Burnham slams Starmer ‘climate of fear’

“We’ve got to have the humility to listen.”

Wes Streeting has said ministers must be “open to challenge” as he addressed Andy Burnham’s recent interventions in national politics.

The health secretary told a fringe event at the Labour conference organised by Labour Together: “We’ve got to be self-confident enough as ministers to be open to challenge, and openly debate different ideas, because it makes you stronger as a government.”

More young people need to be in work, Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary, said as he raised concerns about the number of those on benefits.

He said: “Of young people leaving education and then claiming universal credit, 80 per cent of them who are under 25, are declaring mental health conditions.

“So I think there’s a big, big question for the country about what is happening here, and why are so many more young people reporting these mental health conditions, and what’s the right policy response to them?”

He added: “I want to see more young people in work. We’ve got almost a million people not in education, employment or training. The proportion has gone up since Covid. It wasn’t great before Covid.”

Andy Burnham has accused Sir Keir Starmer of overseeing a “climate of fear” in the Labour party as he launched an attack on the prime minister on the first day of the party’s conference.

The Greater Manchester mayor said debate in the party was being “closed down” and accused its leadership of being “narrow and shallow”.

At his first intervention at the party’s conference in Liverpool, Burnham addressed those who have called for him to rule out making a bid to replace Starmer as leader.

He said: “To those today making calls for simplistic statements of loyalty, well I say if that closes down the debate we need I think it’s at risk of underestimating the peril the party is in as we get to the polls next May.”

Trans people are frightened to go out or use public toilets after the Supreme Court ruling which defined a woman in terms of biological sex, a Labour MP has said.

Rachel Taylor, who is a member of the women and equality select committee, described the interim guidance put forward by the equality and human rights commission after the ruling as “dangerous” and “incorrect”.

The Times previously revealed that the guidance warns shops, gyms, the NHS and other public bodies that if they say a facility is single-sex, it would have to exclude transgender people who did not biologically match that sex.

Taylor said: “I think the interim guidance that was put forward was a totally disproportionate response to a judgement that had been made.”

She added: “They [the EHRC] have now put forward guidance which I haven’t seen, but I’m assuming is quite similar to the dangerous interim guidance.”

Labour must convince Scots that the party is “good enough” to lead Holyrood in the upcoming months, Douglas Alexander, the Scottish secretary, has said.

Alexander, also the Holyrood election campaign co-chair, argued that Scots “already know the SNP are bad enough that they deserve to lose”.

Speaking at the conference he explained that he will use the time until next year’s May election to “make the case that a different future for our nation is possible”.

In an attack on the SNP, Alexander cast its goal of independence as a focus on “difference, division and grievance”. Rather, he argued, “now is the time to focus on building, not breaking, on co-operation, not conflict, on working together, not pulling apart”.

In a swipe at John Swinney, the first minister and leader of the SNP, he said: “The next first minister has to be someone who will put the people of Scotland first. Before constitutional obsession, or party advantage, or populist politics.”

Steve Reed, the housing secretary, added some pizzazz to his riff on Trump’s “drill baby drill” by signing red baseball caps which read “build baby build”, as the Labour conference got under way.

Reed, cloaked in his own red merchandise reminiscent of Trump’s Maga supporters, gave an impassioned speech outlining Labour’s plan to build 1.5 million new homes.

Gesticulating with his finger, he said: “We are marching forward, backing the builders, stopping the blockers, we are going to get Britain building again.”

Supporters in red ties and accessories queued to have their caps signed by Reed during the event. However, social media commentators questioned why he could not confirm on GB News this morning how many houses had been built so far.

Reed has only been in the job for just over three weeks, having taken over the ministerial post from Angela Rayner after her resignation.

Steve Reed, the housing secretary, told the Labour conference that building of three of the 12 “new town locations” announced by the government this morning would start before the next election.

He said: “I can announce today that we will go ahead with work in at least 12 locations with Tempsford, Leeds South Bank and Crews Hill identified as three of the most promising sites.

“We’ll build homes people feel proud to live in. Communities with schools, hospitals, good public transport, green spaces on the doorstep, and the investment that brings good, well paid, unionised jobs to the area.

“And we’ll work with world-class architects to design each new town with its own character and distinct, unique identity. We’ll back the builders by streamlining planning rules so local people have a voice but we can get spades in the ground much faster.

“When I said ‘build baby build’, I meant it.”

A large crowd of protesters carrying St George’s flags has gathered outside the Labour Party conference in Liverpool.

Demonstrators set up next to the Wheel of Liverpool, just outside the secure zone at the ACC, with some holding signs showing anti-vaccine messages.

