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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow

Jeremy Corbyn speech: Labour MPs should 'end trench warfare' and get behind socialist vision - Politics live

Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour conference speech

Summary

That’s all from me for today.

Thanks for the comments.

Here is the Guardian’s Comment is free panel verdict on Corbyn’s speech, with contributions from Hugh Muir, Jonathan Freedland, Ellie Mae O’Hagan, Aditya Chakrabortty, and Polly Toynbee.

And here’s an extract, from Aditya’s article.

At the heart of today’s speech Corbyn was making a big new argument, one I haven’t heard from a Labour leader’s speech in my entire working life. In just over a year, the Labour party has gone from a being desiccated husk of worn-down old leftists and elbows-out young Blairites to being a mass movement. At half a million members, it is the biggest party in Europe – at a time when other political parties are dying. To use business terminology, we have witnessed something akin to a reverse takeover of the Labour party. It is incomplete and it is certainly contested, but it is real.

And what the head of this new movement – confirmed as its leader twice in 12 months – was sketching out today was the potential for a social movement in electoral politics. By invoking the victories of Sadiq Khan in London and Marvin Rees in Bristol, he was showing that a social movement can yield victory at the ballot box.

Business groups express doubts about Corbyn's vision

Here is some business reaction to Jeremy Corbyn’s speech.

From Josh Hardie, the CBI’s director general

The CBI shares much of Labour’s vision for a fairer society underpinned by good business. But without an open dialogue there is a risk that some of their policies could take us backwards.

With such significant economic challenges ahead, the UK needs a strong opposition firing on all cylinders and providing progressive, practical new ideas.

The focus on research and development, infrastructure and education is encouraging, but artificially hiking wages and changing corporation tax could be investment dampeners, not drivers.

Labour is certainly laying out a new way forward and we urge them to iron out inconsistent messages - especially the relationship between state and industry - and clarify policies that are sometimes hard to see delivered and paid for.

From Simon Walker, the Institute of Directors’ director general

A credible opposition is crucial in keeping the Government on its toes. We will need an effective Labour party challenging the Conservatives during Brexit negotiations to get a deal in the best interests of the country. While Jeremy Corbyn did touch upon important areas for future economic success, like skills and infrastructure, he is not yet putting forward a plan which looks like a platform for government. The basic question is, how will he pay for these mammoth spending plans?

The problem for business is that it simply does not see the world in the same way as the Labour leader. The IoD does not think companies are beyond reproach, we have been publically critical of Mike Ashley and Philip Green, but in this speech business was presented as a comic-book villain. Over 80% of people work in the private sector and there are more than five million businesses in the UK. They are the source of the nation’s prosperity, the generators of employment and the funders of our public services. They are not a problem to be solved.

From Terry Scuoler, chief executive of EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation

Whilst it is welcome to hear the leader of the Opposition talking about the importance of industrial strategy and, the importance of manufacturing, his credentials are far from established in terms of demonstrating an understanding of the overwhelming benefits of liberal capitalism and the society he claims to support.

Corbyn's speech in numbers

The Press Association has filed some statistics about Jeremy Corbyn’s speech.

There were a total of five mentions of either “socialism” or “socialist”. It was the first time socialism has been mentioned in a leader’s speech at the Labour conference since 2010, when Ed Miliband included it in a reference to his father.

“Deficit” was not mentioned once.

A “Labour government” was mentioned eight times, while there were 13 references to “the Tories”.

Corbyn referred to “the privileged few” on six occasions.

Other common words were “investment” (13 mentions), “workers” (10), “communities” (eight) and “housing” (seven).

Scotland was mentioned just once.

Labour’s plan for a “national education service” received five mentions.

Gordon Brown was the only former Labour leader to get a namecheck in the speech.

Totalling just under 6,000 words, the speech was the shortest delivered by a Labour leader at conference since Tony Blair in 2006.

On the subject of Scotland, my colleague Libby Brooks has posted this on Twitter.

Corbyn urges Labour MPs to 'end the trench warfare' as he sets out socialist vision

Jeremy Corbyn called on Labour MPs to “end the trench warfare” and get behind his socialist vision for Britain under which he would allow councils to borrow more, raise taxes on business to fund education and suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

Setting out a radical leftwing agenda that secured rapturous applause from supporters in the hall but a sceptical response from some Labour MPs, Corbyn also hit back at critics who say he is uninterested in winning elections.

“Yes, our party is about campaigning and it’s about protest too but most of all it’s about winning power in local and national government to deliver the real change our country so desperately needs,” he said, in a speech widely seen as having been delivered confidently.

At the end of five days of continued infighting after his second convincing victory among Labour members, Corbyn used the speech to assert his authority but did admit that Labour had an “electoral mountain to climb”.

Addressing the issue of disunity in the party, he said: “Let’s be frank, no one will be convinced of a vision promoted by a divided party. We all agree on that.

“So I ask each and every one of you - accept the decision of the members, end the trench warfare and work together to take on the Tories.

“Anything else is a luxury that the millions of people who depend on Labour cannot afford.

The party leader set out key policies to the conference including:

  • scrapping the local borrowing cap, which would allow councils to use their existing housing stock to raise money that could be ploughed back into housebuilding.
  • raising corporation tax by up to 1.5% to fund an education maintenance allowance for college students as part of a national education service.
  • Banning arm sales where there are credible reports of human rights abuses or war crimes being committed, “starting with Saudi Arabia”, which he said committed repeated violations of international humanitarian law and war crimes.

“Britain continues to sell arms to Saudi Arabia, a country that the United Nations says is committing repeated violations of international humanitarian law, war crimes.

“In Yemen, just as we have seen taking place in Syria,” he said, leading to one of a number of standing applauses.

Perhaps the loudest and longest cheer came when Corbyn told the audience that he believed recent wars had spread terrorism, sectarianism and violence.

“That is why it was right to apologise on behalf of the party for the Iraq war, right to say that we have learned the lessons, and right to say that such a catastrophe must never be allowed to happen again,” he said as most of the audience rose to its feet but a few members walked out in anger at what they saw as an attack of the former Labour leader, Tony Blair.

The speech and response was in stark contrast to that delivered by the deputy leader, Tom Watson, a day earlier in which he urged delegates to stop “trashing the record” of Blair and Gordon Brown.

Jeremy Corbyn delivers his keynote speech on the final day of the Labour party conference.
Jeremy Corbyn delivers his keynote speech on the final day of the Labour party conference. Photograph: Jon Super/EPA

Pat McFadden, the Labour MP and former shadow Europe minister who now campaigns for Open Britain, said in a statement that Labour should commit to keeping the UK in the single market. He said:

EU trade and EU immigration are issues that must be considered together, not apart.

Britain needs to be part of the EU Single Market, while recognising concerns over migration and seeking reform.

So while I welcome Jeremy’s support for the return of the Migration Impact Fund, other changes must be considered. And Labour must wholeheartedly back Britain’s place in the single market.

Following John Woodcock (see 4.35pm), here are four more Labour MPs who opposed Jeremy Corbyn strongly during the summer who have praised his speech.

From Hilary Benn, who was sacked as shadow foreign secretary for organising a shadow cabinet no confidence move against Corbyn

From Kate Green, who managed Owen Smith’s leadership campaign

From Jonathan Reynolds

From Lucy Powell

John McTernan, the former Tony Blair aide who is one of Jeremy Corbyn’s most vocal critics in the media and on Twitter, walked out during the speech when Corbyn apologised for the Iraq war, the Mail’s Jason Groves reports.

Here is Ukip’s Tim Aker on Jeremy Corbyn’s speech.

Today has confirmed that Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party has nothing to offer the millions of decent patriotic Labour supporters who voted Leave and want to see levels of migration brought down.

Several times Corbyn spoke about trust, but how can the voters ever trust Labour again when millions voted on June 23rd for control of their borders, yet Labour are determined to keep free the movement of people?

The Bank of England has confirmed that free movement of people has driven down wages for the working classes. Labour’s addiction to uncontrolled mass immigration makes them no friend to Britain’s lowest paid.

