What Mark Carney said about Rachel Reeves Here is the full text of what Mark Carney said about Rachel Reeves in the short video shown to the Labour conference after she delivered her speech. Rachel Reeves is a serious economist. She began her career at the Bank of England, so she understands the big picture. But crucially, she understands the economics of work, of place and family. And, look, it is beyond time we put her energy and ideas into action. At a post-speech briefing, the spokesperson for Reeves said she was proud, as a former employee of the Bank, to have a former governor give a message like this. The spokesperson said he did not accept that a message like this meant the Bank was being politicised. Early evening summary Labour will fight the next election on the economy, Rachel Reeves has told the party’s conference, claiming she would be the “iron” chancellor who would help rebuild Britain after 13 years of Conservative rule. Mark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of England, has in effect endorsed her as a future chancellor, delivering a message to the conference saying she is a “serious economist” and “it is beyond time we put her energy and ideas into action”. (See 1.29pm.) There is an analysis of the significance of this from Richard Partington here. Labour’s leadership believes Scottish politics has reached a “tipping point” where it can beat the Scottish National party at the next general and Holyrood elections after last week’s dramatic byelection result. Rwanda is a country that “imprisons, tortures and murders” its opponents, including those who have already fled the country, the UK’s supreme court has heard. A list of transport projects to be funded using HS2 money, which included schemes that had already been built or were swiftly deleted, was intended only to be “illustrative”, Rishi Sunak has said. Labour delegates back Unite motion calling for energy renationalistion and HS2 to be built in full Labour delegates voted overwhelmingly in favour of the critical infrastructure motion, proposed by Unite and Aslef, calling for “UK energy to be brought back into public ownership, starting with the National Grid’s electricty and gas networks”. The motion also called for HS2 to be built in full – not just to Manchester, but the eastern leg to Leeds too. Neither of those proposals are Labour policy, and Keir Starmer has repeatedly ruled out renationalising energy companies, and so technically you could view this as a defeat. But the leadership did not seem to put any effort into getting delegates to vote the composite down. The vote was taken at the end of proceedings, and it passed on a show of hands. It is as if the leadership doesn’t mind it passing provided the unions don’t mind it not counting for anything. At this conference there is so much unity that even the defeats are harmonious. This is from the Labour for a Green New Deal campaign. BREAKING: Labour Conference votes to support public ownership of energy ⚡️ Labour has published texts of the main conference speeches, including Rachel Reeves’, here on its website. Momentum, the leftwing group in the party set up when Jeremy Corbyn was leader, says Reeves was disappointing. In a statement Momentum’s co-chair, Hilary Schan, said: Across the country, people are fed up: of public services that don’t work, bills that are too high and wages that are too low. As millions lose faith in the Tories, the question on everyone’s lips is: will Labour offer real change? Based on today’s speech, the answer is: some, but not enough. Rachel Reeves offered a strong condemnation of the Tories’ massive economic failures. There were some welcome, albeit limited, re-announcements on housebuilding and windfall taxes. But overall, this was a disappointing speech, which failed to rise to the huge crises facing Britain. Once again, Reeves clung to outdated and damaging economic orthodoxies: that the wealthiest can pay no more, that we cannot have the investment the country is crying out for, that key public services should remain in private hands. Drakeford defends Welsh Labour government"s "bold" record and dismisses "lies" about it from opponents Mark Drakeford, the Welsh first minister, is arguably the most powerful Labour politician in executive office in the UK. The Conservatives regularly cite Wales as an example of Labour’s poor record in government – because of NHS waiting lists, and, recently, the de facto 20mph speed limit for residential areas – but Drakeford argued Wales was a model. He did not mention the 20mph speed limit. The Welsh government has defended this strongly, saying it will save lives and become more popular over time, but there has been a backlash, prominently covered by the pro-Tory papers. Drakeford said: In Wales, we are that bold Labour government, bringing forward bold reforms. We are creating a Senedd fit for the future, fully elected by proportional representation, where every vote will count. We are abolishing the pursuit of profit in the care of our looked-after children. Reforming the school year – 150 years in the making – to put the needs of those children who have the least at the forefront of our decision making. Bringing buses back into public control and making coal tips safer. The path to