Reading:Labour conference: Keir Starmer will say he is fighting for Britain’s ‘soul’ in new attack on Nigel Farage as PM aims to boost ailing premiership – live updates
Labour conference: Keir Starmer will say he is fighting for Britain’s ‘soul’ in new attack on Nigel Farage as PM aims to boost ailing premiership – live updates
By JAMIE BULLEN, LIVE COVERAGE EDITOR and JAMES TAPSFIELD, UK POLITICAL EDITOR and DAVID WILCOCK, DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR and GREG HEFFER, POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
Updated: 10:56 BST, 30 September 2025
Sir Keir Starmer will pitch himself as fighting for Britain’s ‘soul’ as he aims to fend off Nigel Farage and boost his ailing premiership.
The Prime Minister will use his leader’s speech at the Labour conference to try and unite a fractious party and divided country by targeting Mr Farage’s Reform party as a threat to the nation.
But after a turbulent period for his leadership and the prospect of a Budget in November which could see tax hikes and spending squeezes, Sir Keir will warn that further difficult choices will be needed on the path to “national renewal”.
The address comes at a challenging moment for the Prime Minister following speculation about a challenge to his leadership fuelled by criticism from Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham – although he insisted he believes Sir Keir is the right man for the job.
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Follow live updates from the Labour Party conference below
Darren Jones – Starmer will ‘rise above’ Labour gossip
Darren Jones rejected Andy Burnham’s claim that there was a ‘climate of fear’ in Labour.
Jones said Sir Keir will ‘rise above’ gossip to speak directly to the nation later today.
Asked whether he agreed with the Greater Manchester ,ayor’s assessment, the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister said:
No, and I don’t really understand why he said that… I just don’t recognise that in the slightest.
Asked whether his interventions had galvanised the Prime Minister, he said:
Look, Keir’s the Prime Minister. He’s absolutely focused on the country and his speech to the country today.There’s always gossip and league tables and who’s up and who’s down… but the Prime Minister has to rise above that and talk to the country, and that’s what the Prime Minister has been doing.
Darren Jones – Starmer wants to speed up Government ‘slow machine’
Darren Jones suggested his move to the new role of Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister was to speed up delivery amid a sense the Government is ‘too slow.’
Asked whether the changes Sir Keir had made to his team came from a frustration that delivery was proving harder than expected, he told a Labour conference fringe event: ‘Yeah, and the machine is too slow. It still is too slow, we’ve got to fix it.’
He said progress was too ‘sluggish’ and the Government would be looking at introducing more measures like taskforces, as ‘timebound’ projects to speed up delivery.
Mr Jones, who is also Chancellor to the Duchy of Lancaster, also revealed the Prime Minister had moved back the No 10 morning meeting by 15 minutes so that he could drop his children off at breakfast club and do the morning run.
Mr Jones, a former solicitor, said the Prime Minister, a former barrister, addresses problems ‘like a lawyer’.
Referring to their previous roles, he joked:
In the old days that would mean I instruct him, not the other way round.
Wes Streeting suggests Nigel Farage is ‘racist’
Wes Streeting waded into the Nigel Farage ‘racism’ row today despite a Labour backlash.
The Health Secretary pointed to Reform leaflets targeting Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, suggesting he would ‘prioritise the interests of the Pakistani community’.
‘If Nigel Farage allows that to go out from his party, what does that make him?’ Mr Streeting told Times Radio.
Mr Farage has dismissed Keir Starmer’s claim that Reform’s immigration plans are ‘racist’, branding it an insult to the British public and evidence the PM is panicking about the polls.
Deep divisions have emerged at the top of Labour over the attack with Sadiq Khan insisting he would not use the ‘really loaded word’ about Reform.
Hilary Benn – Reform ‘reckless’ over threat to leave ECHR
Reform’s efforts to walk away from the European Convention on Human Rights are ‘wrong’ and ‘reckless’, the Northern Ireland Secretary has warned.
Hilary Benn said the Good Friday Agreement enabled Northern Ireland to move away from the ‘bloody and brutal trauma of the Troubles’ to ‘peace and progress’.
It was, without doubt, the greatest achievement of the last Labour government. It took courage. It took patient negotiation, and yet, what does Nigel Farage want to do?He actually wants to undermine the Good Friday Agreement by walking away from the European Convention on Human Rights. And after all that the people of Northern Ireland have been through, I cannot think of anything more irresponsible – it’s wrong, it’s reckless, and we’ve got to make sure it never, ever happens.
Watch: Andy Burnham denies launching leadership challenge against Starmer
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham last night denied launching a leadership challenge to Keir Starmer in a much needed boost for the Prime Minister.
Mr Burnham appeared in full retreat as he offered his backing to Sir Keir despite fuelling speculation he was poised to mount a bid to oust him from Downing Street.
In the days prior to Labour’s conference in Liverpool this week, Mr Burnham had suggested unhappy MPs were privately urging him to challenge the PM.
He then issued a fresh outburst against Sir Keir’s leadership in a fiery speech at a conference fringe event on Sunday night.
But – despite leaving the door open for a future leadership bid – Mr Burnham seemed to be backing away on Monday following a backlash against his posturing.
Asked at a conference fringe event if he thought Sir Keir was the right man to be Labour leader and PM, Mr Burnham replied: ‘Yes.’