Many Labour MPs should be worried. The patriotic working class are leaving them in droves to Ukip and Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership will swell the ranks of Ukip as we grow and offer a genuine alternative to those who are worried about cuts to vital services, over development and Tory flip-flopping on Brexit.

Here is Tim Farron, the Lib Dem leader, on Jeremy Corbyn’s speech.

Corbyn’s speech shows Labour’s proble. The last time I saw ovations like that was Iain Duncan Smith’s Blackpool conference speech. Here was a quiet man turning down the volume, especially on Europe. He barely mentioned Brexit and said nothing on the importance of the Single Market. It is clear that the Liberal Democrats are the only pro-European party now.

Labour are now two parties, one that wants to win but is being suffocated by Corbyn and his clique who just want to debate the issues of the day and seem to love the politics of the placard.

This speech shows how Labour is trapped and there is no way out of their nightmare.

Patrick McCloughlin, the Conservative chairman, has issued this response to Jeremy Corbyn’s speech.

This Conference has shown Labour are too divided, distracted and incompetent to build a country that works for everyone.

They would spend, borrow and tax even more than they did last time, support unlimited immigration, and cannot be trusted to keep our country safe.

They are not a credible alternative government and they have nothing to offer as we work to build a country that works for everyone.

The pledge of £160m for an “arts pupil premium” will make some teachers happy, but it was unusual for Corbyn to offer it to “every primary school in England and Wales,” since education policy and funding in Wales is devolved to the assembly in Cardiff. Presumably a Labour-run Westminster government could send cheques to every Welsh primary school if it wished but would be unable to dictate how it was used.

But even if the £160m only went to English primary schools, it equates to £35 for each of the four and a half million primary school pupils - enough for a school trip or two, perhaps, or a few music lessons.

This is from Sam Freedman, a former Department for Education official who is now a director at Teach First.

Updated

Corbyn's speech - Verdict from the Twitter commentariat

This is what political journalists and commentators are saying about Jeremy Corbyn’s speech. Generally, the verdict is very positive – at least by comparison with previous Corbyn speeches.

From ITV’s Robert Peston:

From the Guardian’s Owen Jones

From ITV’s Paul Brand:

From Sky’s Faisal Islam:

From the Times’s Patrick Kidd:

From Sky’s Darren McCarrey:

From the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg:

From the Mirror’s Jason Beattie:

From the BBC’s Nick Robinson:

From the Herald’s Iain McWhirter:

From the Spectator’s James Forsyth:

From the Guardian’s Rafael Behr:

From LBC’s Iain Dale:

From the New Statesman’s Stephen Bush:

Updated

Here is the full text of Corbyn’s speech.

Updated

Crickey! Even John Woodcock has found something positive to say about the speech.

Woodcock is a Blairite MP who has been one of Jeremy Corbyn’s fiercest critics.

This is from BuzzFeed’s Jim Waterson.

This, from ITV’s Robert Peston, may explain why the cheering for Jeremy Corbyn in the hall was so strong.

Corbyn's speech - Snap verdict

Corbyn’s speech - snap verdict: This summer’s leadership election is generally thought to have been a disaster for the Labour party, but one consequence of it is that three months on the campaign trail seem to have helped Jeremy Corbyn sharpen up quite a bit as a salesman for his politics. He has smartened up (literally), his media performances have been noticeably better this week than they were at last year’s conference and that speech was probably the best he’s ever given on a national platform like this.

Corbyn will never be a racy orator, but he did not try for that here and there was nothing that sounded dud or phoney. There was relatively little of the ritual opponent-bashing you get in these speeches (a blessing), no jokes that misfired (in fact, only one joke – but a good one), and instead just a serious policy manifesto. It did go on a bit, but dull and earnest is not necessarily bad, particularly if as a politician you have yet to establish your credentials as credible future prime minister.

Corbyn did not indulge in any recriminations. Perhaps he could have made more of an effort to reach out beyond his natural constituency, but his speech focused on topics like housing, transport and education that do matter to people who read the Daily Mail. It is often said that Corbyn is a politician who gets most animated talking about human rights and world peace. But in this speech he restrained himself, and the Iraq/Saudia Arabia references were rather brief. It was noticeable that the loudest cheers came when he mentioned the Chilcot report. The Corbynites in the audience may have preferred 50 minutes of Blair-bashing, and 10 minutes of domestic policy. But Corbyn wisely did not give them what they wanted.

Blair fought the 1997 general election with a five-point pledge card that eventually became very well known. At the moment Corbyn’s 10 pledges have made zero dent on the public consciousness. But today he put them firmly on the table. Some seem little more than vague aspirations (a national education service), though not necessarily bad ones. Some are surprisingly similar to what the government is doing (like getting business to pay for training – or the apprenticeship levy, as George Osborne called it.)

But his headline announcement, about giving councils new powers to borrow to build homes, seems a good one. Why? Because proposals like this have in the past had the backing of credible organisations like the Local Government Association. And even Boris Johnson came out in favour of a proposal like this when he was London mayor.

Updated

Corbyn is on his peroration.

Everyone here … and every one of our hundreds of thousands of members …. has something to contribute to our cause. That way we will unite … Build on our policies …. Take our vision out to a country crying out for change … We are … half a million of us, and there will be more … working together … to make our country the place it could be.

Conference … united … we can shape the future … and build a fairer Britain … in a peaceful world.

Thank you. And that’s it.

I will post a snap verdict in a moment, as well as bringing you reaction and analysis from others.

Updated

Corbyn is winding up soon.

Let us do it … in the spirit of the great Scots-born Liverpool football manager Bill Shankly … who said: “The socialism I believe in … is everybody working for the same goal … and everybody having a share in the rewards. That’s how I see football … that’s how I see life.”

We are not all Bill Shanklys … Each of us comes to our socialism from our own experiences.

And he turns to his own past.

Mine was shaped by my mum and dad … a teacher and an engineer …. Both committed socialists and peace campaigners … my mum’s inspiration was to encourage girls …. to believe they could achieve anything in their lives.

He says he was influenced by working as a teacher in Jamaica, and as a trade union organiser.

As the great American poet Langston Hughes put it: “I see that my own hands can make … the world that’s in my mind.”

Updated

Corbyn says Labour should prepare for a snap election

Corbyn turns to the elections next year. He says he looks forward to Labour winning in Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham in the mayoral elections.

And he says there could be a general election.

But we could also face a general election next year. Whatever the prime minister says about snap elections … there is every chance that Theresa May … will cut and run ... for an early election. So I put our party on notice today … Labour is preparing for a general election in 2017 … we expect all our members to support our campaign … and we will be ready for the challenge whenever it comes.

Updated

Corbyn says he is proposing the “socialism of the 21st century”.

Our job is now to win over the unconvinced to our vision … Only that way can we secure the Labour government we need. And let’s be frank … no one will be convinced of a vision … promoted by a divided party … We all agree on that. So I ask each and every one of you … accept the decision of the members … end the trench warfare … and work together to take on the Tories.

This gets a sustained round of applause.

Anything else is a luxury … that the millions of people who depend on Labour cannot afford.

Updated

Corbyn turns to the possibility of winning the general election.

It’s true there’s an electoral mountain to climb. But if we focus everything on the needs and aspirations of middle and lower income voters, of ordinary families … if we demonstrate we’ve got a viable alternative … to the government’s failed economic policies ... I’m convinced we can build the electoral support ... that can beat the Tories.

Corbyn says Labour is motivated by the struggle for equality.

Running like a golden thread through Labour’s vision for today … as throughout our history …. is the struggle for equality. Rampant inequality has become the great scandal of our time, sapping the potential of our society.. and tearing at its fabric. Labour’s goal isn’t just greater equality of wealth and income ... but also of power.

Our aim could not be more ambitious. We want a new settlement for the 21st century … in politics.. business.. our communities.. with the environment, and in our relations with the rest of the world.

