Top Tories set out policies as Conservative Party conference kicks off in Manchester
Top Tories are setting out their policies as the Conservative Party conference kicks off in Manchester – with levelling up, immigration, Ukraine and the next general election on the agenda.
Rishi Sunak has announced that more than 50 “overlooked” British towns will be given £20m each over the next 10 years to regenerate high streets, tackle anti-social behaviour and grow their local economies.
However, figures suggest this £1bn of levelling up funding will mostly go to constituencies held by Conservative MPs – or Labour seats with small majorities.
Read more: Is your town on the list?
The prime minister has claimed that politicians have always focused on cities, despite many Britons living and working in towns.
He said: “The result is the half-empty high streets, rundown shopping centres and anti-social behaviour that undermine many towns’ prosperity and hold back people’s opportunity – and without a new approach, these problems will only get worse.”
Mr Sunak is set to use his first conference as leader to focus on policies that could narrow the gap against Sir Keir Starmer, with opinion polls currently putting the government about 18 points behind Labour.
But on the fringes of the conference, backbench Tories are set to urge the PM to slash an “unsustainable” tax burden on consumers and businesses – with former prime minister Liz Truss calling for corporation tax to be lowered back to 19%.
The Tory leader is also coming under pressure to consider quitting the European Convention on Human Rights, with Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch becoming the second cabinet minister in a week to raise the issue.
Meanwhile, The Sunday Times is reporting that Jeremy Hunt was secretly recorded saying Mr Sunak will call an election once inflation falls below 3%, with the chancellor telling Tory activists that the Bank of England forecasts this will be achieved next autumn.
Elton John and Suella Braverman
Braverman attacks ‘pampered’ celebrities
Two cabinet ministers have given interviews to Sunday newspapers as the four-day conference gets under way.
Sunday’s focus will be on the state of the nation, followed by the economy on Monday. Tackling Channel crossings and bringing down NHS waiting lists will follow on Tuesday, paving the way for the prime minister’s speech on Wednesday.
Speaking to The Mail on Sunday, Suella Braverman attacked celebrities who have criticised her controversial immigration policies – dismissing them as “pampered and out of touch”.
BBC presenter Gary Lineker has been a vocal critic of the government’s approach, while Sir Elton John recently warned their policies risk “legitimising hate and violence”.
Ms Braverman told the newspaper they were members of a “virtue-signalling elite” who lecture Britons from villas and private jets, and suggested they were out of touch with the challenges faced by everyday people.
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The Conservative conference hasn’t even begun and already we’re seeing some very traditional conservative flashpoints emerge: tax, migration, the environment and Europe.
Dozens of MPs have launched a pre-emptive strike on the government by signing a pledge vowing to vote against any further tax rises.
One signatory described this as simply drawing “a line in the sand”.
There’ll also be a “rally for growth” on Monday, hosted by former prime minister Liz Truss – who this time last year was fighting her own internal critics.
But there’s also chest beating coming from within the cabinet.
Former leadership contender Kemi Badenoch has used a newspaper interview to make some not-so-subtle interventions on the hot-button topics of net zero and the European Convention on Human Rights.
That comes days after another person with ambitions for the top job, Suella Braverman, made her own somewhat freelance incursion into broader migration policy.
Rishi Sunak wants this conference to be about long-term planning and decision making.
But he can’t escape short-term challenges – and the political vibrations they are sending through his party.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy meeting Grant Shapps in Kyiv
British soldiers may train troops in Ukraine
Meanwhile, new Defence Secretary Grant Shapps has told The Sunday Telegraph that British soldiers could start training Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s forces on Ukrainian soil.
More than 20,000 Ukrainian recruits have already received formal training here in the UK – but Mr Shapps has had conversations with senior military officials about moving this effort to the country.
So far, the UK and other NATO members have avoided this approach amid concerns that personnel could be in danger of being drawn into combat with Putin’s forces.
Mr Shapps went on to reveal that he had held conversations with Mr Zelenskyy about whether the British navy could help protect commercial vessels from Russian attacks in the Black Sea.
And amid continued speculation about the future of HS2’s northern leg to Manchester – where the Tory conference is being held – the former transport secretary said failing to review the high-speed rail line would be “pretty much irresponsible”.
Watch Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips at 8.30am on Sky News – live from the Conservative Party conference. He will be joined by Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove, former home secretary Dame Priti Patel, and Labour’s shadow Scotland secretary Ian Murray.
Ministers must do “much more” to explain why Palestine Action is a proscribed terrorist group, Harriet Harman has said.
Speaking to the Sky News Electoral Dysfunction podcast, the Labour peer said the government looked like it was just “arresting octogenarian vicars who are worried about the awful situation in Gaza”.
Baroness Harman, who was a Labour MP from 1982 to 2024, said the government had a “number of incredibly important duties” with regard to the war in Gaza – including protecting the Jewish community while also permitting free speech.