Starmer set to unveil radical NHS shake-up through ‘online hospital’
Sir Keir Starmer will today unveil a radical plan for an ‘online hospital’ to help tackle record NHS waiting lists.
The Prime Minister will use his conference speech to promise 8.5 million extra appointments in the first three years of the scheme, which begins in 2027.
Dubbed NHS Online, the service will connect patients to specialist doctors via the existing NHS App.
It is designed to give people the choice of digital consultations from home – freeing up hospitals for those who need in-person care.
In his speech Sir Keir will announce: ‘A new world is coming. In decades to come, I want people to look back on this moment as the moment we renewed the NHS for a new world.’
Patients using the service will be able to order and track prescriptions, book scans and tests, and get clinical advice without visiting a hospital.
Those needing procedures will be referred directly to the nearest hospital, surgical hub or diagnostic centre.
Labour activists warned to be ‘vigilant’ ahead of PM’s speech
Labour activists and delegates in Liverpool have been urged to be ‘vigilant’ by the party’s conference arrangements committee chairwoman, ahead of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s speech.
Lynne Morris made the announcement as she opened the third day of the Labour Party conference on Tuesday, and following a one-man pro-Palestine protest during Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s speech on Monday.
In order to deliver a safe conference, we would ask you to be vigilant and to report any concerns you have to a member of staff or steward immediately.If there is someone sitting with you in your delegation or in a seat near to you that you do not recognise, or that are concerned about in any way, please inform the regional, Scottish or Welsh teams.
Only delegates and those with tickets, which includes several journalists, will be let into the hall for Sir Keir’s address, Ms Morris said.
Left’s fury as Starmer backs Tony Blair to help run Gaza in extraordinary Trump ‘peace plan’
Keir Starmer faces a new revolt from left-wingers today after they voiced fury at Donald Trump’s extraordinary peace plan for Tony Blair to help run Gaza.
The US president named the ex-PM as a member of a new board that would run the territory if a ceasefire can be achieved between Israel and Hamas.
Starmer has given ‘strong support’ to the blueprint, unveiled by Mr Trump at a press conference with Benjamin Netanyahu.
Wes Streeting backed Sir Tony involvement touring broadcast studios at Labour conference in Liverpool this morning.
But there is disquiet in party ranks about the prospect, after activists endorsed a motion yesterday condemning Israel’s ‘genocide’.
Wes Streeting backs Starmer to silence his critics
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has backed Keir Starmer to silence his critics in his leader’s speech later today.
Mr Streeting told the PA news agency:
I actually think this Labour conference has been really important for the party and for the Government. I feel like we’ve got a spring in our step, I think people have come together at this conference.We’re proud of what we’ve achieved in our first year as a Labour Government, but we know there’s so much more to do to rebuild our economy, rebuild our public services and rebuild trust in politics.That’s the challenge that we’re facing, that’s the fight we are up for.Keir Starmer has confounded his critics and confounded expectations before, and he will do it again today.
Starmer to compare Labour challenge to rebuilding Britain after Second World War
In his speech this afternoon, Sir Keir will compare the challenge facing Labour now to Clement Attlee’s administration in 1945 as it rebuilt Britain from the ruins of the Second World War.
The Prime Minister will say:
It is a test. A fight for the soul of our country, every bit as big as rebuilding Britain after the war, and we must all rise to this challenge.And yet we need to be clear that our path, the path of renewal, it’s long, it’s difficult, it requires decisions that are not cost-free or easy. Decisions that will not always be comfortable for our party.Yet at the end of this hard road there will be a new country, a fairer country, a land of dignity and respect.
What time is Keir Starmer’s speech?
Keir Starmer and wife Victoria in Liverpool
The Prime Minister will give his leader’s address in Liverpool at 2pm.
The speech is the highlight of the third day of Labour’s conference but we will hear from some Cabinet ministers beforehand.
Here’s a list of the main speakers today:
10:10am Hilary Benn – Northern Ireland Secretary
10:20am Heidi Alexander – Transport Secretary
11:50am Wes Streeting – Health Secretary
Rattled Starmer to renew attack on Farage as racism row splits party
by Harriet Line, Deputy Political Editor
Sir Keir Starmer will today warn the country it faces a ‘defining choice’ between ‘decency and division’, as splits emerged at the top of his party over whether Reform is ‘racist’.
In his keynote speech to Labour’s conference today, the rattled Prime Minister will double down on his attacks of Nigel Farage.
Sir Keir will liken the ‘fight for the soul’ of Britain to rebuilding the country after the war, and will hint at painful tax rises to come – saying the path of renewal requires decisions that are not ‘cost-free or easy’.
Starmer to launch all out attack on Farage in leader’s speech
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the Labour Party conference as Keir Starmer makes his leader’s speech later today in Liverpool.
The Prime Minister will be desperate to unite his fractious party as well as the country as he renews his attack on Nigel Farage and Reform.
But his speech comes in the wake of a turbulent period for his leadership and the prospect of a Budget in November which could see tax hikes and spending squeezes.
Stick with us throughout the day as we bring you the latest updates and reaction from Liverpool with our political reporters James Tapsfield, David Wilcock and Greg Heffer alongside Jamie Bullen reporting from London.
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Labour conference: Keir Starmer will say he is fighting for Britain’s ‘soul’ in new attack on Nigel Farage as PM aims to boost ailing premiership – live updates