Updated

Corbyn says Labour would suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia

Corbyn condemns arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

We are a long way from that humanitarian vision … Britain continues to sell arms to Saudi Arabia … a country that the United Nations says is committing repeated violations of international humanitarian law … war crimes … in Yemen ... just as we have seen taking place in Syria.

So today, I make it clear … that under a Labour government … when there are credible reports of human rights abuses or war crimes being committed … British arms sales will be suspended, starting with Saudi Arabia.

  • Corbyn says Labour would suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

Updated

Corbyn turns to foreign policy.

We have to face the role that repeated military interventions by British governments …. have played in that crisis. The Chilcot report made absolutely clear … the lessons to be learned from the disastrous invasion and occupation of Iraq … just as this month’s foreign affairs select committee report into the war in Libya demonstrated … those lessons had still not been learned a decade later.

The consequences of those wars …. have been the spread of terrorism, sectarianism and violence …. across an arc of conflict … that has displaced millions of people … forcing them from their countries. That is why it was right to apologise … on behalf of the party for the Iraq war… right to say that we have learned the lessons … and right to say that such a catastrophe must never be allowed to happen again.

This gets a particularly sustained round of applause.

Updated

Corbyn sets out his approach to Brexit.

We have made it clear that we will resist a Brexit at the expense of workers’ rights and social justice … we have set out our red lines on employment, environmental and social protection … and on access to the European market.

Updated

Corbyn says Labour must not 'patronise or lecture' those who voted to leave EU

Corbyn says Labour campaigned hard in the EU referendum.

But although most Labour voters backed us … we did not convince millions of natural Labour voters … especially in those parts of the country left behind. Left behind by years of neglect … under-investment and de-industrialisation.

Now we have to face the future together … we are not helped by patronising or lecturing those in our communities who voted to leave … We have to hear their concerns … about jobs, about public services, about wages, about immigration, about a future for their children…. And we have to respect their votes … and the decision of the British people.

  • Corbyn says Labour must not “patronise or lecture” those who voted to leave.

Updated

Corbyn's plans for immigration

Corby turns to immigration. Here is the passage in full:

It isn’t migrants that drive down wages … it’s exploitative employers … and the politicians who deregulate the labour market and rip up trade union rights.

… It isn’t migrants who put a strain on our NHS … it only keeps going because of the migrant nurses and doctors who come here … filling the gaps left by politicians who have failed to invest in training … It isn’t migrants that have caused a housing crisis … it’s a Tory government that has failed to build homes.

Immigration can certainly put extra pressure on services … and that’s why, under Gordon Brown, Labour set up the migrant impact fund … to provide extra funding to communities that have the largest rises in population. What did the Tories do? They abolished it … and then they demonise migrants for putting pressure on services.

A Labour government will not offer false promises on immigration … as the Tories have done. We will not sow division by fanning the flames of fear … We will tackle the real issues of immigration instead … whatever the eventual outcome of the Brexit negotiations … and make the changes that are needed.

We will act decisively to end the the undercutting of workers’ pay and conditions … through the exploitation of migrant labour and agency working … which would reduce the number of migrant workers in the process.

And we will ease the pressure on hard-pressed public services – services that are struggling to absorb Tory austerity cuts, in communities absorbing new populations.

Labour will reinstate the migrant impact fund, and give extra support to areas of high migration … using the visa levy for its intended purpose … And we will add a citizenship application fee levy to boost the fund.

That is the Labour way to tackle social tension … investment and assistance, not racism and division.

Updated

Corbyn says there should be zero tolerance of those who whip up hate.

As politicians … as political activists … as citizens … we must have zero tolerance towards those who whip up hate and division … stand together against racism, Islamophobia and antisemitism … and defend those being demonised.

It has been shaming to our multicultural society … that assaults on migrants have increased sharply since the referendum campaign … a campaign that peddled myths and whipped up division.

Updated

Corbyn condemns the Tory plans on grammar schools.

Grammar schools are not the only way … the Tories are bringing division back into our society …. They are also using the tried-and-tested tricks … of demonising and scapegoating to distract from their failures.

Updated

Corbyn says he would introduce arts pupil premium

Corbyn says Labour would introduce an arts pupil premium.

All school pupils should have the chance to learn an instrument … take part in drama and dance …. and have regular access to a theatre, gallery or museum in their local area. That’s why we will introduce an arts pupil premium …. to every primary school in England and Wales …. and consult on the design and national rollout …. to extend this pupil premium to all secondary schools.

  • Corbyn says he would introduce arts pupil premium.

Updated

Corbyn says Labour would stop 'shabby tax avoidance'

Corbyn says Labour would stop “shabby tax avoidance”.

And I recognise that good businesses deserve a level playing field … so I also pledge to good businesses that we will clamp down those that dodge their taxes. You should not be undercut by those that don’t play by the rules.

There is nothing more unpatriotic than not paying your taxes. It is an act of vandalism … damaging our NHS … damaging older people’s social care … damaging younger people’s education … so a Labour government will make shabby tax avoidance a thing of the past.

  • Corbyn says Labour would stop “shabby tax avoidance”.

Updated

Corbyn says Labour would ask business to pay more in tax to fund skills training

Corbyn turns to skills.

How can we build and expand the sectors of the future … without a skilled workforce? But this Conservative government has slashed adult education budgets … taking away opportunities for people to develop their skills … and leaving businesses struggling to find the skilled workforce they need to succeed.

So today I am offering business a new settlement … A new deal for rebuilding Britain. Under Labour we will provide the investment to rebuild Britain’s infrastructure. We will fund that investment because it will lead to a more productive economy … providing the basis on which our economy and our businesses can thrive … helping to provide over a million good jobs … and opportunities for businesses.

But investment in capital must include investment in human capital … the skilled workers needed to make our economy a success. So this is the deal Labour will offer to business:

To help pay for a national education service, we will ask you pay a little more in tax. We’ve already started to set out some of this … pledging to raise corporation tax by less than 1.5% to give an education maintenance allowance to college students … and grants to university students … so that every young learner can afford to support themselves as they develop skills and get qualifications.

  • Corbyn says Labour would ask business to pay more in tax to fund skills training.

Updated

Corbyn says he is committed to a national education service.

We are rich in talent, rich in potential … That’s why we’ve proposed a comprehensive national education service at the heart of our programme for government … to deliver high-quality education for all throughout our lives.

Education has always been a core Labour value … from the time of Ellen Wilkinson and before … And a national education service will be an essential part of the 21st-century welfare state.

Updated

Corbyn says Britain is a country marked by “individual ingenuity and collective endeavour”. Yet spending on research has been cut, he says.

Britain now spends less on research as a share of national income than France, Germany, the US and China … A Labour government will bring research and development up to 3% of GDP.

Updated

Corbyn confirms his commitment to a national investment bank.

I am not content with accepting second-class broadband … not content with creaking railways … not content with seeing the US and Germany investing in cutting edge and green technologies, while Britain lags behind …

Last year, for example …the prime minister promised a universal service obligation for 10MB broadband. But since then the government has done nothing … letting down entrepreneurs, businesses and families … especially in rural areas.

That’s why we’ve set out proposals for a National Investment Bank … with £500bn of investment … to bring our broadband, our railways, our housing and our energy infrastructure up to scratch.

Updated

Corbyn says Labour would review social insurance rights for the self-employed.

But one in six workers now in Britain are now self-employed … They’re right to value their independence … but for too many it comes with insecurity … and a woeful lack of rights. So we will review arrangements for self-employed people … including social security that self-employed people pay for in their taxes, yet aren’t fully covered by.

Updated

Corbyn says Labour would give councils new freedoms to borrow, allowing them to build 60,000 extra homes a year

He says he wants to go further.

But I want to go further … because we want local government to go further … and put public enterprise back into the heart of our economy and services … to meet the needs of local communities … municipal socialism for the 21st century … as an engine of local growth and development.

So today I’m announcing that Labour will remove the artificial local borrowing cap … and allow councils to borrow against their housing stock. That single measure alone would allow them to build an extra 60,000 council homes a year.