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She said that as well as ensuring the safety of Jewish venues, such as schools and synagogues, the government also needed to “try and create an atmosphere where the Jewish people should not feel that they are under threat and be asking themselves whether this is the right country for them to live in and be bringing up their families”.
Baroness Harman went on: “They also have to support and uphold the right to free speech and the right of protest. And people have felt so horrified.
“We all have about the devastating loss of life and suffering in Gaza. And so it’s right that people are allowed to protest.”
A number of protests in support of Palestine Action have been organised in recent months following the group’s proscription under anti-terrorism laws in July, after members targeted RAF Brize Norton and damaged two military aircraft.
Protests against the British government’s ban on Palestine Action
Last week, there were calls for the demonstrations to be halted following the attack on Heaton Park Synagogue in Manchester, in which two people were killed – but a number took place across the country, including in London.
The Labour peer said the organisers of such protests had a responsibility not to allow people to support a “terrorist organisation” but that the government also needed to do “much, more more” to explain why Palestine Action had been proscribed.
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“At the moment, it just looks like the police are arresting octogenarian vicars who are worried about the awful situation in Gaza,” Baroness Harman said.
“So they’ve got to actually be much clearer in why Palestine Action is a terrorist group and that they’re justified in prescribing them and making them illegal.
“But also the police have got to police those marches in stopping them being about the spouting of hatred and inciting violence, with people talking about globalising the intifada, which basically means killing all Jewish people.
“And the police do actually have very wide-ranging powers, not just to arrest people, but to actually ban marches.“
EU lawmakers have sought to introduce Chat Control, while the UK and Australia are on track for digital ID systems. Pavel Durov warns that these “dystopian” measures must be stopped.
Politics
‘The time is now to stop Reform’ – Plaid Cymru calls on Labour voters to unite behind Welsh nationalists
One party has held court over Welsh politics for more than a century.
Welsh Labour MPs have been the largest group sent to Westminster in every general election since 1922 – and the party has been in government in the country for more than a quarter of a century.
But if the polls are accurate, Labour’s long-standing grip on politics in Wales is fading.
Plaid Cymru and Reform UK are running almost neck and neck, while Labour trails significantly. A recent YouGov poll put Plaid Cymru on 30%, Reform UK on 29% and Labour at 14%.
Plaid Cymru, heading into its conference this weekend, can sense the mood for change in Wales – and intends to show it is ready for government.
Polling last month put Plaid Cymru and Reform UK almost neck and neck in Wales, with just one point between them – while Labour trails
The party hopes to capitalise on disillusioned Labour voters feeling let down by their party under Sir Keir Starmer, and use this to tackle the rise of Reform – which is key to getting it into power.
In his leader’s speech, Rhun ap Iorwerth is expected to position Plaid Cymru as Wales’s progressive force, and the only party capable of taking on Reform.
He will say: “We’re not here to act as Labour’s conscience. We are not here to repair Labour. We are here to replace them.
“If you’ve never voted for Plaid Cymru before, the time is now.
“The time is now to stop Reform and elect a government more radical, more ambitious, more impatient to bring about positive change than any which has gone before it. A government of progress and of progressive values.”
One in five Labour voters in Wales intend to back Plaid Cymru at the Senedd elections in 2026, according to YouGov. But almost a quarter of Labour voters remain undecided on who to endorse.
The topic of independence will no doubt be a contentious issue for voters who are angry about decisions made by Labour in Wales and Westminster, but do not want an independent Wales.
Plaid Cymru supporters outside the Senedd on 8 October
Mr ap Iorwerth has ruled out an independence referendum if Plaid Cymru wins next year’s elections, signalling that he doesn’t want the campaign to centre on independence.
Throughout the conference, Plaid Cymru will position itself as ready to govern. But voters will expect clear plans for the NHS, education, and the economy. The question for the party, both during this conference and over the coming months, will be whether its proposals can win over Labour voters in its quest to beat Reform.
But Plaid Cymru’s challenge to Nigel Farage’s party faces a critical test sooner than May. Instead, its next battle will be in the Caerphilly Senedd by-election on 23 October.
Historically a Labour stronghold at both Senedd and Westminster levels, Caerphilly has consistently returned Labour representatives, with Plaid Cymru as the main opposition at Senedd elections.
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However, this election introduces a new dynamic, as Reform has emerged as a credible challenger, poised to disrupt the traditional two-party contest.
Coming second at this election won’t be a total loss for Plaid Cymru.
If it can come second at the by-election, it will prove the point Mr ap Iorwerth will be making at the conference in Swansea: that his party is the only credible anti-Reform vote.
The full list of candidates standing at the Caerphilly by-election:
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Labour – Richard Tunnicliffe
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Plaid Cymru – Lindsay Whittle
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Reform UK – Llŷr Powell
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Conservative – Gareth Potter
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Green Party – Gareth Hughes
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Gwlad – Anthony Cook
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UKIP – Roger Quilliam
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Liberal Democrats – Steve Aicheler
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