sustaining Labour in power in Wales is never to be satisfied. It is never to think the job is done. And it’s never to be put off by the lies and distortions of our opponents. Drakeford said he wanted a Labour government in London to follow the “social partnership” model adopted in Wales. He said: The social partnership model we have enshrined in law in Wales is a model that can be echoed in a model for the future of the United Kingdom. Under the Welsh government’s Social Partnership and Public Procurement Act, public bodies are now under a “social partnership duty” to consult unions. A small group of environmental protesters has been ejected from the Labour party conference, PA Media reports. PA says: Protesters shouting “Revoke Rosebank” and other green slogans were escorted from the conference centre by security. The group staged their protest in an exhibition overspill area near rooms staging conference fringe events. Some bystanders applauded the group as they were led away. Jonathan Reynolds accuses Sunak of being misleading about costs of transition to net zero Jonathan Reynolds, the shadow business secretary, has criticised Rishi Sunak for viewing net zero as a cost not an opportunity. Speaking at a New Statesman fringe event, he said: I fundamentally disagree with how Rishi Sunak presented the speech that he made when he changed the government’s net zero targets because I think the only place you can start this from is to talk about the opportunities for this country. If you go around the world, talk to any business that is exactly how they see it. They don’t shy away from the challenges, but they see it as an opportunity. Rishi Sunak has regularly defended his plan to water down net zero policies by claiming he would save families £5,000, £10,000 or £15,000. He has at different times implied this could be the cost for people affected by the ban on oil boilers for off-grid homes (due to come in from 2026, but now postponed until 2035), or for people affected by the ban on gas boilers from 2035. But Reynolds said that Sunak was exaggerating the costs of heat pumps, and ignoring that his decision to delay the introduction of higher energy efficiency standards for landlords would cost tenants more. Reynolds said: If you look at what Rishi said – first of all, it’s going to cost people money, right? If you are in private rented accommodation, and you take away the energy efficiency standards and have no targets, it’s going to cost you more money in energy bills … I think the prime minister knows that costs of low carbon home heating will go down with the right framework that brings down the cost and ramps up the scale. I think he’s very smart on how that should work but he has felt he has to present it in a false way to fit with his political narrative. Labour’s plan to make the UK energy independent is popular with voters, according to polling from YouGov. Two thirds of voters support more homegrown energy through renewables, including 55% of people who voted Conservative in 2019. Labour also leads the Tories by 10 points, at 29% to 19%, when people are asked who they trusted to ensure the UK has a reliable and affordable energy supply. Labour Together and Labour Climate and Environment Forum, which commissioned the polling, said the findings showed Ed Miliband’s plans for energy and net zero were going in the right direction. Josh Simons, the director of Labour Together, said: Britain’s age of insecurity starts with its energy insecurity. Reliant on hostile foreign powers to fuel our cars and homes, dictators like Putin have their boot on the throats of working Brits. The only answer is energy security. And the only way we can achieve that is by investing significantly in renewables. Labour’s right, and the public are with them. There should be “no tolerance” for groups who – even at the Labour conference – support the idea that there should be no state of Israel, a Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) fringe event has been told by Dame Louise Ellman. A two-state solution is still “the only way forward” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the former MP told the packed event, which heard calls for a massive programme of investment into the region to strengthen civic society and build bridges. Ellman, who left Labour in 2019 during the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn and rejoined after Keir Starmer became leader, said a future Labour government must support that solution. But she said there should be “no tolerance” for Hamas, which did not accept Israel’s right to exist and had a hatred of Jews written into its charter. She added: There should be absolutely no tolerance for groups who, even this very moment and even at this conference, are supporting the idea that there should be no state of Israel. Let’s not forget that is the background to this and it has to be addressed as well. Speaking to the Guardian after the event, she commended Starmer for “turning the Labour party around in very difficult circumstances”. He said: He is determined that it does not go backwards and has given a very firm and unequivocal response to the crisis. Peter Kyle says Labour will put more certainty into government-funded research with 10-year budgets Peter