Image source, PA

This afternoon Labour's MPs have gathered for their first group meeting.

The party won 412 seats during Labour's landslide victory.

Photos posted by MPs show the prime minister addressing the parliamentary Labour party for the first time in Westminster's Church House.

Leaving the meeting, Bradford West MP Naz Shah said the main message of Sir Keir Starmer’s speech to his MPs had been “the grown-ups are back in charge”.

She said: “It’s not a playground, this is running the country and hitting the ground running.”

Chancellor Rachel Reeves says her party sought a mandate to grow the economy and that today she set out here plan "to do just that".

Watch as she explains how the government plans on promoting housebuilding on brownfield land and how some greenbelt land isn't really "green".

Chancellor Rachel Reeves told broadcasters earlier about her plans for housebuilding and reforms to the planning system.

Asked whether she was “prepared to be unpopular with Labour voters” if planning decisions are “pushed through” Reeves responds by reiterating the new government’s desire to “get Britain building” and says the Labour Party sought a mandate to “grow the economy” and create “wealth and prosperity in all parts of the country”.

She says they will do this through building housing and infrastructure on brownfield and some greenbelt land which “isn’t really green”, claims Reeves.

When pressed if the government can wait for the growth their strategy relies on, the chancellor insists that there will be no money to improve living standards unless we can “grow the economy” and “unlock private sector investment”.

On the subject of being the first female chancellor, Reeves she’s “proud” to “smash one of the last glass ceilings in politics”, but adds there’s a lot of responsibility which comes with it.

Image source, Pool

Joyous new MPs enter Parliament as the defeated departpublished at 17:42 British Summer Time 8 July 2024

17:42 BST 8 July 2024

Chris Mason
Political editor

Image source, PA Media

Argument, fractiousness, even anger are the necessary staples of democracy; the soundtrack of this postcode - but not today.

Undiluted personal joy at the entrances, as more than 300 new MPs arrive. Dejection and rejection at the exits, as the defeated depart.

For the newbies, a sense of wonder, awe – and being a bit lost; the awesome experience and responsibility of becoming a member of Parliament; walking into an at once very familiar and utterly unfamiliar building.

Others carry a cardboard box and a sullen expression. Democracy requires brutality but don’t underestimate just how brutal it feels for those who lost; an office to clear, staff to sack, a new future to imagine.

The Conservatives are left a smoking ruin; the survivors bodging together a shadow cabinet and working out the timescale for replacing Rishi Sunak.

For the new government, the fog of campaign exhaustion yet to clear, the pace of office is consciously visible.

The new prime minister’s hurtling around the UK. The new chancellor’s speech, an administration keen to project a sense of direction and energy; aware the slog of delivery awaits when novelty washes away.

Two ministers to share women and equalities rolepublished at 17:33 British Summer Time 8 July 2024

17:33 BST 8 July 2024

Josh Parry
LGBT and identity reporter

As we've reported, Anneliese Dodds and Bridget Phillipson will share the role of Minister for Women and Equalities, which they will do alongside their respective jobs as foreign minister and education secretary.

Only Dodds' name was announced initially, but Phillipson's has appeared on the government site - and we've had it confirmed that they'll share the role.

It's a particularly busy time for the brief.

Before the general election, the previous government was consulting on some hotly-debated pieces of work - such as the Gender Questioning Guidance for schools, and changes to relationships, sex and health education.

The post's move from the Cabinet Office to the Department for Education should, I’m told, enable closer collaboration on those key issues.

Several sources inside the party tell me they’ll also be focusing on introducing a ban on so-called conversion therapy, which is something that has caused headaches for previous governments after first being promised by Theresa May in 2018.

The separate briefs of women's minister and equalities minister were merged in July 2014.

Image source, UK POOL

Some photos to bring you from Westminster where all of Labour's MPs have been gathering in Parliament on their first full day since being elected last week.

Hundreds packed into a room inside Parliament, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer standing at the front alongside his cabinet members.

A huge cheer went up and MPs applauded after the photo opportunity.

Image source, UK POOL

Sophie Hutchinson
Health Correspondent

The new government’s uncompromising stance that the “NHS is broken” seems to have shifted the mood among some NHS dentists in England.

Their union, the British Dental Association, heavily criticised the previous government for failing to provide a contract that would make the service “fit for the future”.