Others held placards opposing the government’s plan to introduce digital ID cards. Earlier, pro-Palestinian activists also held a demonstration outside the venue.

The Conservatives “crushed the dreams of families” who struggled to access housing, Steve Reed has claimed.

The housing secretary said: “The Tories spent 14 years blocking the homes that people need. They didn’t just hold back the economy, they crushed the dreams of families who couldn’t afford a decent home.

“Well conference, no more. We will fight the Tory blockers and give working people the key to a decent home they can afford to live in.”

Referring to plans for a tranche of new towns in at least 12 locations, Reed added: “I will do whatever it takes to get Britain building again, and we won’t just build homes, we’ll build communities. And not just communities but entire towns.”

The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said that “every single day counts” for a Labour government because change “takes time” but the challenges faced “never wait”.

Starmer introduced the premier by his nickname, Albo, to deliver a special address to the Labour Party conference in Liverpool.

Albanese said: “For Labour governments, every single day counts because it takes time to turn promises into progress. It takes time for plans to work and be seen to work. For inflation to fall, wages to rise, new homes to be finished, new energy connected, new hospitals to open, new investments in education to flow into results.

“It takes time to tackle problems that have been created over decades. It takes time to repay trust by delivering on commitments, and in doing so, build trust for future action.”

The Home Office will fight back against vexatious attempts by illegal migrants to claim they should be spared deportation on health grounds.

Lord Hermer, the attorney-general, said he was an “enabler” not a “blocker” of plans to make it easier to remove small boat migrants.

He said he was “extremely shocked” to discover that when migrants use medical evidence in court to argue they should not be deported to countries with substandard healthcare, this was not routinely challenged by the government.

The Home Office also often does not send lawyers to initial hearings, held in the First-tier Tribunal, when migrants not given asylum challenge the decision, according to Hermer.

In both cases, the attorney-general said: “That just strikes me as a system that we’ve inherited that wasn’t working as it should be working.”

The Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, has responded to Sir Keir Starmer’s refusal to rule out increasing VAT.

“The manifesto stands,” he said when pressed, adding that more will come out in the November budget.

“Keir Starmer just failed three times to rule out a hike in VAT,” Badenoch wrote on X. “Claiming that ‘the manifesto stands’ is not the same as saying ‘no rise in VAT’. The PM must rule out hiking VAT immediately, or working people will fear another Labour tax bombshell in the budget.”

Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester who has long wanted to be prime minister, is used to being ridiculed at Westminster for his opportunism (Jason Cowley writes). Its latest manifestation, articulated in a series of attention-grabbing interviews on the eve of his party’s conference in Liverpool, is his vainglorious attempt to undermine Sir Keir Starmer and position himself as the next Labour leader.

He and his supporters expected blowback and it has been fierce.

Starmer and Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, regard the so-called king of the north with contempt and are scornful of his ambition to lead a Labour government that isn’t “in hock to the bond markets”.

• Read in full: Jason Cowley — rebelling mayor may have done Starmer and Reeves a favour

The last time I interviewed Sir Keir Starmer was less than a week before he was swept into power in a landslide victory (Caroline Wheeler writes). Accompanied by his soon-to-be neighbour Rachel Reeves, he set out a bold ambition and vision for the country.

Fast forward 14 months and Starmer’s personal approval rating has sunk to a record low, his party has plummeted in the polls and Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, is snapping at his heels.

When we meet at the Global Progress Action Summit, in Westminster’s Central Hall, the prime minister appears to concede that all is not going to plan. But he insists: “I think we can pull this round.”

• Read the prime minister’s interview with The Sunday Times in full

Kim McGuinness, the Labour and Co-operative mayor of the North East, has said she is backing Bridget Phillipson to become deputy leader.

Speaking to Adam Boulton on Times Radio, she praised the education secretary’s focus on “expanding free school meals, introducing breakfast clubs [and] enhancing the skills provision in our region”.

McGuinness added that both Phillipson and Lucy Powell were “brilliant candidates”.

When asked about Labour’s poll ratings, McGuinness said she “sees that frustration” in her residents but “now is the time for delivery and the time for action”.

Sir Keir Starmer has refused to rule out increasing VAT in the budget amid mounting concerns about the state of the public finances.

Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, is facing a hole in the public finances of as much a £30 billion.

Economists have said that she will need to pull one of the three main tax leves — VAT, income tax or national insurance — to fill it.

Labout’s manifesto included an explicit pledge not to raise any of the three taxes. It said that the party would seek to protect “working people”.

