Andy Burnham has backed Sir Keir Starmer as leader of the Labour Party as he attempts to dampen rumours about a potential leadership bid.
Asked at a fringe event at the party conference if he believed Sir Keir was the right man to lead the Labour Party and the country, the Manchester mayor replied: “Yes.”
It follows days of speculation over Mr Burnham’s ambitions to return to Westminster, after he said several MPs had urged him to challenge Starmer.
But he suggested such rumours had partly stemmed from “overwritten” and “inaccurate” reporting and said: “I can’t launch a leadership campaign, I’m not in Parliament, so that is the bottom line”.
Though he refused to guarantee he would remain in his mayoralty for the rest of his term, he said “you would have to wrench” him out of Greater Manchester.
Elsewhere, Shabana Mahmood said she will do “whatever it takes” to stop small boats crossings as she vowed to break the criminal gangs that profit from them.
Making her first speech to a Labour Party conference after succeeding Yvette Cooper as home secretary, Ms Mahmood said she would crackdown on such criminals.
Labour Party Conference – Latest Updates
- Burnham insists he is supporting Starmer
- Two in three labour members back Burnham over Starmer - new poll
- Labour members demand PM accepts Israel committing genocide
- Home secretary vows to do ‘whatever it takes’ to stop small boat crossings
- Reeves attacks 'dangerously' wrong Andy Burnham
- Reform’s immigration plans ‘worse than racist,’ Mahmood says
Police arrest over 60 for supporting banned Palestine Action near Liverpool conference
07:00
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Maroosha Muzaffar
Police arrested 66 protesters outside the Labour Party conference in Liverpool for showing support for the banned group Palestine Action, which was proscribed under the Terrorism Act in July.
Most were detained for holding signs such as “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action”, before being released on bail.
Merseyside Police said that while two people were released without charge, 64 others – aged between 21 and 83 – were detained on suspicion of displaying material in support of a banned organisation. All have since been released on bail.
Defend Our Juries, which organised the demonstration, called the ban “unjust” and urged its reversal.
“Some of the people in attendance displayed material in support of Palestine Action, who are a proscribed terrorism organisation,” Merseyside Police said in a statement.
Starmer to defend his economic strategy as ‘antidote to division’
06:30
,
Maroosha Muzaffar
Keir Starmer will use his Labour conference speech in Liverpool to defend his economic strategy, describing growth as the “antidote to division” fostered by the populist right.
“The defining mission of this government is to grow the economy, improve living standards and change the way we create wealth,” the prime minister is expected to say.
“An economy that grows not just from the top but from the grassroots. Because growth is the pound in your pocket. It is more money for trips, meals out, the little things that bring joy to all our lives, the peace of mind that comes from economic security.”
“But it is also the antidote to division. That’s the most important aspect of national renewal. The way you grow an economy, not just how much, but who and where benefits – that can either build a nation or it can pull it apart.
“And in the world we must face the threats we must defeat, Britain needs an economy that unites, every person, every community, every great nation on these islands. Standing together, as so often in our past, facing down the threats of a volatile world.”
Rachel Reeves hints at possible tax rises in November budget
06:00
,
Maroosha Muzaffar
Rachel Reeves used her Labour conference speech to warn that the government faces tough financial decisions and hinted at possible tax rises in the November Budget.
She pledged not to take risks with public finances and suggested that global upheavals and the “long-term damage” to the economy had made the government’s decisions “harder”.
The chancellor pledged to keep “taxes, inflation and interest rates as low as possible”.
“There are still those who peddle the idea that we could just abandon economic responsibility and cast off any constraints on spending.
“They are wrong - dangerously so - and we need to be honest about what that choice would mean.”
Starmer to urge Britons to turn away from ‘politics of grievance’ advanced by Farage
05:30
,
Maroosha Muzaffar
In his speech, the prime minister will call on voters to turn away from the “politics of grievance” advanced by Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, and instead come together around values of “dignity and respect”.
Starmer is set to argue that Britain now faces a defining choice – a “fork in the road” – between “renewal or decline”.
He will say: “Britain stands at a fork in the road. We can choose decency. Or we can choose division.”
He is going to liken today’s challenges to those met by Clement Attlee’s post-war Labour government, portraying the struggle ahead as nothing less than a battle for “the soul of our country”.
Starmer to make key NHS announcement at Labour conference
05:00
,
Maroosha Muzaffar
Sir Keir Starmer will use his Labour Party conference speech to unveil “NHS Online” – a digital hospital service launching in 2027 that aims to provide 8.5 million extra appointments and cut waiting times by letting patients book tests, access prescriptions, and manage care through the NHS app.