Labour councils increasingly have a policy of in-house as the preferred provider … and many councils have brought bin collections, cleaners, and IT services back in-house … insourcing privatised contracts … to save money for council tax-payers and to ensure good terms and conditions for staff …

  • Corbyn says Labour would give councils new freedoms to borrow, allowing them to build 60,000 extra homes a year.

Updated

Corbyn says Labour councils are already implementing some of these ideas.

Like Nottingham city council setting up the not-for-profit Robin Hood Energy company … to provide affordable energy;

Or Cardiff Bus Company taking 100,000 passengers every day, publicly owned with a passenger panel to hold its directors to account;

Or Preston council working to favour local procurement, and keep money in the town;

Or Newcastle council providing free wi-fi in 69 public buildings across the city.

Updated

Corbyn says his pledges are relevant to the modern world.

They are rooted in traditional Labour values and objectives … shaped to meet the challenges of the 21st century … They are values Labour is united on …. They reflect the views and aspirations of the majority of our people … And they are values our country can and will support … as soon as they are given the chance.

Corbyn turns to the 10 pledges he set out during the Labour leadership contest.

They lay out the scope of the change we need to see … for full employment … a homes guarantee … security at work … a strong public NHS and social care … a national education service for all …. action on climate change … public ownership and control of our services … a cut in inequality of income and wealth … action to secure an equal society … and peace and justice at the heart of foreign policy.

Don’t worry, they’re not the Ten Commandments. They will now go to the National Policy Forum … and the whole party needs to build on them, refine them … and above all take them out to the people of this country.

He says this will be the programme for what he wants to do.

Those ten pledges … the core of the platform on which I was re-elected leader … will now form the framework … for what Labour will campaign for …. and for what a Labour government will do.

Updated

Labour will not let bankers wreck the economy again, he says.

If you want the most spectacular example of what happens … when government steps back … the global banking crash is an object lesson … a deregulated industry … of out of control greed and speculation … that crashed economies across the globe … and required the biggest ever government intervention and public bailout in history.

Millions of ordinary families … paid the price for that failure. I pledge that Labour …. will never let a few reckless bankers …. wreck our economy again.

Corbyn reaffirms Labour’s plan to take the railways back into public ownership.

And then there’s the scandal of the privatised railways … more public subsidy than under the days of British Rail … all going to private firms … and more delays … more cancellations … And the highest fares in Europe.

That is why the great majority of the British people back Labour’s plan… set out by Andy MacDonald, to take the railways back into public ownership.

Corbyn says Labour will make the minimum wage a real living wage. And they will ban zero-hour contracts.

Corbyn condemns the Tories for undermining employment rights.

Of course trade unions are not taking this lying down. … Look at the great campaign Unite has waged at Sports Direct … to get justice for exploited workers … and hold Mike Ashley to account … That is why Labour will repeal the Trade Union Act and set unions free to do their job.

Corbyn turns to housing.

Look what’s happened to housing under the Tories … … housebuilding has fallen to its lowest level since the 1920s … home ownership is falling as more people are priced out of the market … evictions and homelessness go up every year.

He explains what Labour would do.

Instead of spending public money on building council housing … we’re subsidising private landlords … That’s wasteful, inefficient, and poor government.

So Labour will, as Teresa Pearce said, build over 1m new homes … at least half of them council houses … and we will control private rents … so we can give every British family that basic human right – a decent home.

Updated

Corbyn says the Tories cannot respond to the new era.

In any case, the Tories are simply incapable of responding to the breakdown of the old economic model … because that failed model is in their political DNA. It’s what they deliver every time they’re in government … Tory governments deregulate, they outsource and privatise … they stand by as inequality grows.

And he condemns the government for taking advice from Sir Philip Green.

They’re so committed to the interests of the very richest … they recruited Sir Phillip Green into government as something called an efficiency tsar …

Well, government might be a bit more efficient … if the super-rich like Sir Phillip actually paid their taxes.

Updated

Corbyn condemns the Tories for wanting to force through undemocratic boundary changes.

And he points out that May was not elected as prime minister.

Now I know some Conservative newspapers and politicians have suggested our leadership election has been chaotic, and shambolic. But when I meet Theresa May across the dispatch box … I know that only one of us has been elected to the office they hold ... by the votes of a third of a million people.

Updated

Corbyn says Tories are 'the party of the privilege few'

Corbyn says the Tories can never stand up for the privileged few.

Who seriously believes that the Tories could ever stand up to the privileged few? They are the party of the privileged few … funded by the privileged few … for the benefit of the privileged few.

Updated

Corbyn says the prime minister appears to get this.

Even Theresa May gets it … that people want change … That’s why she stood on the steps of Downing Street … and talked about the inequalities and burning injustices in today’s Britain. She promised a country … “that works not for a privileged few but for every one of us”.

But she is not sincere, he says.

This isn’t a new government, it’s David Cameron’s government … repackaged with progressive slogans … but with a new harsh rightwing edge … taking the country backwards … and dithering before the historic challenges of Brexit.

Updated

Corbyn says new era demands a new politics

Corbyn says he was elected because people were fed up with the status quo.

It’s not about me of course … or unique to Britain … but across Europe, North America and elsewhere … people are fed up with a so-called free market system … that has produced grotesque inequality … stagnating living standards for the many … calamitous foreign wars without end … and a political stitch-up which leaves the vast majority of people shut out of power.

He says there have been new movements and parties since the crash in other countries. But in this country the trend has been different.

In Britain it’s happened in the heart of traditional politics, in the Labour party … which is something we should be extremely proud of ... It’s exactly what Labour was founded for … to be the voice of the many ... of social justice and progressive change from the bottom up.

But it also means it’s no good harking back to the tired old economic and political fixes of 20 years ago … because they won’t work any more … the old model is broken … We’re in a new era … that demands a politics and economics that meets the needs of our own time.

Updated

Corbyn mentions Labour’s achievement in parliament.

At conference a year ago … I launched our campaign against cuts to tax credits … and we succeeded in knocking this government back … This year, 3 million families are over £1,000 better off because Labour stood together … In the budget, the government tried to take away billions from disabled people … but we defeated them …

And he mentions some of the party’s electoral successes.

We have won all four byelections we’ve contested … In the May elections, we overtook the Tories to become the largest party nationally … We won back London … with a massive win for Sadiq Khan … the first Muslim mayor of a western capital city … And we won the Bristol mayor for the first time … Marvin Rees … the first black mayor in any European city … And of course, we also won the mayoralty in Salford … and here in Liverpool.

Updated

Corbyn says Labout is the biggest party in western Europe.

We meet this year as the largest political party in western Europe … with over half a million members … campaigning in every community in Britain. More people have joined our party in the last 20 months … than in the previous 20 years … We have more of our fellow citizens in our party than all the others put together..

Some may see that as a threat … but I see it as a vast democratic resource. Our hugely increased membership is part of a movement … that can take Labour’s message into every community … to win support for the election of a Labour government. Each and every one of these new members is welcome in our party.

NOTE: The Economist’s Jeremy Cliffe says this is not true.

Updated

Corbyn says antisemitism 'is an evil"

Corbyn says hate on social media is “utterly unacceptable”.

Our party must be a safe and welcoming space for everybody … and we will continue to take firm action against abuse and intimidation

And Corbyn specifically condemns antisemitism.

Let me be absolutely clear…. antisemitism is an evil … it led to the worst crimes of the 20th century … Every one of us has a responsibility to ensure that it is never allowed to fester in our society again … This party always has and always will fight against prejudice and hatred of Jewish people with every breath in its body.

NOTE: In the past, Corbyn has been accused of being unable to condemn antisemitism in isolation. He often condemns antisemitism “and other forms of discrimination”. This passage seems intended to address that accusation.

Updated

Corbyn turns to the leadership election.

