Mr Alexander - who is also the party's foreign affairs spokesman - tells conference that Labour continues to lead the Conservatives in the opinion polls, and receives cheers when pointing out the Lib Dems are presently polling at about 8% and there are few signs of a "pulse".

Douglas Alexander has the stage now, and is setting out Labour's general election report in his capacity as election co-ordinator. He says the party faces a "hostile media environment" during the general election campaign and will be "significantly outspent" by the Conservatives. But he promises the party will "out-organise" its opponents.

Harriet Harman - Labour's deputy leader - will wrap up the party's autumn conference with a speech at about 15.30 BST. The speech is traditionally a light-hearted affair, one designed to please the crowd. Expect a few jokes...

Concluding his speech - which seems to have been well-received by delegates - Bill De Blasio urges Labour to take its fight to "every corner" of the nation. He cautions that the work ahead "will not be easy" but stresses that "you still have the ability to show people that they don't have to accept" the status quo. Applause and cheers can be heard as conference rises to its feet.

Ed Miliband will be a prime minister for Britons' "with second jobs, not just second homes", the New York mayor says, and commends Labour's "credible" plan for the nation's future. He also praises the leader's plan for the NHS, to make housing more affordable, and to expand free childcare. He says of Ed Miliband: "Your agenda is a blueprint for what a fairer, more prosperous, stronger United Kingdom will look like."

tweets:, external @BilldeBlasio speech at #Lab14 sounds like a shadow cabinet minister's speech with an American twang.

tweets:, external So @BilldeBlasio is gently hypnotising the entire #lab14 conference into a longing gaze... Good ally for EdM

Mr De Blasio insists a balanced budget and economic fairness can go hand-in-hand, citing New York as an example. He urges Labour to be "bold" and ignore the "glib assertions" that a progressive agenda "is somehow narrow". The consistency of your agenda will be your calling card, the mayor tells the hall, and says the approach set out by Ed Miliband's plan is "unmistakeably clear and consistent" and should be promoted "proudly".

tweets:, external Labour confirms there 'have been conversations between the parties about a recall of Parliament'.

BBC News website reader: Well done comrade Ed (that's a 1st!!). 85,500 homes in London are worth more than £2 million! Each will pay an average of £16,800 per year in mansion tax! Stuff 'em!

The New York mayor admits that the "odds did feel long at first", with New York having gone through 20 years of Republican rule; but his attention was never to "nibble around the edges of timid maintenance", he says, but to "take a dead aim at the crisis of the time". He recalls: "We were a small group, but we believed in something, and our campaign grew, and it grew...and we worked together."

@franksoodeen tweets:, external As #Lab14 comes to a close @BilldeBlasio seems to be giving the speech that Ed should have done.

Mr De Blasio is now talking about his own campaign to be mayor and how the voters rejected "lazy" and "false choice" politics by electing him to office.

@womblingfree tweets:, external I'm done with the memorise your speech, walk around a platform, 'I met a man' drivel. Stand at podium/say what you believe. Job done. #Lab14

Labour understands what is at stake, Mr De Blasio tells conference, declaring the party to be on "the right side of history" even if it can feel "like a lonely place". He says the sheer scale of the challenge can be "daunting" with the voices of everyday people being "drowned out" by people content with the status quo - and recalls how he was labelled "divisive" for painting New York as a "tale of two cities". But he urges Labour delegates not to stop in their endeavours, and to help Britons "find their voice".

tweets:, external People with penthouses, Bentleys or who can afford 5* holidays are doing quite well for themselves under Tory gvt. #lab14 @BilldeBlasio

@MichaelCHilton tweets:, external #Lab14 What a good idea to spend more on the NHS. What a bad idea to waste it on yet another reorganisation of services.

tweets:, external I have had a fantastic conference, great speeches, discussions and debates! Now time for home and a cup of tea #Lab14. See photo, external

The New York mayor condemns income inequality which he says has been moving "in the wrong direction". But Labour offers the solution, he says. Mr De Blasio stresses that there is nothing wrong in attaining wealth - but insists more people must be helped to write their own success stories.

@RyanDevlin_ tweets:, external "It's great to be in Manchester, the place where the working class movement began". Nice touch Bill! #lab14