Progress not Protest: Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves is applauded by Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Cabinet colleagues during her speech on Monday after she was interrupted by a heckler protesting arms sales to Israel. © PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo
This week was Labour’s turn for conference, their first as the party in government for fifteen years. And despite weeks of talking up the tough legacy they inherited, the mood in Liverpool was pretty optimistic and excited for the future (believe it or not, the Chancellor only mentioned the “£22bn black hole” twice in her big speech!). With the upcoming Budget, there wasn’t much in the way of policy announcements, but we did find out that the draft industrial strategy will be published next month, the rollout of free breakfast clubs in English primary schools will be piloted from next April, and that Great British Energy will be based in Aberdeen. The Prime Minister also announced a new policy to give homeless veterans, young care leavers and survivors of domestic abuse better access to housing waiting lists. Starmer’s 54-minute speech condemned the racism of the summer, acknowledged the need for trade-offs and defended the cut to winter fuel payments, however he also stressed that there is “light at the need of the tunnel.” Of course he didn’t get away without a heckle, but he seemed more prepared for it than last year, quickly quipping that they must have had a pass from the 2019 conference.
Cabinet members each had their moment on stage, with Rachel Reeves hailing her role as the UK’s first female Chancellor; Yvette Cooper recognising the “national emergency” of violence against women and girls; Angela Rayner highlighting the Government’s plans on housing and planning reform; Jonathan Reynolds citing the need for a trade strategy that resets the UK-EU relationship; and Wes Streeting arguing people could “never forgive” the Conservatives for what they oversaw in the health and care system. But it wasn’t all about the frontbench, as the party’s plethora of newbies sought to get their voices heard, with what we suspect is a record number of new Labour MPs speaking at conference fringe events.
20,000 – people descended on Liverpool for the 2024 Labour Conference.
19 – UK railway stations were hacked, resulting in people accessing the wi-fi being shown a message about terror attacks.
200,000 – more pensioners claimed winter fuel payments in 2023 compared to 2022, according to the latest stats… published just weeks after the Government slashed the payments.
37 – prisoners ineligible for the Government’s early release scheme who were freed in error.
29,000 – gambling ads displayed during the opening weekend of the Premier League season (including on pitch side hoardings, shirt sponsorships, radio and social media).
2 – days until the Conservative Party Conference begins. All four leadership contenders will be interviewed and give a speech.
In a busy week for the Prime Minister, Starmer met with Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump for the first time, during a two-hour dinner in New York. Starmer travelled to the USA earlier this week, following his speech at his party’s conference, to take part in the UN General Assembly. The pair were said to have discussed the ‘longstanding friendship between the UK and the US and the importance of continuing to develop the strong and enduring partnership between the two countries.’
Starmer also faced yet more criticism about donations he has received, after it was revealed that he and his family spent the election campaign living in a flat donated by Labour Party donor Lord Alli, worth up to over £20,000. Starmer has justified the decision as his 16 year old son was taking his GCSEs at the time, with too many journalists outside the family home in North London that were disturbing his son’s studying. He repeated this week that donations were a matter of “exercising judgement” for MPs and recommitted to no longer accepting clothing donations.
Violence between Israel and Hezbollah caused global alarm. Israel undertook devastating airstrikes across Lebanon, killing over 700 people so far, while Hezbollah continued to launch rockets into Israel, including by targeting Tel Aviv with a ballistic missile for the first time. A ceasefire deal sponsored by the US and France fell through as quickly as it was drawn up, and it is believed Israel could imminently launch a ground invasion of southern Lebanon.
Treasury ministers are allegedly re-evaluating the party’s manifesto pledge to remove the non-dom tax status after speculation it will not bring in as much revenue as the Government had hoped. Government officials have said no final decision has been made but the Chancellor is ready to pull plans ahead of the Budget if numbers do not add up.
Russell Findlay MSP was elected as the new leader of the Scottish Conservative Party, following the resignation of Douglas Ross MSP during the election campaign. Findlay has recently served as the party’s Justice Spokesperson in the Scottish Parliament.
Baroness Warsi has resigned from the Conservative Party, with the former Party Chair saying the decision was a reflection of how ‘how far right’ they had moved since she became Britain’s first Muslim Cabinet Minister under David Cameron. A Conservative Party spokesperson quickly suggested she was pushed before she jumped, claiming the Peer had been informed this week the party were about to investigate her over alleged ‘divisive language’.
The world’s largest alternative asset manager Blackstone announced a £10bn investment in the UK to build the biggest AI data centre in Europe, based in Blyth in North East England. The deal was facilitated by the Office for Investment, and it is expected to create over 4,000 jobs.
Nurses in England have rejected a 5.5% pay rise, after two-thirds of those who voted said the award, which was announced in July, was not enough. Members of the Royal College of Nursing in Scotland however did vote to accept the pay increase.
Reform UK hosted their party conference last weekend, with members voting to approve a new constitution and alter the way the party will be run. Leader Nigel Farage said it will give members ownership of the party, with members also able to remove the leader through a no-confidence vote.
The DUP Conference saw leader Gavin Robinson MP pledge a ‘new approach’ to how the party will do business: “people-centred and focused on getting outcomes that better the lives of all of our people”.
75% of people believe that it is ‘rarely or never’ acceptable for the Prime Minister to accept gifts from businesses or organisations, while 68% say the same about accepting gifts from private individuals. Ipsos’ latest data also found that 47% think the Prime Minister earns too much money, suggesting that perhaps our leaders can’t win…
Only 6% of Britons would support nationalisation of the railways if fares continue to rise, according to YouGov’s survey. While 66% support rail nationalisation in principle (compared to just 12% who are in favour of private ownership), this support collapses if the publicly run trains continue to see fare increases.
The future of tech regulation is Onward’s focus this week, with the think tank urging the Government to ‘radically rethink regulation to unlock innovation and deliver growth’. Its recommendations include putting the Regulatory Innovation Office on a statutory footing and creating an ‘Innovator Taskforce’ that could be deployed to regulators to support on specific, time-limited issues.
Incentivising stakeholders will be an important means of getting Britain building again, according to Policy Exchange’s latest report. Its ‘Pre-missive Society’ concept would see local stakeholders agreeing to what type and level of benefits they would require, such as reduced energy bills or public realm improvements, in exchange for the presumption of planning permission.
We can’t sign off our weekly roundup without mentioning the biggest slip of the tongue this week… Keir Starmer misreading his autocue at quite possibly the worst moment in his speech and calling for the return of the Israeli “sausages” instead of hostages. If you haven’t seen it yet, we can only imagine you’ve been living under a rock this week given the ludicrous number of memes flooding social media and number of times it has been clipped up by giddy journalists. Safe to safe – it wasn’t an ideal mistake for the PM to make…
The TikTok Gen Z script craze seems to have swept the internet in September, with some genuinely funny clips recorded by everyone from Currys to the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds. And whilst we were preparing our best cringe faces when we were told Labour had released one from their conference, it’s been universally agreed that Ed “the vibes are immaculate” Miliband saved it with an Oscar-worthy performance. [Editor’s note: thank you to the Navigate team for translating Gen Z speak, and a public apology for thereafter ending every other sentence with “no cap” this week…]
If you enjoyed that one, then a special mention has to go the British High Commission in Pakistan whose version of the TikTok craze, encouraging students to apply for the Chevening Scholarship, is one of the best we’ve seen so far.