We’ve just had our second leadership election within a year … It had its fraught moments of course …not only for Owen Smith and me … and I hope we don’t make a habit of it …

But there have also been upsides … Over 150,000 new members joined our party … Young rising stars have shone on the frontbench … and we found that the party is more united on policy than we would ever have guessed.

I am honoured to have been re-elected by our party a second time … with an even larger mandate … But we all have lessons to learn … and a responsibility to do things better … and work together more effectively. I will lead in learning those lessons … and I’d like to thank Owen, for the campaign … and his work as shadow work and pensions secretary.

Updated

Corbyn pays tribute to the Labour MPs who took front bench jobs this summer.

And let me pay particular tribute … to those parliamentary colleagues who stepped forward …. in the summer to fill the gaps in the shadow cabinet … and ensure that Labour could function as an effective opposition in parliament.

They didn’t seek office, but they stepped up when their party … and in fact the country … needed them to serve … They all deserve the respect and gratitude of our party and movement …. And this conference should thank them today …. they are our future.

NOTE: That line about these MPs being “our future” is not intended to mean, I presume, that other MPs will not be coming back. But I guess it means MPs like Angela Rayner, newly appointed to the shadow cabinet, will not be asked to make way for a retread.

Updated

Corbyn pays tribute to Michael Meacher and Harry Harpham, Labour MPs who died this year.

They were Labour through and through … passionate campaigners for a better world.

Updated

Corbyn pays tribute to Jo Cox

Corbyn turns to the leadership election.

But every one of us in this hall today … knows that we will only get there if we work together … And I think it’s fair to say … after what we’ve been through these past few months … that hasn’t always been exactly the case.

Those months have been a testing time for the whole party … first, the horrific murder of Jo Cox …. followed by the shock of the referendum result … and then the tipping over of divisions in parliament … into the leadership contest that ended last Saturday.

He says Jo Cox’s killing was an attack on democracy.

Jo’s killing was a hate-filled attack on democracy itself … that shocked the whole country … Jo Cox didn’t just believe in loving her neighbour … she believed in loving her neighbour’s neighbour … that every life counted the same.

And as Jo said in her maiden speech as an MP … we “have far more in common with each other than things that divide us”. Let that essential truth guide us … as we come together again to challenge this Tory government and its shaky grip on power.

Updated

Corbyn says winning justice for all is what Labour is all about.

Because winning justice for all …. and changing society for the benefit of all …. is at the heart of what Labour is about.

So yes, our party is about campaigning … and it’s about protest too … But most of all … it’s about winning power … in local and national government … to deliver the real change our country so desperately needs …

NOTE: That sounds like a passage included as a rebuke to Sadiq Khan.

Updated

Corbyn says Labour will support other campaigns.

We must learn from them … so we promise those campaigning for Orgreave … for Shrewsbury … for the thousands of workers blacklisted for being trade unionists … that we will support your battles for truth and justice … and when we return to government … we will make sure that you have both.

Corbyn says Hillsborough campaign shows that protests can change things

Corbyn says Liverpool has shaped our economy, our culture, our country and our music.

And I know some people say campaigns and protests don’t change things … But the Hillsborough families have shown just how wrong that is ..

  • Corbyn says Hillsborough campaign shows that protests can change things.

Corbyn starts with a joke about Virgin trains.

How brilliant it is to see the hall here in Liverpool … absolutely packed for the Labour conference … well I say it’s packed … but Virgin Trains assure me there are 800 empty seats.

(I am using quotes from a text from Labour, and so there may be some minor differences between the text and what Corbyn says. But I won’t be quoting anything unless it is very close to what Corbyn says.

There is loud cheering in the hall, “Jez we can”.

Jeremy Corbyn's speech

Jeremy Corbyn is coming on stage now.

They are now showing a film about the achievements of previous Labour governments, including the Blair/Brown administrations. And it mentions some of the things achieved by Labour under Corbyn.

Updated

Coleman urges people to give Corbyn a huge Scouse welcome. First, they will show a film about him.

Updated

Coleman acknowledges the support of Liverpool council.

Labour helped campaign for justice for Hillsborough.

It was a grassroots campaign. It shows campaigns rooted in communities can succeed. Corbyn’s relection will be the root of Labour’s success.

He has brought on board a new generation of people disillusioned with politics.

Please unite behind your socialist leader ... He is honest, proud and strong and he never gives in.

Sheila Coleman, a Labour member and Hillsborough justice researcher, is going to introduce Jeremy Coleman.

She say she lives in Toxteth. She hopes people have enjoyed Liverpool.

Liverpool is a brave, courageous and welcoming city, she says.

And it unites when its people are hurt.

She is not from one of the bereaved Hillsborough families. But she has been campaigning for justice since 1989.

They knew they would get justice one day. But they did not think it would take 27 years.

This is from ITV’s Robert Peston.

This is from the Times’s Matt Chorley, who has been watching the Daily Politics.

Now they are playing a song starting: “It might seem crazy what I’m about to say.”

It’s Happy by Pharrell Williams.

The song was probably Be Mine, by The Heavy.

Updated

In the conference hall they are playing a song with the chorus starting “Take all my money” as they wait for proceedings to start.

That wasn’t John McDonnell’s message on Monday ...

Speaking on the Daily Politics earlier Barry Gardiner, the shadow international trade secretary, said Labour would impose “quality controls” on migrants coming to the UK. He said:

We’d have quality controls on all migration into this country. When we are talking about economic migration, the economy has to work in favour of the British people and the British public ... If they see political parties are prepared to put those controls in place then I believe its not the numbers that matter, but the quality.

Going back to Andy Burnham for a moment, this is from Sky’s Faisal Islam.

The afternoon session of the conference is about to start.

Len McCluskey, the Unite general secretary, has also been on LBC today. He said Unite would not longer support MPs that were critical of Jeremy Corbyn.

On the World At One Andy Burnham rejected suggestions that his resignation from the shadow cabinet was a blow to Jeremy Corbyn. “It’s not in any way a blow to Jeremy,” he told the programme.

As he begins to think about his new team, it’s right for me to say it’s time for me to take a step back because I’ve been elected as Labour’s candidate to be the first mayor of Greater Manchester.

The conference hall is filling up ahead of Jeremy Corbyn’s speech.

As the Sun’s Steve Hawkes reports, it is said that Jeremy Corbyn is going to conclude his speech by inviting a large group of children onto the stage with him.

My colleague Alan Travis has written an an analysis of Jeremy Corbyn’s stance on immigration. He says Corbyn is right not to promise deep cuts in UK immigration, “because the only surefire way to deliver them is not by restricting freedom of movement but by crashing the economy.”

Here is the full article.

Huffington Post’s Paul Waugh suggests Jeremy Corbyn may replace Andy Burnham with a woman. Diane Abbott or Angela Rayner could become the next shadow home secretary, he suggests.

Andy Burnham's speech - Summary

Here are the main points from Andy Burnham’s speech. Given the fact that he is expected to leave parliament and become mayor of Greater Manchester next year (it would take a spectacular upset Labour to lose that contest), this was almost certainly Burnham’s last speech to the conference as a frontbencher. He seemed quite emotional at the end, and he received a warm standing ovation.

Here are the main points from the speech.

  • Burnham said that he was leaving the shadow cabinet. A reshuffle is due next week, and Burnham will probably be replaced then. He said:

This is my tenth conference speaking to you as a cabinet or shadow cabinet minister.

And it will be my last.

It is time for me to turn my full focus to Greater Manchester.

That’s why I can tell you all first today that I have asked Jeremy to plan a new shadow cabinet without me, although I will of course stay until it is in place.

  • He said Labour had failed so far to respond to people’s concerns about immigration. It had to show that it understood why people voted for Brexit, he said. Jeremy Corbyn is proposing various measures, including bringing back the migration impact fund, to deal with immigration concerns and Burnham did not directly contradict anything Corbyn has said. But his tone suggested that his stance on the subject is quite different from his leader’s. Burnham said:

Conference, this party must fully face up to this fact: millions of lifelong Labour supporters voted to leave the EU and - let’s be honest - voted for change on immigration.