He will frame the move as a technological revolution for healthcare and part of his vision for a “fairer Britain”.
Speaking ahead of the address, health secretary Wes Streeting said the NHS faces an “existential threat” if it fails to modernise, and vowed Labour would embrace new technologies to secure its future, Sky News reported.
“Our health service and our social care services need to change with the times,” he said.
Hugh Grant joins Hacked Off protest outside Labour conference in Liverpool
04:30
,
Maroosha Muzaffar
Hugh Grant joined Hacked Off campaigners outside the Labour Party conference in Liverpool on Monday.
The actor appeared alongside members of the press reform group, who are calling for tighter regulation and better protection for people affected by media intrusion.
Grant stood in front of photographs, holding a banner that read: “Britain deserves a better press.”
Hillsborough Justice campaigners Margaret Aspinall and Sue Roberts also attended the protest, which took place as Labour members met inside the conference.
Farage cannot be trusted with national security, says defence secretary
04:00
,
Rebecca Whittaker
Nigel Farage cannot be trusted with the UK’s national security, the Defence Secretary has said.
Asked whether the Reform UK leader was a threat to national security, John Healey told a fringe event at the Labour party conference: “I don’t think Nigel Farage or his party can be trusted with national security.
“I think you can genuinely say one of the important acts of leadership that we’ve seen from Keir Starmer is to make sure that we, collectively with allies, have stood up to Putin.
“We’ve seen that recently with the drone attacks and the Nato response, and the jets that we’ve sent to that eastern flank defence.
“You’ve got Farage and his party looking up to him (Putin), saying that, as Farage has, he’s the leader they most admire.”
He added: “There’s something deeply suspect about Nigel Farage.”
Analysis: Telling Labour who the real enemy is has energised both Starmer and his party
03:00
,
Rebecca Whittaker
Keir Starmer has defied gloomy expectations for the party conference in Liverpool with a new energy not seen since he won the election in July last year, says political editor David Maddox.
Critics of ID cards are 'wrong', says Shabana Mahmood
02:00
,
Rebecca Whittaker
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said critics describing the Government’s digital ID plans were “wrong” and people feel “mugged off” by illegal working.
Asked by Lord Michael Gove at a fringe event at Labour’s annual conference what her response would be to those critics, she said: “They’re wrong. Orwell captured very beautifully the nature of Englishness, I might disagree with him on one or two things.”
She added: “It has always amazed me that the nation of the Domesday Book cannot run government services properly … so, I see ID cards as a reframe of the relationship between citizen and state.
“And, of course, you have to have safeguards … we’re not living in a country where someone’s going to check it every five minutes.
“The British people would reject that. There’d be massive disobedience. That would not work.
“But I think it’s absolutely fine for the Government to say, ‘hang on a second. We have a bunch of services, you need to access these services. Here is a gateway of access to Government services’.
“And, by the way, this helps all of us, because then you can be sure that everyone accessing those services is, in fact, entitled to them.”
She said people “can see people working illegally” and “feel completely mugged off”.
Shabana Mahmood: ‘We will deport immigrants unless they earn their right to be British’
01:00
,
Rebecca Whittaker
Watch: Andy Burnham downplays leadership speculation after pre-conference interviews
Tuesday 30 September 2025 00:00
,
Rebecca Whittaker
Starmer: ‘Choose my decency over Farage’s division’
Monday 29 September 2025 23:39
,
Rebecca Whittaker
Sir Keir Starmer will step up his attack on Nigel Farage by telling voters Britain faces a historic choice between his “decency” and the Reform leader’s “division”.
Just 48 hours after describing Mr Farage’s immigration policies as “racist and immoral”, Sir Keir will use his most important conference speech yet as a rallying call for Labour to fight back against Reform, which is seen by the prime minister as the government’s primary threat.
Read more here by political editor David Maddox:
What has Andy Burnham said about leadership rumours today?
Monday 29 September 2025 22:01
,
Athena Stavrou
Of all the senior Labour figures at this year’s party conference, it is perhaps Andy Burnham who has garnered the most attention.
The Manchester mayor has been in the spotlight following claims last week that multiple MPs had urged him to challenge Starmer’s leadership.
He has spoken at several fringe events in Liverpool today, with many questions asking about his potential return to Westminster.
