Labour party conference 2025 live: Rachel Reeves signals plan to go back on ‘no tax rises’ pledge

Yvette Cooper has joined the rest of Labour’s top team using the party’s conference to attack Reform UK.

The foreign secretary used her speech to accuse the Conservatives of having ruined Britain’s reputation on the world stage. But the throwaway anti-Tory line was only a precursor to Ms Cooper’s real attack, focused squarely on Nigel Farage.

She said: “While we are standing up to Putin. Nigel Farage says he is the leader he most admires. While we are strengthening the NATO alliance, they trot out Russian propaganda claiming NATO caused the war.

“And while we opened our hearts and our homes to Ukrainian children, their policy is to turn them away.

“While we do new trade deals underpinned by international law, they want to rip up those rules and lose the jobs and investment we need.

“And while we work together to renew Britain, they tour the world seeking every opportunity to run our country down.”

Ms Cooper branded Reform “plastic patriots” and said Labour ministers are “proud to be British”.

Asked if there was a glimmer of hope for the party, Sir John Curtice said: “It is not obvious is it, no… I don’t think Reform will disappear… that said, if by 2029 the economy is turned around and the waiting lists are way way back down.

“Don’t repeat the Tories mistake where you focus on an issue where you don’t have total control”, he added saying their mistake was focusing on immigration.

He also said Reform may have “overreached” with Indefinite Leave to Remain policy last week, threatening to deport people who have lived successfully in the UK for years.

Yvette Cooper has said Britain must work to tackle illegal migration abroad, not just in the UK.

The foreign secretary said that when the UK fails to tackle issues such as climate change and economic insecurity abroad, they wash up on Britain’s shores.

She said: “We will work with international partners to tackle the causes and manage support for refugees. We’ve doubled support for Sudan, where millions are fleeing violence and famine, and we will provide new help for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh who have fled persecution in Myanmar.”

She added: “Ahead of the 75th anniversary of the Refugee Convention, we will lead the international debate on reforming and ensuring that the global framework can respond to the changing crisis today.”

Yvette Cooper has called on Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the “moral obscenity” of his country’s military campaign in Gaza.

The foreign secretary said it has seen “food, water and medicine denied and an unconscionable, loss of human life”.

She added: “Palestinian civilians should not have to go another day in fear and hunger, the hostages should not have to live another day in the darkness of captivity. No family should endure another loss, enough is enough, the moment cannot be lost.”

She said Britain’s decision to recognise a Palestinian state must be a “spur, not a substitute” for action.

And she called on Hamas to “end its abhorrent detention” of hostages and the “calculated cruelty that has split and traumatized families for nearly two years”.

Several prominent faces are due to take to the stage at the Labour Party conference on Monday, with the hope of revitalising supporters as recent polling shows dismal results for Sir Keir Starmer’s government.

At 10.40am, foreign secretary Yvette Cooper is set to give a speech, followed by defence secretary John Healey, with deputy prime minister David Lammy at 3.30pm, and home secretary Shabana Mahmood at 3.45pm.

All eyes will be on Chancellor Rachel Reeves at 2pm ahead of her November Budget, as she declined to rule out tax rises in her morning media round.

Also due to speak throughout the day is technology secretary Peter Kyle, education secretary Bridget Phillipson and culture secretary Lisa Nandy.

We’ll be bringing you all the latest updates here.

The shadow home secretary has accused the Prime Minister of “smearing people as racist” who want borders better controlled.

“Even yesterday, Keir Starmer was smearing people as racist who wanted to get control of our borders – that tells you a lot about the way Keir Starmer’s mind works”, Chris Philp told Sky News.

Asked if he agrees with Sir Keir’s claim that Reform UK’s immigration policy – including its proposal to scrap indefinite leave to remain – is racist, Mr Philp said: “No, it’s not racist, it’s not racist to want to control our borders – it’s not racist to want to make sure only people who are making a contribution can stay here, it’s completely wrong, completely wrong, for Keir Starmer to use that smear.”

“And in the past, Keir Starmer wrote a book, or an article, when he was a human rights lawyer, when he said that all immigration law had racist overtones or undertones.”

Rachel Reeves has reportedly ruled out hiking taxes on VAT, national insurance and income rates during an interview with Bloomberg, ahead of her party conference speech.

Their political editor Alex Wickham shared on social media: “NEW: Rachel Reeves tells Bloomberg she will not raise the headline rates of income tax, national insurance or VAT at the budget.

“She recommits to the manifesto on the big three and corporation tax as well.

“Dispels speculation this week. Also rules out wealth tax.”

Sir Keir Starmer considers the British people who believe in Reform UK’s immigration policy to be “racist” and this shows “this is a Prime Minister circling the drain”, Zia Yusuf has claimed.

Sir Keir Starmer has accused Nigel Farage’s party of promoting a “racist” policy on immigration after it pledged to scrap settled status for all non-EU migrants, requiring those who have been granted indefinite leave to remain to re-apply under much stricter rules.

Reform UK’s head of policy told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that Sir Keir “is literally the least popular, the most unpopular, Prime Minister on record, according to polls this week.”

Mr Yusuf said: “Look, the reality is that the British people are sick and tired of having their legitimate concerns about immigration being sneered at, being belittled and ultimately being insulted for raising those legitimate concerns.

“What Reform have announced is that migrants must pay their way, speak English and not commit crime, and the fact that Keir Starmer considers that policy – and those very reasonable people, the majority, frankly, of the people in this country who agree with that policy – as racist, says everything about the fact that this is a Prime Minister circling the drain, who is speaking to the activists in his own party.”

In its election manifesto, Labour promised no tax rises on working people, including income tax, VAT or national insurance contributions.

And as speculation has run rife ahead of budgets, the government has always been forced to deny plans to break their manifesto pledges. Typically, they’d say they remained “committed” to those pledges.

But since yesterday, when the prime minister was questioned on the BBC ahead of Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool, some new language has emerged, with Sir Keir saying the manifesto pledges “stand”.

Rachel Reeves repeated the same language on Monday. While the government is still indicating plans to stick to those pledges, the change in language has sparked fevered speculation around a possible VAT rise, partly because “the commitment stands” is a much more passive way of saying the same thing they’ve always been saying, which perhaps might make it easier for them to break the commitment later down the line.

Speculation was only spurred on by the fact that the chancellor broadly confirmed that taxes in general would need to be increased at the budget, saying “the world has changed”.