We haven’t yet even begun to show to them that we understand why.

I don’t want to hear this party make the patronising argument that people didn’t understand their referendum vote. They understood it very well.

The truth is the EU was working better for some parts of our country than it was for others.

For some of our country’s least affluent areas, it wasn’t working well at all ...

Labour voters in constituencies like mine are not narrow-minded, nor xenophobic, as some would say.

They are warm and giving. Their parents and grandparents welcomed thousands of Ukrainians and Poles to Leigh after the Second World War.

And today they continue to welcome refugees from all over the world. They have no problem with people coming here to work.

But they do have a problem with people taking them for granted and with unlimited, unfunded, unskilled migration which damages their own living standards.

And they have an even bigger problem with an out-of-touch elite who don’t seem to care about it.

If Labour now argues for the status quo, it will look like we have abandoned them too.

  • He said he favoured a “fair” Brexit.

So let’s develop a plan for fair Brexit that deals with their concerns but supports our economy and keeps the Britain we have known - open, welcoming, playing its part in the world.

Because the truth is, a hard Brexit would hit these Labour areas hardest of all.

(Ironically Michael Howard, the former Conservative leader, also used the phrase “fair” Brexit on the Today programme this morning when asked what sort of Brexi he wanted.)

  • Corbyn criticised those in the party who have been attacking the record of the Blair/Brown governments. He said he was “sad to hear the achievements of our Labour government, in which I was proud to serve, being dismissed as if they were nothing.”
  • He appealed for unity.

I have given my all to this party and always put its interests above those of factions and personalities.

And I have given exactly the same loyalty to all four of the Labour leaders I have served.

Some say that makes me inconsistent.

But, you know what conference? I have an old-fashioned belief - that a Labour government of any kind is a million times better for my constituents in Leigh than any Tory government and that is more likely to happen if Labour is united.

So let us unite - let’s have an end to divisive talk about deselections but, in return, let’s have more respect for the democratic will of you, our members.

  • He called for a full inquiry into Orgreave.

Doesn’t it make you angry, conference, that, thirty years on, former miners are still struggling for the truth? Ordinary people who were fighting for their jobs, their communities, their future.

Whose own country tried to put them on trial. It’s why, even today, Britain still feels like two countries. Norman Tebbitt, remember him, well he says an inquiry would be a waste of money. Well, he would say that, wouldn’t he? Let me tell him why it’s not.

Kevin Thorne, a former miner at Orgeave, came to Westminster recently to lobby the Home Secretary for an inquiry. He was asked why, after all these years, he is still campaigning. He said this: “I want my grandchildren to be able to trust the Police as I was brought up to do.”

That is why Orgreave matters, Conference.

  • He said he would continue to campaign for a “Hillsborough law”, giving bereaved families being represented at inquests the same legal support as the police. He said:

For the rest of my time in parliament, I will fight for the proposed Hillsborough Law.

A law to rebalance the justice system, away from the Establishment and decisively in favour of ordinary people. And I ask you to get fully behind that campaign.

A Law that says no public bodies can distort or withhold the truth at inquests; that guarantees all bereaved families a level playing field and equal legal funding - and that Home Secretary should include those Birmingham families.

  • He accused Theresa May of “positioning herself to the right of the leave campaign”. He justified that on the grounds that May has refused to guarantee that EU nationals living in the UK will be able to stay after Brexit. Even Vote Leave said they should stay, he said.
  • He said Labour should champion devolution and the northern powerhouse.

Let’s seize this moment, put our stamp on devolution and make it a Labour campaign: for a more equal England. Conference, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for the support you have given to me over the last ten years.

Andy Burnham addressing the Labour conference.
Andy Burnham addressing the Labour conference. Photograph: Jon Super/EPA

Updated

In here speech during the home affairs debate Yvette Cooper, chair of Labour’s refugee taskforce, said that France and Britain should agree to each take half of the 1,000 unaccompanied child refugees in Calais. She told the conference:

This stand-off between France and Britain over who will help the children has to end.

Children’s lives and children’s safety are being put at risk because politicians and bureaucrats can’t agree.

Let us call on them now to end the stand off

Let our two proud countries both do our bit to help children

Stop the bureaucratic delays

Stop forcing children to live in fear and danger while the bureaucratic wheels turn

Let each country now take half the children and get them into safety fast while their assessments are done

And for Britain that must include all the children whose family are here and who can care for them.

A week or so ago a reader BTL asked if there was anyone else in Labour’s refugee taskforce, or whether it was just Cooper. According to Cooper’s office, there are others. An aide said it was an umbrella organisation working with different individuals and groups, including Lord Dubs, Stella Creasy and Thangam Debbonaire. Some Labour councillors have been involved too.

Andy Burnham, the shadow home secretary, is addressing the Labour conference now at the end of the home affairs debate. I have missed some of the earlier speeches, because I’ve been otherwise tied up, but I will post highlights soon. And I’ll post a summary of Burnham’s speech when I’ve seen the text.

The Labour MP Stephen Kinnock has rejected Jeremy Corbyn’s suggestion that Labour should not worry about the number of EU migrants coming to the UK. Speaking on the Today programme Kinnock said:

The only way we’re going to solve that is by saying ‘we’ve got a handle on this, we’ve got this under control’ ...

I think we have a defining challenge of our age now, which is to address this problem, tackle it ...

This is not only about integration. This is also about regulating the inflow of labour. People are expecting their politicians to have a clear sense of what’s happening in their communities and a clear sense that we do have a handle on this and that we’re listening and we’re reacting to it.

McCluskey criticises Watson's conference speech

Just as Kelvin Hopkins (see 11.44am) has criticised Tom Watson for what he said about capitalism not being the enemy in his conference speech, Len McCluskey, the Unite general secretary, has criticised the speech too. He told Sky the speech was “extraordinary” because it contained now vision. It was “the politics of yesteryear”, he said.

McCluskey and Watson used to be allies, but recently their relationship seems to have become quite acrimonious.

Shadow culture secretary suggests Labour should bring back clause 4

Labour shadow culture secretary Kelvin Hopkins has called on the party to bring back clause 4 - the controversial commitment to public ownership of industry which was scrapped under Tony Blair.

Hopkins, previously a veteran backbencher who admitted he was “very surprised” to get the call up to the shadow cabinet, said he hoped to leave his post as soon as possible now Jeremy Corbyn had won the leadership election.
“It’s 23 years since we saw the abandonment of clause 4, against my wishes, it is perhaps now time to start thinking about bringing it back,” Hopkins told a packed meeting of the left-wing Campaign for Labour Party Democracy last night.

It’s not so far fetched that we should see clause 4 coming back because we are seeing, I think, the beginning of the end of globalisation and neoliberalism.

Hopkins said he hoped he could return to the back benches now he believed Corbyn had a wider pool of candidates to return to his shadow team. “”We must now have unity even though it is difficult and I’ve told Jeremy that I want to go back to the backbenches as soon as possible and cheer him from there. I have to say, I never expected to be shadow secretary of state for anything.”

The shadow minister also tore into deputy leader Tom Watson, who had given his speech just hours earlier defending the record of the past Labour government and telling the conference “capitalism is not the enemy”.

I heard one speaker this afternoon, I won’t mention his name, who did talk about he value of the market. Well I think we’ve seen what the market has done to the lives of people in Britain.

Hopkins said the party needed to “move away from the market” and start conversations about wider re-nationalisation, including abolishing all private healthcare. “If moving back to where we were is extremism, then I’m an extremist,” he said.

10 things we've learnt from the Labour party conference

This may be premature, because we have not yet had Jeremy Corbyn’s speech yet, but after four full days in Liverpool, it is possible to make some judgments about what has emerged from this year’s conference. Here are 10 things we’ve learnt.

