Brian Wheeler

Former paratrooper Dan Jarvis - the man who resisted pressure to stand for the Labour leadership - says there are more Labour supporters in the military than you might think.

He first contemplated a career as an MP while listening to the results of the 2005 election in a bunk at Army HQ in Kabul, he tells a fringe meeting  

The Barnsley Central MP also served in Iraq - but declines to reveal where he got the shrapnel that is still lodged in his skull, in conversation with Huffington Post political editor Paul Waugh. 

The Daily Politics

Labour political adviser John McTernan, a former director of political operations for Tony Blair, responds to John McDonnell's speech.

He tells the Daily Politics there has been a recovery in the UK economy, adding: "You can't be a recovery denier."

He argues that, while Mr McDonnell and Jeremy Corbyn care about problems such as poverty and homelessness, many voters will ask: "What is John McDonnell going to do for me - me and my family?"

The Daily Politics

Daily Politics presenter Andrew Neil is in Brighton getting reaction to John McDonnell's speech. Shadow chief secretary  to the Treasury Seema Malhotra tells him it was a "really important speech" and one she thinks will "wipe the smirk off George Osborne's face". It was very clear, she continues, that the books can be balanced in a different way.

How will it be done? Through tackling tax avoidance, she says, adding that there's a question about whether HMRC is fit for purpose. Challenged by how much the party could raise through this, she tells Andrew "you're missing the point".

As he brought his conference speech to an end, John McDonnell appealed to the party to not mistake "debate for division, or democracy for disunity". "This is the new politics," he tells the assembled crowd, and "many still don't understand its potential". He concludes:

The shadow chancellor acknowledges the party has "an immense task" ahead but says that's why it needs to draw upon all the talent inside and outside Labour. He expresses his disappointment at some of the parliamentary Labour Party refusing to serve in a Jeremy Corbyn cabinet but tells them:

John McDonnell says Labour is seeking to change economic discourse, including by defeating the "ridiculous charge that we are deficit deniers. He says the party support eliminating the deficit but reject that it needs to be done through austerity.

The shadow chancellor says it's a "myth" for George Osborne to claim the economic recovery as a success. He says the Conservatives have presided over the longest fall in workers' pay since the Victorian era, and also raises concerns about rising housing prices and inadequate financial sector reforms. He's worried that the recovery is at risk, and says of the chancellor:

"A successful and fair economy cannot be created without the full involvement of its workforce," says John McDonnell as he says he wants to "restore trade union rights and extend them to ensure workers are involved in determining the future of their companies". He also advocates the promotion of "alternative public, co-operative, worker controlled and genuinely mutual forms of ownership" in the economy.

John McDonnell tells the party faithful his proposals are "a radical departure" from neoliberalism and the past, he says. But Labour will need to prove to the British people that it can run the economy better than the "rich elite",  he adds. The party will draw upon the expertise of economists such as Tomas Piketty and Nobel prize winner Joseph Stiglitz, he says, and adds that every policy will be "rigorously tested" before its introduction.

John McDonnell says there will be cuts under a Labour government - to the "corporate welfare system" to buy-to-let landords and not the police officer numbers, or nurses, hospitals and teachers. He also promises a "fairer, more progressive" system of taxation.

"We’ll use active monetary policy to stimulate demand where necessary," he says, and promises to make the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills "a powerful economic development department" responsible for public investment, infrastructure planning and setting new standards in the labour market.

John McDonnell continues his attack on the Conservative government, condemning plans to cut tax credits. He says the amount lost won't be compensated for by rises in the living wage. But Labour, he says, would introduce "a real living wage" if it won power.

Labour will pursue an "aggressive" plan to balance the books, as he says the party will pursue multinationals such as Starbucks, Vodaphone, Amazon and Google to ensure they pay their "fare share" of taxes.

Labour accepts there is a deficit but it won't take lessons from Chancellor George Osborne who has failed to meet his fiscal targets in the last Parliament, the shadow chancellor says. "From here on in, Labour will always ensure that this country lives within its means," Mr McDonnell adds - but it won't be done on the backs of the poorest, he adds. How will the party do it?

He says Labour is now the only anti-austerity, as he criticises the SNP. He says now is the time for voters who deserted Labour in Scotland to "come home".

John McDonnell pledges that Labour will boost house-building so that the "100,000 children in homeless families" can have somewhere decent to live. He goes on to promise action to tackle the gender pay gap, oppose cuts to public services “and end discrimination”.

"Austerity is not an economic necessity, it’s a political choice,” he tells the Labour conference, to applause. He claims the Conservatives took a “conscious decision” to protect “the very richest” when they came into government. They only represent society’s "1%", he claims.

John McDonnell cites the case of Michael O’Sullivan who he says was deemed fit to work under the work capability assessment despite having a “severe mental illness”. He says he killed himself after his benefits were removed. He sends the family his condolences, and pledges: Labour “will end this brutal treatment of disabled people”, he adds.