Andy Burnham speech live: PM holds emergency cabinet as pressure over ending pension triple lock mounts

Tony Blair’s former political adviser has accused Sir Keir Starmer’s government of trying to attract right wing voters by being “adjacent-racist” on the issue of immigration.

Speaking at an event on the fringes of the Labour Party Conference hosted by the Refugee Council, John McTernan said that he believes Sir Keir “didn’t realise” that he was echoing Enoch Powell in a major speech on immigration.

But he also said the “political strategy at that time was to attract right wing values voters by, I believe, being adjacent racist.”

The housing minister has just unveiled more powers for local leaders to tackle homelessness.

Ending rough sleeping has been a major policy commitment from Andy Burnham, who has pledged to end it by Christmas.

Angela Rayner told the Labour Party conference that local leaders will be handed more powers to “ensure that they have the homes that their communities need”.

“Our councils will be able to refer local homeless households to other social housing providers to reduce reliance on temporary accommodation,” she said.

She also said it will stop social homes from being lost when providers sell them by making it easier for councils to buy them.

Ms Rayner added that Labour will introduce a new duty on public services to work together to provide a “wraparound support to prevent homelessness before families reach crisis point”.

Angela Rayner has told the Labour party conference that Reform UK leader Nigel Farage isn’t standing up to “vested interests”.

The Reform party leader has come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks over a £5 million gift from crypto billionaire party donor Christopher Harborne.

She asks if Mr Farage’s: “Crypto billionaire sugar daddies are giving him millions because he’s standing up for the working people of Britain?”

“Give me a break,” she adds.

Referencing the Reform leader’s Cameo page, where users could pay for a personal message from him, she asks: “If he will sing you a happy birthday song for 70 quid, what would he do for 70 million?”

Angela Rayner has started her speech at the Labour conference.

She acknowledged support she received from Labour members during her time out of government.

The housing and communities minister was met with huge applause and a standing ovation as she took to the podium.

She resigned from Sir Keir Starmer’s cabinet in September last year amid questions over her tax affairs, before being brought back into government by Andy Burnham.

Speaking at the Labour Party conference on Tuesday, she said: “Your work got us into government. We wouldn’t be here without you, and I certainly wouldn’t be here without you.”She added:

“The support received from so many people here over the last year has meant so much to me.”

Up next on the Labour conference stage, it’s Angela Rayner.

The housing secretary is due to speak to delegates in Liverpool at around 11:40am.

Ms Rayner has already been speaking to media this morning, and earlier said she thought Andy Burnham was “brave”, as he reportedly considers ending the state pension triple lock to fund his ambitious social care plans.

The Independent’s political reporter, Athena Stavrou, writes from the conference hall floor in Liverpool:

It’s the last full day of Labour’s annual party conference, and the main hall is already well attended hours before Andy Burnham’s speech.

Members are currently debating a Women in Politics motion, before Angela Rayner is expected to take the stage.

Later, the prime minister will deliver his major speech in a hall which will completely packed out.

Andy Burnham is “absolutely right” to start a conversation around ending the state pension triple lock, Angela Rayner has said.

The housing secretary said the prime minister was “brave” to consider the controversial move, which is reportedly on the table as an option to fund his social care plans.

She told Sky News: “I think he’s absolutely right to start the conversation.

“We’ve got a prime minister who said, I’m I am okay with burning through all my political capital to the point where it might finish me off, on the basis of my legacy will be something better and different.”

The Independent’s political editor David Maddox writes:

Andy Burnham has called a meeting of the “political cabinet” at the Labour conference ahead of his big speech at 2pm.

The unusual move comes amid reports that Mr Burnham is looking at scrapping the triple lock to help fund social care with suggestions he could outline details in his speech.

The meeting is overshadowed by a YouGov poll which has seen support for Nigel Farage’s Reform UK leapfrog Labour, jumping up four points to 25 per cent.

With concerns that the Burnham bounce appears to have come to an end, the prime minister is understood to be planning to talk through the details of his first conference speech as prime minister.

It is already being billed as the most important speech of his political career.

The Independent’s political editor, David Maddox, writes:

Andy Burnham has been hit by a shock poll just hours before he gives his first big speech as party leader and prime minister.

YouGov has tracked support for Nigel Farage’s Reform UK going up four points to 25 per cent a point ahead of Labour on 24 per cent, also up one point.

The Tories are down two points on 19 per cent.But the poll shows the fragility of the Burnham bounce despite recent problems for Reform over donations.

The situation in Drumcree is “tense”, Sir Chris Bryant has said, as he called for everyone in Northern Ireland to “double down on compromise”.

During his speech at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, the Northern Ireland Secretary addressed the continued negotiations to find a resolution to the Orange Order parade dispute.

He said: “The situation in Drumcree is tense and this Government, like every Labour government, will always go the extra mile for peace.

“That’s precisely what I’ll be doing this afternoon: bringing both sides together, talking to everyone, bridging sectarian divides, and giving compromise a chance.

“Because nobody, nobody, nobody wants Northern Ireland to return to the 1990s.

“That’s not going to be easy, as the last few days have shown. It’s really easy to stir up a grievance, much harder to calm it down.

“Which is why I appeal to everyone: believe in Northern Ireland and double down on compromise.”

Sir Chris also said he would not be staying at the conference to hear Andy Burnham’s speech on Tuesday afternoon, and would instead be returning to Northern Ireland.

The Drumcree parading dispute, which was associated with violent disorder during the Troubles, has been reignited after the Parades Commission granted permission for a limited parade down the Garvaghy Road for the first time in almost 30 years.