No 10 confirms single person council tax discount won"t be cut in budget Last night Genevieve Holl-Allen in the Telegraph said the government would not be getting rid of the council tax discount for single people in the budget. Earlier this month, at PMQs and again in a briefing with reporters, Keir Starmer refused to rule out the discount being axed. At the Downing Street lobby briefing this morning (it still takes place in No 10, even when almost all political reporters are at party conference), the spokesperson in effect confirmed the Telegraph story. “I would not steer you away from those reports,” the spokesperson said. Early evening summary Rachel Reeves has defended her decisions to cut the winter fuel allowance and abandon infrastructure projects as she argued the decisions taken in the early weeks of the Labour government would pave the way to a more optimistic economic future. The Unite union has accused Labour conference organisers of seeking to silence them by scheduling a vote that could condemn cuts to winter fuel payments for the very end of the gathering. Nurses in England have rejected the 5.5% pay rise they were given for this year, in a move that may lead to them to start striking again in pursuit of higher salaries. Scottish Labour believes access to the winter fuel allowance could be widened in Scotland as it tries to fight off its opponents’ attacks before the next Holyrood election. Landlords who rent out substandard draughty homes face a crackdown under plans set out by the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, at the Labour party conference. Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, has condemned scaremongering around Labour’s plans for an overhaul of workers’ rights next month, saying the package will transform lives, including for pregnant women and bereaved parents. 60% of Britons think Labour won"t be re-elected, polling suggests More in Common, the campaign group trying to reduce division in politics, has published some research looking at Labour’s prospects of winning a second term. It’s grim reading for activists, and it was unveiled at a fringe meeting at the conference this afternoon. Here are some of the findings. 1) Labour’s electoral coalition is unwieldy, because it relies on support from the left and the right, the report says. 2) A modest Tory recovery could lead to them becoming the largest party after the election. 3) Keir Starmer’s approval ratings have collapsed. 4) 60% of Britons think Labour won’t be relected, polling suggests. 5) 17% of people who voted Labour at the election regret doing so, polling suggests. Tory ministers, and Trump, have used language about migrants that emboldens racists, minister says Donald Trump and Conservative ministers have helped to create a space for “overt racism” which has spilled onto UK streets, a home office minister has told Labour delegates. Angela Eagle, the minister in charge of irregular migration, said the Republican President candidate had helped to create “vitriol” against migrants through social media. She said unnamed rightwing Tories had used language which had given a “yellow flashing light” to racists by using a “toxic discourse” as they fought off the challenge from the Reform party. Speaking at a fringe meeting on Monday, she said it was difficult for new immigrants to “rise above the constant drumbeat of toxic anti immigration, anti immigrant rhetoric that has become emboldened, not only in Britain, but across the western countries”. She went on: I mean, Trump does the same. If you look at some of the memes that he’s using with the wall stuff at the moment, it’s astonishing, quite the level of vitriol that it has created. She told the Refugee Council fringe meeting that the Tories’ obsession with the challenge from the Reform Party as a general election approached this year prompted the party’s ministers to use “toxic” language against asylum seekers. We had a discourse as the right of the Conservative party got more and more obsessed with what Reform was doing that was very toxic indeed, othering asylum seekers, othering human beings in general, and creating a space, I think, for overt racism on our streets. Because let’s face it, talking about asylum seekers in the way that some government ministers did gave, let me say, at least, a yellow flashing light to people that wanted to indulge in a discourse about people whose skin wasn’t the colour that they wanted it to be. Let’s just put it that way. And I think creating that kind of toxic discourse around asylum is a real problem. Asked which former ministers she was referring to, she told the Guardian: “I won’t name them but you can probably guess.” Philip Aldrick from Bloomberg says Rachel Reeves is considering given herself more leeway to borrow by moving the National Wealth Fund and GB Energy off the government balance sheet. Reeves is looking at moving the National Wealth Fund and GB Energy off the govt balance sheet in a move that could free up £15bn for additional investment. That would be on top of the £16bn she would get by changing the debt rule to PSND [public sector net debt] Treasury is grappling with the challenge of establishing fiscal credibility and delivering growth. Another option is switching the debt measure to PSNFL [public sector net financial liabilities], which similarly effectively removes policy banks from the books. This is how Germany, France and the IMF do it It’s an option. Not a decision. The £15bn estimate comes from a paper by former OBR official Andy King. Of course, this means Labour could borrow more. “Where active government is called for, this government will act,” Reeves said at . “And Conference, it is time that the Treasury moved on from just counting the costs of investments in our economy, to recognising the benefits too.” Oblique, but potentially important. That is a reference to what Reeeves said in the speech about investment. (See 12.33pm.) Here is some video from Rachel Reeves’ conference speech. 