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It’s Sir Keir Starmer’s first in-person speech to the Labour party conference, and he’ll promise to get Labour “back in business”.

After becoming leader at the height of the pandemic – forced to give keynote speeches to a camera set up in his living room – this is an important moment.

What’s clear from the past few days is that he is determined to change Labour’s direction – confronting the Left of the party on their calls for nationalisation of energy companies, a £15 minimum wage and the whip hand for party members in leadership elections – even if it means bust-ups.

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Sky’s Political Editor Beth Rigby asks Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer if he’s taking the party towards the centre ground.

While Sir Keir refused several times yesterday – in an interview with Sky News – to say he was moving the party back to the centre, he did agree that winning is more important than unity. Or as one shadow minister put it to me, that “unity isn’t possible anymore”.

I understand the leader has been personally stung by how Jeremy Corbyn- who Sir Keir loyally served as Brexit spokesman, when others refused to – has continually refused to apologise for anti-Semitism since being suspended last October; and how the former leader’s allies have made clear at this conference they feel they owe Sir Keir no loyalty.

Justice spokesman David Lammy told us this morning that Keir Starmer is “recalibrating” the party, and that while identity issues have made headlines at the conference – and he personally believes that comments Boris Johnson has made in the past are “racist” – it is a plan to tackle fuel chaos, rising gas bills and improving education which voters want to hear about.

Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer prepares his Labour Party conference speech in his hotel room in Brighton before addressing delegates tomorrow for the first time since becoming leader of his party in 2020. Picture date: Tuesday September 28, 2021.
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Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer prepares his Labour Party conference speech in his hotel room in Brighton

There will be new policies in the speech: a £1bn plan for anyone who needs mental health support to get it within a month; and a major recruitment drive for teachers. Both are costed, with taxes earmarked to pay for them.

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Labour says this represents a serious plan which won’t cripple the economy- a credible alternative to Boris Johnson and, aides say, an indication that “Labour will never again go into an election with a manifesto that isn’t a serious plan for government”.

For voters at large, though, talking about winning is one thing. The Labour leader has developed a reputation as cautious, lawyerly and risk-averse; he needs to make people believe power is within his grasp.

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Chancellor admits tax rises and spending cuts considered for budget

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Chancellor admits tax rises and spending cuts considered for budget

Rachel Reeves has told Sky News she is looking at both tax rises and spending cuts in the budget, in her first interview since being briefed on the scale of the fiscal black hole she faces.

“Of course, we’re looking at tax and spending as well,” the chancellor said when asked how she would deal with the country’s economic challenges in her 26 November statement.

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Ms Reeves was shown the first draft of the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) report, revealing the size of the black hole she must fill next month, on Friday 3 October.

She has never previously publicly confirmed tax rises are on the cards in the budget, going out of her way to avoid mentioning tax in interviews two weeks ago.

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Chancellor pledges not to raise VAT

Cabinet ministers had previously indicated they did not expect future spending cuts would be used to ensure the chancellor met her fiscal rules.

Ms Reeves also responded to questions about whether the economy was in a “doom loop” of annual tax rises to fill annual black holes. She appeared to concede she is trapped in such a loop.

Asked if she could promise she won’t allow the economy to get stuck in a doom loop cycle, Ms Reeves replied: “Nobody wants that cycle to end more than I do.”

She said that is why she is trying to grow the economy, and only when pushed a third time did she suggest she “would not use those (doom loop) words” because the UK had the strongest growing economy in the G7 in the first half of this year.

What’s facing Reeves?

Ms Reeves is expected to have to find up to £30bn at the budget to balance the books, after a U-turn on winter fuel and welfare reforms and a big productivity downgrade by the OBR, which means Britain is expected to earn less in future than previously predicted.

Yesterday, the IMF upgraded UK growth projections by 0.1 percentage points to 1.3% of GDP this year – but also trimmed its forecast by 0.1% next year, also putting it at 1.3%.

The UK growth prospects are 0.4 percentage points worse off than the IMF’s projects last autumn. The 1.3% GDP growth would be the second-fastest in the G7, behind the US.

Last night, the chancellor arrived in Washington for the annual IMF and World Bank conference.

Read more:
Jobs market continues to slow
Banks step up lobbying over threat of tax hikes

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The big issues facing the UK economy

‘I won’t duck challenges’

In her Sky News interview, Ms Reeves said multiple challenges meant there was a fresh need to balance the books.

“I was really clear during the general election campaign – and we discussed this many times – that I would always make sure the numbers add up,” she said.

“Challenges are being thrown our way – whether that is the geopolitical uncertainties, the conflicts around the world, the increased tariffs and barriers to trade. And now this (OBR) review is looking at how productive our economy has been in the past and then projecting that forward.”

She was clear that relaxing the fiscal rules (the main one being that from 2029-30, the government’s day-to-day spending needs to rely on taxation alone, not borrowing) was not an option, making tax rises all but inevitable.

“I won’t duck those challenges,” she said.

“Of course, we’re looking at tax and spending as well, but the numbers will always add up with me as chancellor because we saw just three years ago what happens when a government, where the Conservatives, lost control of the public finances: inflation and interest rates went through the roof.”

Pic: PA
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Pic: PA

Blame it on the B word?

Ms Reeves also lay responsibility for the scale of the black hole she’s facing at Brexit, along with austerity and the mini-budget.

This could risk a confrontation with the party’s own voters – one in five (19%) Leave voters backed Labour at the last election, playing a big role in assuring the party’s landslide victory.

The chancellor said: “Austerity, Brexit, and the ongoing impact of Liz Truss’s mini-budget, all of those things have weighed heavily on the UK economy.

“Already, people thought that the UK economy would be 4% smaller because of Brexit.

“Now, of course, we are undoing some of that damage by the deal that we did with the EU earlier this year on food and farming, goods moving between us and the continent, on energy and electricity trading, on an ambitious youth mobility scheme, but there is no doubting that the impact of Brexit is severe and long-lasting.”

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Crypto maturity demands systematic discipline over speculation

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Crypto maturity demands systematic discipline over speculation

Crypto maturity demands systematic discipline over speculation

Unlimited leverage and sentiment-driven valuations create cascading liquidations that wipe billions overnight. Crypto’s maturity demands systematic discipline.

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NYC mayor establishes digital assets and blockchain office

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NYC mayor establishes digital assets and blockchain office

NYC mayor establishes digital assets and blockchain office

The executive order creating the Office of Digital Assets and Blockchain Technology under the New York City government came three months before Eric Adams will leave office.

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