Kyle, the shadow science secretary, told the conference in his speech that Labour would would seek to create “certainty” with 10-year research and development budgets. He said: Great, transformative breakthroughs need certainty and consistency. But under the Conservatives, funding for innovation bodies, such as UKRI [UK Research and Innovation – a government quango that funds research], only last three years. That’s enough to see them through three Tory prime ministers - but not to create the innovations our society and economy needs. So Labour will create certainty with 10-year R&D budgets. This would allow relationships with industry to be built, long-term partnerships to form and lead to investment in new technology and the infrastructure that underpins it. After the axing of HS2 by the prime minister dominated much of the Conservative conference, Labour MPs have dampened down hopes of any immediate re-commitment to high-speed rail and largely steered clear of a tricky debate. The shadow transport secretary, Louise Haigh, swerved a couple of high-profile rail fringe meetings where she was due to speak, without even junior ministers attending, before appearing briefly at a session with the Labour metro mayors Tracy Brabin and Andy Burnham, but departing before any questions. That followed Rachel Reeves’s speech, in which the shadow chancellor announced an independent inquiry into the spending on HS2. (See 1.38pm.) Beyond being “committed to an inquiry into lessons learned”, Haigh said no more on HS2’s future – although Northern Powerhouse Rail would be built. Investing in infrastructure, Haigh said, needed wider reform first, adding that Labour “would overhaul our broken rail system … and that means bringing our railways back into public ownership”. On HS2, however, both Haigh and the shadow local transport minister Simon Lightwood, filling in at a subsequent event, have been careful to echo Keir Starmer almost verbatim. Lightwood said: The government is selling off the land and cancelling contracts, which makes it very difficult for a Labour government coming in to commit to delivering that because we simply wouldn’t have the funding. The Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, clearly still raw, vowed to fight on for HS2 and called at fringe meetings for a “system of checks of balances to prevent 10 years of plans being ripped up in a party conference hotel room overnight”. (See 4.04pm.) Labour supports shooting as a country sport, Steve Reed, the shadow environment secretary, told a fringe meeting. He said: We have to develop a very respectful relationship with the countryside. And that means people from urban seats like me not telling people who live in the countryside how they should live their lives, and that respectful approach, I think, is absolutely necessary if we’re going to form a government. That means supporting shooting that is sustainable. Miliband dismisses Conservatives as "pound shop Republican party" Ed Miliband, the shadow energy security and net zero secretary, used his speech to confirm Labour’s plans for an energy independent act. In a passage about the Conservative party that was particularly well received, he dismissed them as a pound shop Republican party. He said: The Tories’ climate culture war is not just anti-planet. It’s anti-security, anti-prosperity, anti-worker, anti-business, anti-jobs, anti-future, anti-young people, and it’s anti-Britain. We’re not going to let these Tories cancel our country’s future. Now, Sunak tries to spin that he’s still committed to tackling the climate crisis, but look at the people celebrating what he’s done: Jacob Rees-Mogg, Liz Truss, and to top it all, Donald Trump congratulated him. The British people don’t want a pound shop Republican party. They don’t want an energy policy written by Truss and Trump. Let’s send these Tories to where they belong. Let’s recycle them from government to opposition. And chuck them into the seven dustbins of history. Burnham urges goverment to pause sell-off of HS2 phase 2 land to allow time for alternative plan Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, has called for the government to pause the sell-off of HS2 land to give local leaders a chance to put together an alternative plan. At the Conservative party conference last week, Rishi Sunak said he would lift the “safeguarding” order on the Birmingham to Crewe leg “in weeks” to enable the land to be sold. Such a short timescale does not give local leaders enough time to look at alternatives, Burnham told a fringe event at the Labour conference: We need to send a very clear message to the government that we will not accept that type of timetable for something with enormous implications ... Whatever the mechanism is, we’ve got to send a really clear message out now across party and across geography that it is a very damaging decision, if they take it, to lift the protections on that line. Tracy Brabin, the mayor of West Yorkshire, said land the size of several football pitches had been safeguarded for years around Leeds station in preparation for HS2. “That safeguarded land has cost us dearly, and after years and years of waiting, for that to be scrapped is going to have an absolutely devastating impact on our economy,” she said.