He insisted “the only thing I’ve launched is a debate” about how to beat Reform UK and suggested speculation about his ambitions had partly stemmed from “overwritten” and “inaccurate” reporting.
When asked if he would see out his term as Manchester mayor, he said: “I am committed to my role as mayor of Greater Manchester.
“I can’t predict the future.”
Asked if he thought Sir Keir was the right man to lead the Labour Party and the country, he replied: “Yes.”
Hugh Grant joins Hacked Off protest outside Labour conference in Liverpool
Monday 29 September 2025 21:38
,
Athena Stavrou
Hugh Grant joined Hacked Off campaigners outside the Labour Party conference in Liverpool on Monday.
The actor appeared alongside members of the press reform group, who are calling for tighter regulation and better protection for people affected by media intrusion.
Grant stood in front of photographs, holding a banner that read: “Britain deserves a better press.”
Hillsborough Justice campaigners Margaret Aspinall and Sue Roberts also attended the protest, which took place as Labour members met inside the conference.
Pictures from day 2 of the Labour Party conference
Monday 29 September 2025 21:16
,
Athena Stavrou
Reform’s immigration plans ‘worse than racist,’ Mahmood says
Monday 29 September 2025 20:55
,
Athena Stavrou
Nigel Farage has “blown a very loud dog whistle” by proposing an immigration policy that is “worse than racist”, Shabana Mahmood has said.
In a fierce attack on Reform UK, the Home Secretary said the insurgent right-wing party’s plans, which include abolishing indefinite leave to remain, were “immoral” and “extreme”.
In conversation with Tory peer Lord Michael Gove during an event on the fringes of Labour conference, Ms Mahmood suggested Mr Farage had sent an implicit signal to racists allowing him to claim “plausible deniability.”
“It’s a little bit worse than racist. If it was racist, in a funny way, it would be easier to deal with,” she told the audience on Monday evening.
“I think it’s immoral and I think it’s extreme.
“I think Nigel Farage is playing the trick that, I think, he tries to play very regularly, which is he will say something that, technically he can say it’s not racist, but what he really knows he’s done is blown a very, very loud dog whistle to every racist in the country.”
Farage cannot be trusted with national security, says defence secretary
Monday 29 September 2025 20:43
,
Athena Stavrou
Nigel Farage cannot be trusted with the UK’s national security, the Defence Secretary has said.
Asked whether the Reform UK leader was a threat to national security, John Healey told a fringe event at the Labour party conference: “I don’t think Nigel Farage or his party can be trusted with national security.
“I think you can genuinely say one of the important acts of leadership that we’ve seen from Keir Starmer is to make sure that we, collectively with allies, have stood up to Putin.
“We’ve seen that recently with the drone attacks and the Nato response, and the jets that we’ve sent to that eastern flank defence.
“You’ve got Farage and his party looking up to him (Putin), saying that, as Farage has, he’s the leader they most admire.”
He added: “There’s something deeply suspect about Nigel Farage.”
Analysis: Telling Labour who the real enemy is has energised both Starmer and his party
Monday 29 September 2025 20:34
,
Athena Stavrou
Lammy says Farage’s policies don’t reflect British values
Monday 29 September 2025 20:32
,
Athena Stavrou
Shabana Mahmood says Islamophobia in UK 'on scale I’ve never known'
Monday 29 September 2025 20:09
,
Athena Stavrou
Shabana Mahmood said anti-Muslim hatred is now “on a scale that I’ve never known in my lifetime” and members of her family have been called “f****** Paki” in Birmingham recently.
Tory peer Lord Michael Gove, in conversation with the Home Secretary, said a “particular animus towards Muslims” had been detected recently, “reflected in some of the rhetoric from the White House”.
He cited the example of the suggestion London wants to implement sharia law.
Asked whether she believed that anti-Muslim racism was especially pernicious at the moment and what could be done about it, she said: “Well, this one obviously cuts very deep for me personally.
“I think the levels of anti-Muslim hatred at the moment are off the charts.
“It’s on a scale that I’ve never known in my lifetime. And, you know, when I was a child, I think I was seven or eight years old, that’s the first time I heard the word ‘Paki’ … so it’s not as if I haven’t been racially abused before.”
She added: “But what is happening now is something much deeper and much more pervasive, and it does feel like it’s everywhere at the moment.
“Members of my own family, just in the last couple of weeks, you know, a handful of them have been called ‘f****** Paki’ in Birmingham, in places that I go to regularly with my family.”