But following initial talks with the new Health Secretary Wes Streeting, the BDA welcomed the government’s view of profound failings in the NHS, saying that it could “hold the key to breaking the impasse on fundamental reform of the service".

Shawn Charlwood, chair of the BDA's General Dental Practice Committee said: “There is finally recognition that failed contracts and underfunding have fuelled the current crisis…there's now a chance to move forward, to rescue and reform a service millions depend on.”

Image source, PA Media

After his party won 72 seats in the general election, Sir Ed Davey has welcomed Liberal Democrat MPs to their new offices in Westminster.

Davey reminded his MPs that their constituents "have put their trust in us to be their local champions".

He said that trust was hard won after years spent "rebuilding" trust in the party.

He highlighted the cost of living crisis, the sewage scandal, and the NHS and care as issues that matter most to his party's constituents.

A careful reset on Starmer's first day in Northern Ireland as PMpublished at 16:45 British Summer Time 8 July 2024

16:45 BST 8 July 2024

Enda McClafferty
BBC News NI political editor

Image source, Reuters

On a day when reset was the buzzword, Prime Minister Keir Starmer appears to have reset his position on a border poll.

Having previously told the BBC in 2021 that he would campaign for Northern Ireland to remain in the UK, he has now changed his mind.

Instead he says his government will adopt the roll of “honest broker” in any constitutional debate.

That, he said, is in keeping with the Good Friday Agreement, which states it is for those on the island of Ireland to decide their fate.

It is a tricky minefield for a Labour prime minister to negotiate but Keir Starmer knows how Northern Ireland works.

It was a careful and deliberate reset on his first day in Northern Ireland as prime minister.

Though it wasn’t lost on the DUP leader Gavin Robinson, who insists the prime minister is a unionist at heart.

Nathan Standley
Education reporter

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Bridget Phillipson has said no issues have "quick and easy solutions", in a letter to those working at all levels of education.

The new education secretary wrote to all staff, from early years to higher education, saying she wanted to "reset the relationship" with the sector.

National Education Union general secretary Daniel Kebede said he is looking forward to "starting a journey of renewal" with the new education secretary but called on her to immediately publish the government's pay offer to teachers for next year and address issues around workload.

Phillipson's letter also marked the start of her work to recruit 6,500 new teachers, the Department for Education (DfE) said.

Work includes immediately resuming and expanding the teacher recruitment campaign Every Lesson Shapes a Life, the DfE said.

• You can read more here about the new education secretary's recruitment drive

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Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth says his party's four MPs have already requested a meeting with the prime minister to "reset" the relationship between the UK government and Wales.

He says Labour has "shown time and time again that they want to cast aside our aspirations on fair funding, on more powers. Our four MPs will not allow that to happen".

His MPs will hold the government to account, he adds.

He says he wants to see very early and clear signs from Sir Keir Starmer that the government will "listen to our aspirations and act in the interests of Wales".

Let's head north of the border where the Electoral Commission is to look into a general election count that continued into Saturday.

Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire was the last seat in the UK to declare its result, after votes were counted three times.

The delay was blamed on a discrepancy between the verified votes total and the provisional number of counted votes.

The commission, an independent body which oversees elections, said it hoped to "understand the experiences" of the constituency's voters and electoral staff.

• You can read more on this story here

Image source, Reuters

Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay says he welcomes Chancellor Rachel Reeve's earlier announcement to end the effective ban on onshore wind farms in England.

The newly elected MP for Waveney Valley says "absolutely, we need to see more renewable energy in the UK... so Labour have taken a step in the right direction".

Ramsay is one of four Green MPs who won seats in last week's election.

He says there's a need for a nationwide programme to insulate homes, adding: "We have the leakiest homes in Europe here in the UK which is why people's energy bills are going up and up."

Co-leader Carla Denyer urged Labour to scrap the two-child benefit cap, saying her party will push Labour, especially in the first 100 days, to "take some swift actions".

Nick Eardley
Political correspondent

Let me paint you a picture about what’s going on in Parliament.

I’ve spent the day chatting to new MPs finding their feet and getting used to the corridors of power (they can be pretty hard to navigate).

Most of the new arrivals are being given a buddy to show them around.

