New Statesman

Some media reaction to Jeremy Corbyn's speech.

In the left-leaning New Statesman, external - and despite some negative noises coming from business organisations - Stephen Bush writes: "Jeremy Corbyn is getting better all the time, and business is learning to love a Labour government.

"When the British Sprinkler Association thinks it’s a good use of their money and time to pay for a stand at Labour Party conference you know that something is up.

"A YouGov poll for Portland Communications shortly before Labour Party conference showed that three-quarters of business leaders believe that a Labour government may be around the corner, and the renewed interest from Britain’s biggest corporations could be seen all over the conference."

Why? Mr Bush thinks that "even visiting business leaders with no love for Labour are starting to look at the fractious Conservatives and their Brexit plans and thinking that a Corbyn government might be a price worth paying for a softer Brexit".

However, he warns: "Anti-Semitism could yet tear Labour apart."

The Spectator

In the right-leaning Spectator, Isabel Hardman thinks that "Jeremy Corbyn's speech showed how much of Labour's power comes from the Tories' mess".

And, after the Labour leader condemned abuse directed at shadow home secretary Diane Abbott, she thinks that Mr Corbyn should also condemn abuse coming from people who proclaim themselves to be his supporters.

The adoring, ecstatic reception given to Labour's dominant leader poses challenges to sceptics inside the party as well as the Conservatives.

What did Corbyn's speech tell us about Labour's stance on Brexit?

GMB general secretary Tim Roache joins the leader of Unite in heaping praise on Jeremy Corbyn's performance.

"Jeremy's speech laid out a vision for our country that people are crying out for," he says.

"Tinkering around the edges with a broken economy won't deliver the change people so desperately need.

"Today, Labour showed they are in touch with the real lives and frustrations of people who shouldn't have to work so hard for so little.

"Jeremy showed he's not messing about - he wants to fundamentally change how our economy and society works."

“This is a speech that the retail industry is taking seriously," says Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium.

"With all the change ahead - from Brexit to automation - we welcome some of the forward thinking ideas here. But any increases in business cost is a potential risk to jobs, investment and innovation."

She says the BRC supports "the need to avoid a cliff-edge" Brexit - in which the UK leaves the EU without a deal - and also welcomes a focus on automation and "building the skills and jobs of the future".

However, she adds: "Applying additional business taxation at a time a great uncertainty simply won't help businesses to work in partnership with government to build better jobs, innovation and investment."

Jeremy Corbyn announced a number of new polices in his speech:

• Taxing undeveloped land held by developers
• Votes for current tenants and leaseholders before redevelopment
• Existing tenants get to stay on the same site with the same terms as before
• Changing the law on organ transplants in England to match Wales

He also repeated comitments to a number of existing Labour policies:

• Full guarantees that 3m EU citizens currently living and working in the UK can stay
• Taking utilities back into public ownership
• Making every home fit for human habitation
• Rent controls
• Powers to compulsory purchase properties left empty by investors

He pledges a Labour government would introduce a Welsh-style organ donation law for England.

The British Chambers of Commerce joins the employers' organisations who think Labour has adopted a negative tone towards business.

"There is a rising concern amongst businesses about the two largest parties in Westminster, with one flirting with fantasy economics while the other engages in an unedifying playground bust-up," says director general Adam Marshall.

"Businesses of all sizes want to see pragmatism, realism and economic competence across the political spectrum at such a critical moment for the United Kingdom.

"While Jeremy Corbyn is right to say that government must play an active role in shaping the economy, and in encouraging long-term wealth creation in every nation and region of the UK, this needs to happen in partnership with business, not by demonising it."

Image source, PA

"Jeremy Corbyn spoke to our country," says Len McCluskey, the leader of the UK's biggest union, Unite.

"Corbyn's Labour can and will transform our country to make it work for the many not the few.

"Our party leaves this conference confident, united, invigorated and determined to build a better Britain.

"The tired, distrusted and squabbling Tories should move over. Let Labour give the people of the country a government that really is of the people and for the people."

"Let’s be honest, business leaders were not expecting to be praised in Jeremy Corbyn’s speech, but they will still be disappointed that there was not one positive thing said about the millions of companies, large and small, that form the bedrock of our economy," says Stephen Martin from the Institute of Directors.

"There was plenty of criticism for privatised utilities, for big companies and for employers in general, but it would be very worrying if the leader of the opposition really saw nothing positive in Britain’s business community.

"Labour may see themselves as a government in waiting, but if they are to govern, they will need to recognise that business is not the enemy."

Image source, AFP/Getty Images

"Labour says that it sees business as the backbone of the UK’s economy, but there were few warm words from the Labour leader today," says CBI director general Carolyn Fairbairn.

“Repeated rhetoric on the sins of a handful of businesses does little to reassure anxious entrepreneurs and investors about the UK’s future as a great place to do business.

"The vast majority of UK firms are dedicated to creating great jobs, and products and services that improve people’s lives. This must be recognised.

“Where Labour has sought insight from business, such as on its policy for Brexit and investment in infrastructure, we have seen sensible proposals that support jobs and living standards.

“But where engagement has been lacking, from nationalisation to business taxes, future investment, jobs and growth are being put at risk.”

BBC News Channel

Asked whether Labour's spending plans were realistic, shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon says it is up to the public to decide what is realistic and what is not.

He says Labour's core policies have wide popular support and says if you define the centre ground as where there is a groundswell of support for action to "stop people in this country being held back", then he argues Labour occupies it.

Unions have welcomed Jeremy Corbyn's pledge to scrap the public sector pay cap and stop employers "driving down" wages and conditions, while business groups urged the Labour leader to engage with industry.

Dave Prentis, general secretary of Unison, said the Labour leader's "defining speech" was "full of hope".

But Terry Scuoler, chief executive of EEF, the manufacturers' organisation, said if Labour was "preparing for government, it must avoid attempts to vilify business or, marginalise it".

The Daily Politics

Andrew Gwynne tells the Daily Politics the Labour conference has been the most energised and optimistic that he has seen for a long term.

He insists that the party does not have a problem with anti-Semitism but concedes that there are activists who has views he does not share and anyone using anti-Semitic language must be "rooted out".

Sky News

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell says Jeremy Corbyn's speech was "visionary" but also "very practical".

The Labour leader is "a prime minister in waiting with a government in waiting", Mr McDonnell tells Sky News.