in Aberdeen, Sir Keir Starmer has said.

Sir Keir and Labour had promised in the lead-up to the election that GB Energy – which he has described as an “investment vehicle” – would have its headquarters north of the border, sparking speculation and repeated questions over where it would be located.

In his first speech to the Labour Party conference since entering Downing Street in July, the prime minister said the agency “could only ever be based in one place in Scotland”.

Addressing delegates in Liverpool on Tuesday, he said: “We said, GB Energy, our publicly-owned national champion, the vehicle that will drive forward our mission on clean energy, we said it belonged in Scotland, and it does.

“But the truth is, it could only really ever be based in one place in Scotland.

“So today, I can confirm that the future of British energy will be powered as it has been for decades, by the talent and skills of the working people in the Granite City, with GB Energy based in Aberdeen.”

Tara Cobham25 September 2024 03:00

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‘Useless liar’ Starmer hit by damning poll finding

Sir Keir Starmer has been branded a “useless liar” by the public in a damning poll released ahead of his Labour conference speech, Archie Mitchell writes.

A Savanta word cloud showed the words most commonly associated with the prime minister were overwhelmingly negative.

Tara Cobham25 September 2024 02:00

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UK rejects ‘racist thugs’, says Starmer as he vows to restore ‘control’

Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to cut immigration but rejected claims that the summer’s rioters were “one and the same” as people with legitimate concerns about migration.

Addressing the Labour conference for the first time as prime minister, Sir Keir condemned the “violent thuggery” seen on Britain’s streets over the summer, saying: “The country sees you and it rejects you.”

He said he would “never accept the argument… that millions of people concerned about immigration are one and the same thing as people who smashed up businesses, targeted mosques, attempted to burn refugees, scrawled racist graffiti over walls, Nazi salutes at the Cenotaph, attacked NHS nurses and told people with different coloured skin, people who contribute here, people who grew up here, that they should ‘go home’.

“No, people concerned about immigration were not doing that, because they understand that this country, this democratic country, is built on the rule of law, the ballot box, the common understanding that we debate our differences.”

Drawing loud applause from the audience in the conference hall in Liverpool, the Prime Minister promised: “I will never let a minority of violent, racist thugs terrorise our communities.”

He went on to stress that the debate about immigration was about “control”, not “the worth of migrants”.

(Getty Images)

Tara Cobham25 September 2024 01:00

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Watch: Starmer mistakenly calls for ‘return of the sausages’

Starmer mistakenly calls for ‘return of sausages’ in major Labour conference speech

Sir Keir Starmer mistakenly called for the “return of the sausages” in a major speech at Labour’s annual party conference in Liverpool on Tuesday, 24 September. The prime minister was calling for restraint and de-escalation between Lebanon and Israel, a ceasefire in Gaza, and the return of hostages taken by Hamas on October 7 as well as “a recognised Palestinian state alongside a safe and secure Israel.” However, he accidentally said “sausages” before quickly correcting himself to say “hostages” instead.

Salma Ouaguira25 September 2024 00:00

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Starmer promises to ‘rise above challenges’ to deliver new Britain

Sir Keir Starmer said people must “face the storm” in order to make a “Britain built to last” as he warned of further tough decisions to turn the country around.

In his first Labour Party conference speech as prime minister, Sir Keir set out plans to “clear out the Tory rot”, with a new era of political leadership creating a country “renewed by respect and service”.

In a speech briefly disrupted by a pro-Palestine heckler, he said the “wounds of trust” left by the Conservatives needed to be healed as he acknowledged that addressing that legacy would require unpopular decisions.

“If they were popular, they’d be easy.

“But the cost of filling that black hole in our public finances, that will be shared fairly,” he told activists in Liverpool.

“We will get the welfare bill down because we will tackle long-term sickness and support people back to work.

“We will make every penny work for you because we will root out waste and go after tax avoiders. There will be no stone left unturned.”

But there would be “no return to Tory austerity”, he said.

Salma Ouaguira24 September 2024 23:00

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Everything that was announced in Keir Starmer’s Labour conference speech

Sir Keir Starmer’s address to the 2024 Labour Party Conference saw him promise to rebuild Britain “brick by brick” after fourteen years of Tory government, telling conference delegates his government will create a “Britain that belongs to you”.

But what exactly was announced? We look at the key developments from the prime minister’s speech below:

Tara Cobham24 September 2024 22:00

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Starmer calls for Israel and Hezbollah to ‘pull back from the brink’

Sir Keir Starmer has called for parties in the Middle East to “pull back from the brink” and for a ceasefire in Gaza amid rising tensions between Hezbollah and Israel.

The prime minister told the Labour Party conference: “This is a time when great forces demand a decisive government prepared to face the future. We can see that again in the Middle East today.

“So I call again for restraint and de-escalation at the border between Lebanon and Israel. Again, all parties to pull back from the brink.

“I call again for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the return of… the hostages, and a recommitment to the two-state solution, a recognised Palestinian state alongside a safe and secure Israel.

“And that’s the message I will take to the UN General Assembly when I travel there later today, alongside our steadfast support for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.”

Labour has faced pressure to suspend arms export licences to Israel after a UK assessment found there was a “clear risk certain military exports to Israel might be used in violations of international humanitarian law”.

The government suspended around 30 licences from a total of approximately 350 earlier this month.

During Sir Keir’s speech, a protester shouted “children of Gaza” from the crowd.

The prime minister replied: “While he’s been protesting, we’ve been changing the party. That’s why we’ve got a Labour government.”

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer during his speech in Liverpool (Stefan Rousseau/PA) (PA Wire)

Salma Ouaguira24 September 2024 21:00

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Veterans, care leavers and domestic abuse victims will be housed, Starmer vows

Veterans, young care leavers and victims of domestic abuse will be given a “guaranteed roof over their head”, Sir Keir Starmer has promised.

The Prime Minister pledged that “homes will be there for heroes” as he vowed to “house all veterans in housing need”.

He also said young care leavers and victims of domestic abuse “will have the security they deserve”, as he addressed issues around current requirements to have a local connection in order to get housing support in many areas.

The changes will mean all three groups will be exempt from local connection or residency tests which most councils have in place to determine who can qualify for social housing.

Speaking at the Labour conference on Tuesday, Sir Keir said: “We have started the hard yards of planning reform, because we are facing up to decisions ignored for years, and because we are introducing new planning passports that will turbo-charge housebuilding in our inner cities, we can make the very same guarantee for other people at risk of homelessness.

“Young care leavers, victims of domestic abuse. They will have the security they deserve. They will have a guaranteed roof over their head. Because Britain belongs to them.”

The PM referred to homelessness among veterans as “another injustice hiding in plain sight on our streets”.

There were 2,270 households owed a homelessness duty with a member that previously served in the Armed Forces in the year to March, according to Government figures. This was up by a quarter, from 1,820 households in the year to March 2019.

Sir Keir said: “In every town and city in this country. People who were prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice for our nation, who put their lives on the line to protect us all, but who will not have a safe place to sleep tonight.

“We cannot stand by and let this happen anymore. And so today, I can announce that this Government will respect that service. We will repay those who served us and house all veterans in housing need. Homes will be there for heroes.”

Tara Cobham24 September 2024 20:00

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/starmer-labour-conference-live-winter-fuel-payments-sausages-b2618497.html