Labour must explain fuzzy policy detail to get conference out of donation row’s shadow
Arguably, there’s a much much bigger problem for Sir Keir Starmer at the Labour conference than the freebies, the briefings and the incessant chatter about an absent chief of staff.
As you go round the Liverpool conference centre, ask Labour MPs and members of the cabinet what they want to be talking about today.
What do they want the country to hear during the next four days – the most important moment they have to communicate with voters since the general election itself?
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It is the responses to this – and the lack thereof – that is privately unnerving so many on the conference centre floor.
But first, you get the grumbling.
One source told me Sir Keir is irritated that his family has been dragged into the media as part of this ruckus – despite the prime minister’s wife’s conscious choice to attend London fashion week after the furore about donations for clothes emerged.
Some put the leader’s failure to appear at a Saturday evening National Executive Committee (NEC) down to this grumpiness, though party sources deny this.
But it is noticeable his unyielding stubbornness in interviews – saying stopping him going to the football would be a step “too far” would suggest he does not see a problem in his approach.
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It is increasingly easy to find Labour figures railing about “disproportionate” focus in the media on donors and gifts and freebies as new stories arrive hourly.
Yet, they have come unprepared to answer questions; cabinet teams still making up contradictory answers on the fly.
On Sunday morning, Education Secretary Bridget Philipson said taking donations from Lord Alli was fine because the birthday party he funded was a work event.
An hour later and Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner is saying that taking donations in kind – namely the New York apartment – is fine because the holiday was a private event.
How do we reconcile both? And everyone is grumpy.
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Education Sec on £14k donation
Party figures are also cross because they are being surprised by events.
Sky News understands the Labour Party’s donors department was unaware of some of the freebies being handed directly to Labour MPs – they knew about the ones handed to the central party, but have not been across the full scale and detail of donations handed to individuals.
This has meant a lack of central intelligence on the critical issue of conference and meant they have been surprised by stories those thrown up by the Westminster Accounts database and the weekend papers about freebies. Not the backdrop they wanted.
And all of this is making the relationship between the Labour family and the fourth estate more corrosive.
Sir Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner arrived at conference on Saturday as new stories were hitting the papers. Pic: PA
It has been interesting to watch in recent days parts the party turning against the media – a trend unlikely to help ease Labour’s communications challenges in the months ahead.
The growing hostility is visible on social media, but it exists in person in Liverpool too.
However, if you press members of this government on what they would prefer the conversation to be – beyond freebies and power tussles – the answer is much more fuzzy.
Ministers and advisors will all tell you this conference is about communicating hope, telling the country that things aren’t so gloomy.
They talk about a house on a hill – a metaphor likely to be expanded on later in the week.
And of course there’s a desire to blame the Tories.
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Deputy PM: ‘The Tories failed Britain’
There’s promise of detail too, more specifics to come, starting in Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s speech on Monday, then Sir Keir’s on Tuesday, but we’re almost halfway through the conference and they haven’t come through yet.
Somehow they are struggling to communicate how they are changing the country – a problem that risks undermining so much of their agenda if they can’t get this fixed.
Take the announcements this weekend. Today’s policy was “planning passports” for brownfield sites, yet one cabinet minister admitted to me they couldn’t explain it.
The party literature says it changes the presumption so that proposals that meet certain design and quality standards will be automatically approved.
But if this can’t be communicated, and people can’t explain why this measure – amongst many – is critical to the planning reform project, will anyone notice?
Then there’s another big policy announcement from the deputy prime minister today – the investment zones for the West Midlands and West Yorkshire.
Ms Rayner said she would “move forward” with those zones in her speech, but study the words closely.
She omitted to say what a casual observer might have thought – that these zones aren’t new as they build on investment zones announced last year in the same areas by the then Tory Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.
Asked what the difference is, I was told that the Labour ones “will go further”, building from existing investment zones “but tied in to Labour’s new Local Growth Plans”.
Can incremental reform really shake up and excite the conference and the country beyond?
Labour is promising massive change to the country, but if it is struggling to explain what it is doing and why, will it be able to bring the party and voters along with it?
And if they can’t explain why they are doing what they are doing, can we be really sure they know where they are going?
The US national debt is nearing $38 trillion, with many more now seeing Bitcoin’s appeal as a viable alternative to the dollar.
Politics
Conservative Party pledges £1.6bn ICE-style ‘removals force’ to deport 150,000 illegal migrants a year
The Conservatives are pledging to create a new “removals force” to detain and remove 150,000 a year as part of a broad plan to tackle illegal immigration to the UK.
Modelled on the “successful approach” of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, this new force would be given “sweeping new powers”, and over £1bn in funding.
The pledge is part of the Conservative Party’s broad new plans to stop illegal migration to the UK, set to be unveiled by Kemi Badenoch on the first day of their annual conference on Sunday, where reducing immigration and creating “Strong Borders” will be one of the key themes.
Tap here to follow the latest from Tory conference in Manchester
Speaking to Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips ahead of her speech, shadow home secretary Chris Philp insisted this is a “detailed and comprehensive plan to get control of this country’s borders”.
However, Ms Badenoch did not provide specifics when asked on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg where migrants being removed would go, claiming that question was “irrelevant”.
She said: “I’m tired of all of these irrelevant questions about where should they go. They will go back to where they should do or another country, but they should not be here.”
Pressed again, she added: “They will go back to where they came from.”
The new “removals force” that she will unveil later will replace the existing Home Office Immigration Enforcement (IE) and will be given broad new powers, including being able to use facial recognition without warning in order to spot illegal immigrants.