2024 Reynolds condemns ‘scaremongering’ over Labour’s workers’ rights overhaul Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, has condemned scaremongering around Labour’s plans for an overhaul of workers’ rights next month, saying the package will transform lives, including for pregnant women and bereaved parents. As Jessica Elgot reports, in an interview with the Guardian Reynolds said Labour would legislate next month for far stronger protection for pregnant employees, and begin consultation on plans for a more generous and modernised system for parental leave. My colleague Peter Walker, a public health expert, has posted these on X from a fringe meeting on health policy. I’m at a Labour fringe event about preventative health care where public health minister Andrew Gwynne explained how Chris Whitty told him on his first day that 40% of NHS spending is on preventable illnesses. Fifteen years on it is forecast to be 60%, he said. Gwynne said the second slide Whitty showed him was the well-known stats on the *massive* gaps in life expectancy and healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest UK areas. Closing this is a moral impediment, he says. I imagine that Chris Whitty has patiently given the same briefly to a succession of public health ministers over the years. Have things got better? Not yet. Could they under Labour? It’s possible, but the inertia and obstacles are massive. As a vignette of those obstacles, we’re now hearing about the public health impact of obesity, from a thinktank expert. Three people away from him on the panel is the chief marketing officer of Sainsbury’s. No disrespect to Sainsbury’s, but they’re not the solution to obesity. Said thinktank expert, Ravi Gurumurthy, has argued that supermarkets could be obliged to adapted their promotions and layouts, and products could be reformulated, which would make a big difference for public health. Would be interesting if government took up such ideas. Slightly awkward moment as, just after the man from Sainsbury’s has said his bit about their commitment to public health, Simon Opher, a GP and new Labour MP, bluntly says that supermarkets need legislation to force them to be healthier as they never will voluntarily. There was a strong Carpenters theme to Ed Miliband’s speech to the Labour conference. “We’ve only just started,” he said, as he set out the government’s to tackle the climate crisis. This is how he summed up what he was already doing. Just look at what your Labour government has been able to do on energy in a few short weeks. The onshore wind ban in place for 9 years under the Tories, swept away in 72 hours under Labour. Cheap, clean solar power, blocked for years under the Tories, unlocked in the first week of a Labour government. Offshore wind trashed under the Tories, roaring back under Labour with the most successful renewable auction in history. That’s the difference a Labour government makes. He also echoed what Rachel Reeves said in her speech earlier, when she said Labour’s industrial policy would deliver more building. (See 12.36pm.) Miliband said: Under this Labour government, as Rachel Reeves so brilliantly said this morning, industrial policy is back. We care about what we make, where things are made and who makes them. And I promise you this: I will use every lever we have to win jobs and build new industries for Britain. Great British Energy, the National Wealth Fund, the British Jobs Bonus. And let’s spell out what this future means: jobs building carbon capture and storage. Jobs manufacturing electrolysers for hydrogen. Jobs constructing the next generation of nuclear power stations. Jobs manufacturing for floating wind. Lord Alli, the Labour donor, is at the conference. But Serena Barker-Singh from Sky News says she did not have much luck trying to talk to him about donations. NEW: Lord Ali just walked nonchalantly through conference passing Bridget Phillipson who didn’t acknowledge him. A friend of his told me he wouldn’t be bothered by the media storm but as I tried to ask him about the donations he said “please don’t - this is not very nice” In her conference speech Rachel Reeves said she wanted to change the way the Treasury views investment. (See 12.33pm.) Ben Zaranko, an economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies thinktank, has posed this on X about what this might mean. Seems to me two possible interpretations of this: 1) More focus/emphasis on supply side benefits of investment (in line with recent OBR paper on the topic) 2) A greater focus on broader measures of the public sector balance sheet (rather than debt) in the fiscal rules This is what Reeves said in her Mais lecture earlier this year about wanting the OBR to focus more on the long-term benefits of investment. I will also ask the OBR to report on the long-term impact of capital spending decisions. And as chancellor I will report on wider measures of public sector assets and liabilities at fiscal events, showing how the health of the public balance sheet is bolstered by good investment decisions. Welsh first minister Eluned Morgan says Wales ahead of England "in many aspects" of NHS reform Eluned Morgan, the new Welsh first minister, started her speech to the Labour conference saying she was not just the first woman to lead Wales. “I am the first Labour woman in the history of our party to lead a country, and isn’t it about time,” she said. Labour has been in power in Wales since devolution and Morgan said, even with the Conservatives in office at Westminster, the Welsh government had achieved a lot. We’ve made remarkable