1 – Jeremy Corbyn’s re-election has strengthened his position in the party – but it hasn’t decisively altered the balance of power. Normally the moment after an election victory is when a leader is constrained the least. But for Corbyn there is no one left to sack, any frontbench promotions will be determined by who offers to serve, not who Corbyn picks, and, as the struggle over the national executive rule changes showed, Corbyn cannot depend on getting Labour’s key decision-making body to do what he wants. Significantly, within two days of his re-election, Corbyn effectively conceded that, for now, at least, he is giving up trying to change party policy on Trident. This is a significant retreat on an issue on which Corbyn has campaigned all his life.

2 – Labour now feels like two parties that don’t even like each other anymore but that cannot afford to get divorced. There has been no serious talk at all about a split, because the mechanics of the electoral system make that suicidal and both sides are emotionally attached to the Labour brand, but there is a vast gulf between the two camps, pro-Corbyn and anti-Corbyn. Superficially the divide is about policy, but much more it is about whether people are prepared to make an emotional investment in Corbyn’s purist, poll-defying idealism. Labour has become a coalition and, as Owen Jones suggested in a recent essay, one way forward might be a proper coalition agreement. And perhaps a quad, with Corbyn, John McDonnell, Tom Watson and Hilary Benn? They could ask David Cameron and Nick Clegg for some advice.

3 – Corbyn has made little progress over the last year in fleshing out a policy platform. The Labour MP Kerry McCarthy, who resigned from the shadow cabinet, told the Guardian recently that she had never seen Corbyn “move beyond things you could fit on a T-shirt” in his policy thinking and this conference seems to bear that out. A year ago, after his surprise election as leader, Corbyn could be forgiven for only having an outline view as to what he would do. This year he has barely moved on and conference has been relatively policy-lite. McDonnell did give a speech with a speech with a clear set of economic proposals but almost none of them have been worked up in any detail and his headline announcement (a £10 minimum wage) was something he promised last year. Corbyn is also proposing a £500bn investment plan but the party has released no detail about this and at the moment the plan seems to amount to nothing more than a figure on a press release. On economic policy, and even more so in other areas like education and welfare, there is little evidence that the party has started taking difficult choices, or started engaging seriously with outside bodies on legislative proposals.

4 – Corbyn’s critics are not united. At the time of the “coup” shadow ministers announced their resignations on an hour by hour basis in a move that was clearly coordinated. But since Corbyn’s re-election on Saturday there has been no agreed, group response from the MPs who left the front bench in the hope of forcing him out. A few have said publicly that they would be willing to go back, a few more may have been speaking to Corbyn privately, and Corbyn seems confident to have enough names to be able to announce a reshuffle next week. Another group may be willing to go back, but want to delay so that they can use the offer of going back as a bargaining tool to try to Corbyn to accept some form of shadow cabinet elections. A third group seem determined to remain on the back benches for good.

5 – Corbyn is probably safe at least until 2018. There is now a general recognition on the part of Corbyn’s critics that this summer’s leadership challenge achieved nothing and speculation about another leadership contest next year seems to have vanished. At the very least Corbyn should be safe until 2018, although there is also a widespread view that he will be able to remain leader until the general election if he wants to. After the EU referendum the prospect of an early election was used by MPs as an argument for challenging Corbyn immediately. But, now that he has won, it is Corbyn who is exploiting the “early election” threat and he is citing it as a reason why MPs should back him.

6 – Labour is split over how to interpret the Brexit vote. Many MPs believe that immigration was a key factor and increasingly there are calls for the party to abandon its commitment to the free movement of labour. But Corbyn sees the Brexit vote as primarily a vote against the economic status quo and, as he confirmed this morning, he is opposed to immigration controls. Interestingly, this is one issue where Labour’s old right, which is sceptical about immigration, disagrees with the pro-free movement Blairite right. On this topic Corbyn is a Blairite.

7 - Labour’s leaders outside Westminster are more important to the party than ever. Devolution and the creation of elected mayors have created a new powerbase within British politics and Corbyn’s opponents see it as offering the party a lifeline. Sadiq Khan openly paraded his credentials as an alternative leader this week. Carwyn Jones, the Welsh first minister, is being encouraged to develop a UK profile so that he can show English voters what a pragmatic Labour government can achieve. Mayoral elections next May should see other Labour figures taking executive office and in his speech yesterday Tom Watson said these figures, and Labour councillors, would be the ones who led Labour back to power. Not Corbyn, he implied.

8 - In person Labour members are much more civil to each other than anyone would guess from reading the papers. In the run-up to conference some people were predicting 1980s-style fights and blood on the floor, and one MP even said she was coming to the conference with a minder. In practice it has been very peaceful. The level of heckling is not much worse than at an average conference, there have barely been any raised voices and the only punch thrown occurred when Clive Lewis (reportedly) hit a wall because he was angry with Corbyn’s office interfering with his speech. That is not to say that the social media abuse has not been real. But Twitter is a real world, not the real world, and in realspace, if not cyberspace, Labour members seem to get on.

9 - Momentum is not Militant, and they can run a lively, successful conference. One of the highlights of Liverpool has been Momentum’s The World Transformed alternative conference (or festival, as they prefer to call it) taking place about half a mile away. Anyone turning up expecting a Militant re-enactment will have been disappointed. Outside there were older, hard-core lefties selling “deselect your MP” literature. But as journalists like Andrew Grice (here) and Paul Mason (here) report, inside it was full of young, earnest, welcoming activists seemingly with no interest in becoming the next Derek Hatton. In the long run it is till not clear what impact Momentum will have on Labour, but this week its reputation has gone up.

10 - Corbyn has no obvious successor. Most parties normally have an unofficial leader-in-waiting. Often they never get the job (Yvette Cooper filled this role for Labour for much of the last parliament), but nevertheless the ULIW carries some clout. At Liverpool the position is vacant. Clive Lewis’s standing as a potential, Corbyn-lite alternative leader is on the rise (for reasons Stephen Bush explains here), and some Corbyn-sceptics, like Chuka Umunna and Lisa Nandy, have been prominent on the fringe. But for the moment Corbyn is unassailable.

Here’s our latest story about Jeremy Corbyn’s immigration comments, and the splits in the shadow cabinet on this topic.

And here is how it starts.

Jeremy Corbyn has mounted a forceful defence of immigration from the EU and elsewhere before his party conference speech, causing a fresh split in his shadow cabinet.

The Labour leader is expected to use his speech to promise a Labour government will not “sow division” by promising to cut immigration.

His position suggests Labour will not respond to the Brexit vote by seeking curbs on free movement of people across the EU, but senior shadow cabinet ministers have said there must be controls and the current system is in chaos.

Labour centrists have just won a very small victory. At the conference the result has just been announced of an election for a place on Labour’s national constitution committee. The Corbynites were backing Chris Williamson, a former MP and a vocal supporter of Corybyn, particularly on social media. But he was beaten by the incumbent, Maggie Cosin, backed by the party’s centrists. She got 53% of the vote, while he got 40%.

NEC loses vote on new rule which will make it easier for Labour conference to challenge policy plans

Labour’s national executive lost a vote at conference yesterday. It hasn’t received much attention, but potentially it is significant.

Delegates were voting on a package of changes to Labour party, the most important of which was one to give Scotland and Wales a seat each on the NEC. As Jessica Elgot reports, that resulted in Jeremy Corbyn losing his majority on the NEC. Labour has published the exact voting figures this morning and the motion was carried by 80% to 20%. Only 8% of union votes were against, but 32% of constituency Labour party (CLP) delegates were.

But the conference also voted on various alternative changes proposed by CLPs. Most were relatively uncontentious, but in one case the conference voted for the change despite the NEC being opposed to it. This was a proposal to stop conference delegates having to vote to approve policy documents on a “take it or leave it” basis. Instead in future they will be able to reject specific bits of a policy document.

As Paul Waugh explains at Huffington Post:

The centrists suffered a significant defeat minutes later, when conference backed a long-held plan of the party’s left to unpick policy documents.

The Sheffield Heeley CLP amendment, which was carried, states that “Conference has the right to refer back any part of a document without rejecting the policy document as a whole...”