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Sam and Anne discuss how comments made by their leader will be received by Conservatives ahead of their conference
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It will be given funding of £1.6bn a year, up from the existing £820m a year, to increase the number of removals annually from 34,000 to 150,000 – which would represent “at least 750,000 removals” across a five-year parliament.
The Tories say this increase in funding would come from the closure of asylum hotels and “tackling the wider costs of our out-of-control asylum system”.
Expanding the use of live facial recognition technology is likely to attract criticism from within the Tory Party itself, on the grounds of it being a threat to individual freedom and privacy.
And ICE in the US has been heavily criticised by politicians and the public in recent months, with the agency accused of arresting both legal migrants and US citizens and targeting people based on their race.
The Trump administration has faced heavy criticism and lawsuits for deporting illegal migrants and foreign offenders to El Salvador’s notorious mega-prison, the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), including a man who was wrongly sent there, having been granted permission to remain in the US.
Nigel Farage has said violent UK offenders could be jailed overseas under his plans to cut crime by half. The Reform UK leader named El Salvador as a likely destination, though he said he has not held conversations with officials there and “multiple” partners would be considered.
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Sky’s Mark Stone speaks to an undocumented migrant living in fear of detention and deportation in the US
Tories to withdraw from multiple conventions
In addition to confirming plans to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), announced on Saturday, Ms Badenoch will also vow to fully repeal the Human Rights Act, and leave the Council of Europe Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings.
This, the Tories say, would “end the legal blocks that allow illegal immigrants, and in some cases foreign criminals, to stay in the UK based on flimsy claims”.
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The clamour from the right for the UK to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights has been growing – would it make a difference?
A radical overhaul of the asylum system would see refugee status granted only to those threatened by a foreign government, and those fleeing conflict or “less tolerant” laws on religion or sexuality would not be eligible, with the party saying “few people will qualify”.
Read more:
Tory conference – a chance for Badenoch to turn her fortunes around?
Leaked data shows Tory conference might have smaller crowd this year
Badenoch says Tories will quit ECHR if they win next election
The plan will also see the immigration tribunal abolished, with all decisions on migration taken by the Home Office with only limited rights of appeal in cases where officials have acted without statutory authority.
Immigration cases will be denied legal aid, with the Tories accusing solicitors of having “defrauded” the UK by “coaching” applicants and arguing there is “no need for lawyers” as people “should simply tell the truth about their circumstances”.
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Prime minister rules out leaving ECHR
‘Labour is fixing the Tories’ mess’
The plans come as Ms Badenoch faces continued pressure on her right flank from Reform UK, which has already pledged to leave the ECHR and deport up to 600,000 people over five years if it comes to power.
But the party leader said the plans put forward by Nigel Farage’s party are “nothing but announcements that fall apart on arrivals”.
She also said the Labour government offers “failed gimmicks”, adding: “Our Stronger Borders plan is serious and credible and backed by a comprehensive legal analysis. That is the difference the next Conservative government will deliver.”
Kemi Badenoch wants to create a ‘Removals Force’ modelled on the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. Pic: Reuters
A Labour Party spokesperson said: “The Conservatives’ message on immigration is: we got everything wrong, we won’t apologise, now trust us.
“It won’t wash – Kemi Badenoch’s party enabled record high net migration as removals plummeted, opened over 400 asylum hotels and wasted £700 million of taxpayers’ money to send just four volunteers to Rwanda.
“This Labour government is fixing the Tories’ mess by smashing the people-smuggling gangs running the vile small boats trade, closing asylum hotels, deporting foreign criminals and signing international returns deals to bring order to Britain’s borders.”
Hear more about the plans from shadow home secretary Chris Philp, live at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester on Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips from 8.30am.
Will as many people as last year come to Tory conference? I have a leak that helps explore this – and it reveals the party itself is expecting fewer.
Normally you don’t get any detailed breakdowns of conference data – who is coming and in what category.
But I’ve been shared an early cut of the numbers from this year. What you can see above is a screenshot of the data sent to the party board.
I am told this table is from 11 August and shows the then-current attendance figures which were sent to the Conservative Party board. They revealed numbers due to be coming to Manchester this week, lagging on last year.
You can see that at that stage, there are more than 1,000 fewer members due to come to conference than had been listed in early August 2024.
Supporters at this year’s Tory party conference greet their leader Kemi Badenoch. Pic: PA
Indeed, the party’s target is markedly lower. There are also fewer Young Conservatives, though by a much smaller margin.
However, the number of commercial guests is up on last year, as is donors, known as ‘Treasurer’s Guests’, although the number planning to attend Business Day on Monday is down.
Read more:
Tory conference – a chance for Badenoch to turn her fortunes around?
Tories pledge £1.6bn ICE-style ‘removals force’ to deport 150,000 a year
Badenoch says Tories will quit ECHR if they win next election
The ‘Margaret Thatcher 100th,’ a commemoration of her life, is a new event to mark the centenary of the former Conservative prime minister’s birth which is on 13 October.
I’m told the current number of members coming to Manchester is 3,500, although that is calculated on a different basis to these – and includes Young Conservatives.
Another source told me the number of members coming to conference – calculated on the above basis – is around 2,800 but it was not possible to verify that.
A Conservative spokesman said: “This out-of-date report does not reflect the strength of Conservative Party conference 2025.
“There are thousands of members – many new to the party – hundreds of businesses, and many other delegates attending to hear Kemi Badenoch‘s bold new vision for the country.
“This conference the Conservatives will demonstrate they are the only party that can be trusted to deliver a stronger economy and stronger borders for the country.”
In response to the leaked data, Reform UK posted on X, “The Conservative Party is finished.”
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