progress, in Wales if you are over 60 and you need to catch a bus - its free, if you’re parking in a hospital - its free, if you need medicine - its free, and since I have become first minister, I’m proud to say that if you are a primary school child in Wales your lunch - is free. We also give care leavers a universal basic income, we have the second-best recycling rates on the planet, we’ve introduced a youth guarantee scheme and we’ve brought in laws to eliminate profit from children’s care homes. The Welsh government is regularly criticised by the Tories for its record on the NHS. In Wales waiting times are longer. But Morgan said that, “in many aspects”, Wales was ahead of England in terms of NHS reform. We know we face big challenges. The NHS in Wales like the rest of the UK is under pressure and needs reform, but in many aspects, we are further ahead with those reforms. These challenges demand action, and we’re tackling them head on. With a new GP contract to eliminate the 8am bottleneck, teeth cleaning programs in schools and care homes, ambitious community prescribing schemes, dedicated mental health support in schools and via phone lines . But you know what? We are not claiming a monopoly on good ideas. We’re ready to learn from our neighbours and we are happy to share where we have already delivered. Boosting growth on its own would not make much difference to number of people living in relative poverty, says thinktank Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have made boosting economic growth their top priority. But, even if they are successful, higher growth alone will not make much difference to the number of people living in relative poverty, according to a report published today by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. It says: Our analysis suggests that without policy changes, poverty (relative poverty, after housing costs using the usual 60% of median income poverty line) is likely to remain largely unaffected by economic growth. In a strong economy with working-age employment at 80%, poverty is likely to drop by only around 100,000 to 200,000 people by 2028 compared to the central scenario, remaining at around 14.5 million in total. Without the significant employment rate boost in the very high employment and growth scenario, a strong economy is even more unlikely to reduce poverty. There is even a risk of a small rise as incomes in the middle continue to pull away from the incomes of people lower down the income distribution, because of the higher contribution of earnings to their incomes … Anas Sarwar says Scottish Labour needs to "finish the job" and get rid of SNP government too Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, told the conference that his party now had to “finish the job” and defeat the SNP. He said: You see conference - for lots of you, there was only one incompetent government to get rid of. But in Scotland we were stuck with two. At the general election, we got rid of one incompetent government. And in 2026 we finish the job and get rid of the other one. That’s the next stage of change for Scotland. Because as we speak, nearly one in six Scots are on an NHS waiting list. Thousands have been driven into private healthcare. Drugs and alcohol deaths remain stubbornly high. Rough sleeping persists and homelessness is at record levels. The education attainment gap remains. And the economic flatlining has damaged businesses … And as we look towards the 2026 Scottish parliament election I want to be clear. Others might want to talk Scotland down, but I and all of Scottish Labour are relentlessly positive for the future of our country. No 10 confirms single person council tax discount won"t be cut in budget Last night Genevieve Holl-Allen in the Telegraph said the government would not be getting rid of the council tax discount for single people in the budget. Earlier this month, at PMQs and again in a briefing with reporters, Keir Starmer refused to rule out the discount being axed. At the Downing Street lobby briefing this morning (it still takes place in No 10, even when almost all political reporters are at party conference), the spokesperson in effect confirmed the Telegraph story. “I would not steer you away from those reports,” the spokesperson said. Facebook used to have a motto about wanting to “move fast and break things”. Louise Haigh told conference in her speech that her approach was not quite the same. She said: I know I stand on the shoulders of some giants of our Labour movement in assuming this office. Our first female transport secretary, the incomparable Barbara Castle. Who famously said ‘in politics, guts is all’. And she came under horrendous attack for it - even receiving death threats for introducing those disgracefully woke anti-driver measures - the seatbelt and the breathalyser. Barbara understood that transport wasn’t about the roads or the tracks, but about the people and the opportunities it can create or deny them. What was true then is true today. From the woman I met on the campaign trail who had to move house because her local bus route was cut – she couldn’t get to work, to the doctor, to see her parents. To the young person who is always late for work, because they can’t afford the car insurance or even book a driving test in the first place. And the businesses who want to invest but choose to go elsewhere. Because they can’t get their people of their produce to where they want to be. Keir has set us on a mission. Our mission is to get Britain moving. And that is why we have not wasted a single second in getting to work. My ministerial team and I – Peter Hendy, Simon Lightwood, Lillian Greenwood, Mike Kane – we told our department that our new motto is to move fast and fix things, and that’s exactly what we’re doing.