Pressed on whether he would raise VAT, Starmer would only say “the manifesto stands”. Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, used the same phrase in an interview with The Times on Saturday.

• David Smith: Will Rachel Reeves dare to be bold in her budget?

When it was put to him that something can stand now only to change later, Starmer refused to comment. “We put that manifesto before the electorate, we got elected, and that manifesto stands,” he said. “I’m not going to go through the details of what may be in the budget, obviously it’s two months away and no prime minister and no chancellor would ever sit here and indicate two months out what may or may not be in the budget.”

Sir Keir Starmer has announced plans to build 12 new towns, which could deliver up to 300,000 homes across England over the coming decades.

Three areas — Tempsford, Bedfordshire; Leeds South Bank, West Yorkshire, and Crews Hill in Greater London — have been identified as the most promising sites.

Work on them is due to start during this parliament.

• Keir Starmer: ‘I think Labour can pull this round’

Steve Reed, the housing secretary, will establish the New Towns Unit to fast-track development with millions of pounds of public and private sector funding being pumped into new GP surgeries, schools, libraries and transport networks.

Rosie Duffield is open to rejoining the Labour Party if Andy Burnham becomes leader, and said “at least 80” Labour MPs were ready to trigger a challenge to Sir Keir Starmer.

The MP for Canterbury, who quit Labour over Starmer’s leadership a year ago, said Burnham was the party’s best hope for fighting off the threat of Reform UK.

In comments on Times Radio that will fuel speculation over the prime minister’s future as the party begins its annual conference in Liverpool, Duffield said enough Labour MPs were “disgusted” with Starmer’s leadership to start a contest.

• Read in full: Rosie Duffield open to rejoining Labour if Andy Burnham is leader

One of Labour’s big union backers has warned that the time when it will stop giving money to the party “is getting close”.

Sharon Graham, the general secretary of Unite, said Labour’s net zero policy was an “absolute disaster zone” and called on Rachel Reeves to ditch her borrowing rules.

She added that her members were “scratching their heads” about why Unite was supporting Labour, and that unless the party could show it was supporting workers the union would no longer back it.

“My members, whether it’s public sector workers all the way through to defence are asking, ‘What is happening here?’

“Now when that question cannot be answered, when we’re effectively saying look, actually we cannot answer why we’re still affiliated, then absolutely I think our members will choose to disaffiliate and that that time is getting close.” Unite gave more than £500,000 to Labour MPs last year.

In politics language matters, and when it comes to the budget even more so (Steven Swinford writes). Sir Keir Starmer said this morning that he “stands” by Labour’s manifesto commitment not to raise income tax, VAT and national insurance.

That word will dominate the coming months. Starmer returned to it again and again when pressed repeatedly. Rachel Reeves did the same in an interview with The Times on Saturday.

What Starmer and Reeves did not do was categorically rule out breaking the manifesto pledge. Economists believe that it is inevitable given the fact the chancellor needs to raise £30 billion in her budget in November.

Here lies the rub. Something can “stand” today only to change tomorrow in view of dire economic forecasts. Reeves and Starmer are giving themselves wiggle room. Watch this space.

The prime minister declined to criticise supporters of Reform, saying they were backing the party because of genuine frustrations with lower living standards and sub-standard public services.

“I think there are plenty of people who either vote Reform or are thinking of voting Reform who are frustrated,” Starmer told Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg. “They had 14 years of failure under the Conservatives, they want us to change things. They may have voted Labour a year ago, and they want the change to come more quickly. I actually do understand that.”

Zia Yusuf, the head of policy at Reform UK, said after Starmer’s comments that “Labour’s new message to the British electorate just dropped — pay hundreds of billions for foreign nationals to live off the state forever, or we’ll call you racist”.

Sir Keir Starmer warned Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, against manoeuvring against him, saying that Labour was facing “the fight of our lives for who we are as a country”.

The prime minister added: “Now is not the time for introspection or naval gazing.”

Sir Keir Starmer has said Nigel Farage’s plans to deport migrants who are legally in the UK are “racist and immoral”.

In an interview before the Labour Party conference, the prime minister said proposals by Reform UK to scrap indefinite leave to remain would “rip this country apart”.

Under the Reform plans, migrants would be required to apply for a new visa with a higher salary threshold and more stringent requirements. Reform said that those who failed to secure visas would be deported.

Starmer told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme: “It is one thing to say we’re going to remove illegal migrants … It is a completely different thing to say we are going to reach in to people who are lawfully here and start removing them. They are our neighbours. They’re people who work in our economy. They are part of who we are. It will rip this country apart.

“I do think that it is a racist policy. I do think it is immoral. It needs to be called out for what it is.”