I was just sitting chatting to one new MP - when a now former MP from another party, who just lost their seat, came over to say hello. The two of them hugged and chatted through the result. Both wished each other well in what comes next.

Politics can be pretty heated. But it’s a reminder some politicians get on very well with people from other parties. And even if they’re out, they still want their successors to do well.

Analysing the chancellor's £140bn 'lost growth' statpublished at 15:33 British Summer Time 8 July 2024

15:33 BST 8 July 2024

Image source, Reuters

By Robert Cuffe, head of statistics, BBC Verify

In her speech earlier, Chancellor Rachel Reeves claimed: “had the UK economy grown at just the average rate of other OECD economies this last 14 years, our economy today would be over £140bn larger and could have brought in an additional £58bn in tax revenues in the last year alone”.

We have asked the Treasury how it arrived at this figure as the OECD average is not a good guide to growth in the UK.

The OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) is a group of 38 countries - including Australia, Canada, Japan, the US and many in the European Union - that share data and research on how to grow their economies.

It also includes rapidly-developing countries like Turkey and former Soviet countries in eastern Europe like Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania.

Image source, Getty Images

Countries like these often grow quickly as they “catch up” with the technologies that are already used in developed economies.

So you would expect a more developed economy like the UK to grow less quickly than the average OECD country, according to Prof Stephen Millard of the independent National Institute of Economic and Social Research.

If you compare UK growth with that of the biggest, developed economies (in the G7 group of nations), then it has been a bit lower than the average but the gap is narrower than the one Reeves is quoting here.

As the day goes on, more new MPs are showing up at Westminster to get their passes.

Here are some of the pictures we've seen of new arrivals outside Parliament today.

Image source, PA Media

Image source, PA Media

Katie Wray
Senior reporter

Image source, PA Media

Hundreds of MPs have arrived in Parliament for the first time today, and I spoke to a few brand new Labour MPs.

First up was 27-year old Jacob Collier, who’ll be representing Labour for Burton and Uttoxeter. He took the seat from Conservative Kate Kniveton.

Collier says today feels “pretty surreal, walking around - seeing people I’d normally see on the TV”.

He has said he “definitely” has imposter syndrome, but adds he’s “really looking forward to getting stuck-in”.

Image source, PA Media

Collier said he feels like he’s “on a tour of the Houses of Parliament… but this is now a place of work and that feels really strange”.

I also spoke to Perran Moon, the new Labour MP for Camborne, Redruth and Hayle in Cornwall.

Former Environment Secretary George Eustice was the MP for Camborne and Redruth; he stood down at this election.

Moon has said he’s “delighted there are now four MPs in Cornwall”.

The Conservative Party lost every seat in Cornwall and prior to this election there had only been one Labour MP in 50 years across the county.

Moon tells me that as he stood in Westminster Hall, he felt “humbled and proud, and slightly daunted by the challenges” ahead.

Matt Cole
Reporting from Westminster Hall

Just feet from where HM Queen Elizabeth II lay in state, new MPs with shiny, just-printed passes are being received at a big stall welcoming them to Westminster.

After filling in some initial paperwork, each newbie is being assigned a buddy to show them round, with those being drawn from staff across the parliamentary estate.

They might be a senior official, or even a member of catering staff. It really is all hands on deck.

In fact, on the way here a green badged new MP walked passed, accompanied by a white jacketed sous chef.

Turning to Westminster now, it's been described as being like freshers' week as 334 new MPs arrive from across the UK to take their seats in the House of Commons.

The newly-elected Labour MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme, Adam Jogee, has been telling the BBC he is "knackered" after weeks of no sleep on the campaign trail, but he's excited about his first day in the job in Westminster.

You can watch him speak about his experience so far here in this short clip:

Adina Campbell
UK correspondent

Image source, AFP

The newly-appointed Home Secretary Yvette Cooper says tackling overcrowding in prisons won’t be a “quick fix” and the new Labour government has inherited a problematic legacy left by the Tories.

During a meeting with police officers in Lewisham, Yvette Cooper has said:

She goes on to say "they have allowed the number of remand prisoners, of people waiting for trial to increase because of the chaos and the backlog in the criminal justice system".

Labour has said it wants to recruit 13,000 extra neighbourhood police officers and introduce tough new Respect Orders to stop issues such as public drinking and drug use.