Party insiders said the change - passed after a narrow vote - will now guarantee that future party conferences will be dominated by rows as each individual policy can be voted on separately rather than as part of a package.

The vote was very close: 51.5% in favour, 48.5% against. A majority of delegates backed the NEC and voted against, and the rule change only got through because a majority of union members voted in favour.

Corbyn's Today interview - Summary

Here are the key points from Jeremy Corbyn’s Today interview.

  • Corbyn suggested that he was happy with current levels of immigration. Asked whether current migration levels were acceptable, he said:

I think the migrants that have come to this country have made an enormous contribution to it; our conference certainly understands that - Tom Watson put that case very well yesterday ...

I understand the problems that can come in some areas, hence my determination on the migrant impact fund. But I also understand that there are many industries and jobs that have done well from migrant labour and even depend on it. They are concerned that they won’t be able to have short term migrant labour coming into Britain to help them.

My colleague Alan Travis thinks Corbyn is right not to see overall migration numbers per se as the cause of the Brexit vote.

  • Corbyn suggested that Labour would spend at least £50m on a migration impact fund to compensate areas affected by high immigration. He said that, before it was abolished, the migration impact fund was worth £50m over two years. Labour did not have a firm figure for how much it would spend, he said, but it was be based on how much was spent on the previous one.
  • He claimed that his proposed £500bn investment programme would not be expensive because borrowing costs were low and it would generate an “enormous” return.

When you are looking at bond rates at very, very low levels, the cost is not great compared to the return. [It is] a far better way of funding public investment than private finance initiatives.

When pressed for details, he said the exact cost was still being worked out. He admitted that “in the initial term” it would increase government borrowing. And he suggested that if interest rates rose steeply, he might have to reconsider.

If interest rates get very high, then clearly that has to be addressed.

Labour rules out second referendum on Brexit

And, talking of the NEC, last night it issued a statement about the motion passed at Labour conference on Monday saying Labour favoured a possible second referendum on Brexit.

The NEC has now disowned that position. It was passed because there was a mistake in the “compositing” process (which happens when lots of different motions on the same subject are amalgamated by a committee), the NEC said. This is from Huffington Post’s Paul Waugh.

We don’t normally get to see what goes on inside a meeting of Labour’s national executive committee. But last night Unite’s Jennie Formby posted this picture from the NEC to mark Dennis Skinner standing down.

Angela Rayner, the shadow education secretary, has been giving interviews this morning, and she adopted a slightly different tone from Jeremy Corbyn on the subject of immigration. Speaking to BBC News, she said the immigration system was in “chaos” and that controls were necessary.

We have to have controls on immigration, that’s quite clear. You have to know who is coming in to your country and who is leaving your country.

When she was asked if there should be controls on numbers, she replied:

I believe that you do need controls and we have always had controls on immigration. Immigration is a good thing for the UK but what is not good is when people don’t know about what numbers we have. I think you do have to talk about those things. People raise that on the doorstep all the time and it is important that we deal with those concerns.

She also said Corbyn had to “prove himself”. She told Radio 5 Live:

We have got a long way to go. Jeremy needs to prove himself and earn that respect of the general public, which he hasn’t been able to sell that to the general public yet and he’s got some work to do on that.

I hope he can lay out his plans and be given that opportunity to do that. Divided parties never win. The fact that we are squabbling amongst ourselves, you are not going to vote for us. I have been embarrassed by the way things have gone on over the summer and I want us to come back together.

And, talking of Guardian colleagues, PoliticsHome is reporting this morning the Guardian journalist Seumas Miline, who took unpaid leave from the paper to become Jeremy Corbyn’s director of communications and strategy, is set to leave Corbyn’s team by the end of this week.

A source in the know has dismissed the story as “more creative writing”.

Here are tweets from two Guardian colleagues on Jeremy Corbyn’s immigration position.

Q: What would you say to someone who plans to vote for Trump?

Think carefully, says Corbyn. He questions Trump’s plan to build a wall. And he has other strange, old-fashioned social attitudes.

Q: Ed Balls and others have compared you to Trump?

Corbyn says he and Trump do not have anything in commons.

Q: He has defied the odds. Does that give you hope?

Leicester City defied the odds last year, Corbyn says. Lots of people do that.

He says it was strange seeing how much support he got last year. It was not that people were not interested in politics. They felt politics was not interested in them.

And that’s it. I will post a summary soon.

Q: Are you happy to see us lose membership of the single market?

Corbyn says we need access to the single market.

Q: Every country has access to the single market.

Corbyn says he wants access on an equitable basis with other EU countries.

Q: So you would not mourn losing single market membership.

He would mourn anything that damages our trading relationship with the EU.

Q: How much would your migrant impact fund be worth?

Corbyn says the last one was worth £50m. He says he has not finalised how much the new one would be worth.

Q: What do you say to people concerned about immigration levels.

Corbyn says they should consider the contribution EU migrants make. And they should remember that Britons work and live abroad.

Q: You are not talking about the level of migration.

Corbyn says net migration from within Europe and outside Europe is roughly equal.

Q: Is there an acceptable level of migration?

Corbyn says the migrants who have come to the UK have made an enormous contribution.

Q: You don’t seem uncomfortable with the level of immigration at the moment.

Corbyn says he is concerned about the impact on communities. That is why he wants to bring back a migrant impact fund. But migrants make a considerable contribution.

UPDATE: I’ve corrected the Corbyn answer above saying net migration from within Europe and outside Europe is roughly equal because the original version I typed was garbled and misleading. Sorry.

Updated

Q: What is more important to you: fairness of access to education, or outcomes?

Corbyn says the two things go together. There is a lot of evidence that non-selective access gives you good outcomes.

Q: Not in Wales. Their education is non-selective, but standards are going down.

Corbyn says standards are important. But children should be treated equally. The government’s plans would do the opposite.

Q: Would you want the Wales model imposed on England?

You are being unfair on Wales.

The Pisa tests show standards in Wales are going down, says Husain.

Q: Won’t this worry anyone concerned about Labour’s level of borrowing?

Corbyn says they would be wrong. Investment would reduce borrowing in the long run.

But if interest rates got very high, the cost of borrowing would have to be addressed, he says.

Corby's Today interview

Mishal Husain is interviewing Jeremy Corbyn.

She says Corbyn wanted to pre-record the interview, rather than do it live, so they spoke yesterday afternoon.

Corbyn says the country is becoming divided. He wants more housing, and an “investment-led economy”.

Q: The National Investment Bank that you are talking about - you would raise £100bn for it. How much would that cost?

Corbyn says borrowing is cheap at the moment. The return would be considerable.

Q; Have you worked out what the cost is?

It is being worked out, he says.

Q: You know how much is being spent on debt?

Corbyn says this would increase the amount spent on debt. But the returns would be considerable, he says.

Jeremy Corbyn will wind up the Labour conference with his keynote speech this afternoon and he wakes up to a row about immigration. Last night his team released some extracts from his speech in advance and, at a briefing, a spokesman said that Corbyn was “not concerned” about the number of EU migrants coming to the UK. The Guardian’s story is here.

But our friends at the Daily Mail have chosen a rather different way of presenting the same story.

We will hear from Jeremy Corbyn himself shortly because the Today programme is about to broadcast an interview with him. It was pre-recorded, but it will cover immigration. Corbyn says migrants make an “enormous contribution” to the UK.

He will also reject claims he has anything in common with Donald Trump.

I will be covering the interview in full.

Here is the agenda for the day.

10.30am: Conference opens with a debate on home affairs, including speeches from Richard Burgon, the shadow justice secretary, Cat Smith, the shadow minister for women and equalities, Yvette Cooper, chair of Labour’s refugee taskforce and Andy Burnham, the shadow home secretary.

2pm: Jeremy Corbyn addresses the conference.

If you want to follow or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow.

I try to monitor the comments below the line but normally I find it impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer direct questions, although sometimes I miss them or don’t have time. Alternatively you could post a question to me on Twitter.

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