Angela Rayner 'sad' to be missing party conference
Monday 29 September 2025 19:40
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Athena Stavrou
Angela Rayner has said she is “sad” to be missing the Labour Party conference this year, weeks after she resigned as deputy prime minister.
Ms Rayner, who stepped down over a tax row, responded to housing minister Steve Reed who said it was a “privilege to follow in your footsteps as our nation’s Housing Secretary”.
Ms Rayner wrote: :Thank you Steve, and to all the delegates, activists and members who continue to be the lifeblood of this Labour Government.
“I’m sad not to be alongside you all in Liverpool this year, but I’m with you in spirit - and will continue fighting for working people.”
Thank you Steve, and to all the delegates, activists and members who continue to be the lifeblood of this Labour Government.
— Angela Rayner (@AngelaRayner) September 29, 2025
I’m sad not to be alongside you all in Liverpool this year, but I’m with you in spirit - and will continue fighting for working people. https://t.co/QQpt6ICZ6P
'I can’t control you lot can I', Burnham tells journalist as he says leadership ambition reporting 'inaccurate'
Monday 29 September 2025 19:15
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Athena Stavrou
Andy Burnham has insisted reporting on his ambitions to be Labour leader has been misleading.
Asked by journalists in Liverpool whether the situation had gotten out of control and if he was now being a “peacemaker,” he said: “It was The Telegraph. They were inaccurate in what they said, the headline was not what I said.
“What can I do. I can’t control you lot can I. I wish I could.”
“I can’t control you lot can I…”
— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) September 29, 2025
Andy Burnham responds as @nicholaswatt asks whether speculation about his leadership ambitions has “got a little bit out of control" following interviews he gave in the run up to Labour Party Conference.#Newsnight pic.twitter.com/LUszXeqQIV
What has Andy Burnham said about leadership rumours today?
Monday 29 September 2025 19:01
,
Athena Stavrou
Of all the senior Labour figures at this year’s party conference, it is perhaps Andy Burnham who has garnered the most attention.
The Manchester mayor has been in the spotlight following claims last week that multiple MPs had urged him to challenge Starmer’s leadership.
He has spoken at several fringe events in Liverpool today, with many questions asking about his potential return to Westminster.
He insisted “the only thing I’ve launched is a debate” about how to beat Reform UK and suggested speculation about his ambitions had partly stemmed from “overwritten” and “inaccurate” reporting.
When asked if he would see out his term as Manchester mayor, he said: “I am committed to my role as mayor of Greater Manchester.
“I can’t predict the future.”
Asked if he thought Sir Keir was the right man to lead the Labour Party and the country, he replied: “Yes.”
Phillipson says there is 'no time to waste' on scrapping two child benefit cap
Monday 29 September 2025 18:41
,
Athena Stavrou
The education secretary has said there is “no time to waste” as she said she would be pushing for the government to scrap the two-child benefit cap at the Budget.
Bridget Phillipson, who is also chairing the child poverty task force, told Times Radio: “I grew up in poverty I know what it feels like. It matters personally and deeply to me.
“I’ve always been clear that the two-child limit is on the table.”
Watch: Lammy says Farage’s policies don’t reflect British values
Monday 29 September 2025 18:01
,
Athena Stavrou
Burnham explains opposition to digital ID cards
Monday 29 September 2025 17:54
,
Athena Stavrou
Andy Burnham said the reason he did not believe it was the right time to push ahead with digital ID was because of his experience trying to push through ID cards in government.
He told a conference fringe event: “I think there’s a risk of an opportunity cost situation here, where something can consume a huge amount of time and actually doesn’t come through.
“And that will be the lesson about 2005 to 2010 parliament, it consumed a lot of air time and it didn’t actually materialise.”
Lammy responds to vote deeming Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide
Monday 29 September 2025 17:48
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Athena Stavrou
David Lammy said the question of whether Israel’s actions amount to a genocide should be left up to the courts, but the public can reach its own judgment.
Responding to a vote at the Labour conference deeming Israel’s actions a genocide, the Justice Secretary said he believed in “the rules based order”.
He said: “That means that it must be for the ICJ with their judges and judiciary, and for the ICC, to determine the issue of genocide in relation to the convention, it is not for politicians like me to do that.
“But it is for the public to look at what they see and come to their own judgments about what they see.”
He added that last year he had decided “that I did see a clear risk that Israel was breaching international humanitarian law” and had suspended arms sales to Israel.
Burnham says he hopes Britain rejoins EU as he hits back at Reeves and Starmer on the economy
Monday 29 September 2025 17:26
,
Athena Stavrou
Gaza motion passes at conference
Monday 29 September 2025 17:12
,
Athena Stavrou
A Unison-led emergency motion at the Labour party conference, calling on the Government to “employ all means reasonably available to it to prevent the commission of a genocide in Gaza”, has passed after a show of hands.
The motion also called on the Labour Government to “fully suspend the arms trade with Israel and the UK-Israel trade and partnership agreement”, and to ban trading with “illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank”.
Burnham insists he is supporting Starmer
Monday 29 September 2025 16:56
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Athena Stavrou
Andy Burnham has insisted he is supporting Sir Keir Starmer.
At a fringe event at the Labour party conference, he said he believed Sir Keir was the right man to be in No 10.
Asked if he thought Sir Keir was the right man to lead the Labour Party and the country, he replied: “Yes.”
Keir Starmer should have done more to tackle rise of Reform, Green Party leader claims
Monday 29 September 2025 16:44
,
Athena Stavrou
Zack Polanski hopes the contrast could not be more stark. As hundreds of suited-up lobbyists swirl around a convention centre in Liverpool for Labour’s conference, he is strolling up and down Bold Street, a short walk away, to hear what “real people” care about.
Donning his go-to olive anorak over a black tieless suit, the Green Party leader is pounding the pavement, making the case for disgruntled Labour voters to join his growing ranks.
“Keir Starmer has been complicit in the racist narrative in this country,” he told The Independent over coffee, setting out his stall.
It came after Sir Keir and his cabinet went on the attack against Nigel Farage, branding Reform UK’s latest immigration policy as “racist”.
The Independent’s political correspondent Archie Mitchell reports:
Two in three labour members back Burnham over Starmer - new poll
Monday 29 September 2025 16:30
,
Athena Stavrou
A new poll has found almost two in three Labour members would back Andy Burnham over Sir Keir Starmer to be leader of the Party.
A YouGov poll of 704 Labour members taken a week ago, seen by Sky News, found that 62 per cent would back the Manchester mayor, and 29 per cent would back the prime minister.
Just 9 per cent said they didn’t know or would not vote.
Mahmood vows to do ‘whatever it takes’ to stop small boat crossings
Monday 29 September 2025 16:05
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Athena Stavrou
Shabana Mahmood has said she will do “whatever it takes” to stop small boats crossings as she vowed to break the criminal gangs that profit from them.
Making her first speech to a Labour conference after after replacing Yvette Cooper as home secretary, Ms Mahmood she would crackdown on criminals, discourage people from making the Channel crossings.
Ms Mahmood said: “Today, the boats continue to arrive, so I will do whatever it takes to secure our borders.
“Cracking down on the criminals gangs behind the trade, discouraging those who are considering a small boat crossing, sending those home who have no right to be here and ending the use of hotels.... the Tory legacy that has done so much to divide our communities.”
Home secretary suggests she is willing to sacrifice her own popularity to tackle illegal immigration
Monday 29 September 2025 16:03
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Athena Stavrou
The Independent’s political correspondent Millie Cooke reports from Liverpool:
Shabana Mahmood has indicated that she is willing to sacrifice her own popularity to tackle illegal immigration to the UK, saying she will “do whatever it takes to secure our borders”.
“In solving this crisis, you may not always like what I do,” she told the Labour conference.
“We will have to question some of the assumptions and legal constraints that have lasted for a generation and more.
“But unless we have control of our borders and until we can decide who comes in and who must leave, we will never be the open, tolerant and generous country that I know we all believe in.”
Watch: Labour’s Mahmood warns party must ‘rise to challenge’ or risk voters turning to Farage
Monday 29 September 2025 15:59
,
Athena Stavrou
Delegates seem unconvinced by home secretary's attempt to justify migration reforms
Monday 29 September 2025 15:55
,
Athena Stavrou
The Independent’s political correspondent Millie Cooke reports from Liverpool:
Shabana Mahmood has framed its fresh migration crackdown as an attempt to keep Britain as an "open, tolerant and generous country".
After the government faced criticism for its clampdown on indefinite leave to remain, the main route for immigrants gaining British citizenship in the UK, the home secretary has attempted to justify the reforms - instead saying it is necessary to keep the fabric of the country together.
"Unless we have control of our borders, and until we can decide who comes in and who must be, we will never be the open, tolerant and generous country that I know we all believe in", she said.
Unfortunately, the audience didn't seem convinced.
There was applause - but it was lacklustre.
