Michael Gove says the UK can secure a "green Brexit".

The environment secretary says the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy "has been economically and environmentally disastrous".

He adds that the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy has also been "a failure - environmentally damaging and socially unjust".

The leading Brexit campaigner tells conference: "That vote to take back control was a liberating, progressive and democratic act."

Environment Secretary Michael Gove is speaking, saying his return to the cabinet after the snap general election "is proof that this government is committed to recycling".

He rejects calls for an "exit from Brexit" - made by the Liberal Democrats among others - and says the Conservatives should "send a clear message from this hall today - we’re leaving. We’re taking back control and we’re going to make a success of life outside the European Union".

Jamie Hoyle taught himself computer programming and now, age 20, is an executive at a technology firm "while many of my peers are still in their second year of university".

"Despite this," he says, "people like me are still looked down upon for not going down the traditional route of higher education."

He says that an increasing number of young people are turning to online education because it's quicker and cheaper.

Eleanor Garnier
Political Correspondent

Commenting on the collapse of Monarch Airlines, the prime minister's official spokesman said: "This is a very distressing situation and we want those affected to know the government is doing everything possible to bring them home safely and speedily.

"We have assembled in a very short space of time what is effectively one of Britain's biggest airlines, a temporary airline, that will operate in the coming days to get customers back from over thirty different destinations in the Mediterranean. We have more than thirty aircraft.

"The PM also feels hugely sorry for those people who turned up at airports today hoping to go away or who have holidays booked. Action is being taken by other tour operators and airlines to try to re-book people elsewhere.

"This is a very difficult time for Monarch's staff and there is support from DWP available... Monarch staff are highly regarded and there is hope that other airlines will hire them all very quickly."

HARDtalk
BBC News programme

France's Europe Minister Nathalie Loiseau says UK-EU talks over Brexit have made no real progress.

More young people are voting than at any time in the last 25 years, but largely not for the Conservatives. What should they do?

There's applause for the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Secretary - Karen Bradley - when she says that behaviour which is "unacceptable in normal life should be unacceptable on a computer screen".

Her department is publishing a policy paper on internet safety next week to protect pepole from the "less family friendly corners of the internet".

One proposal is to ensure every child is taught the skills they need to be safe online.

Image source, Reuters

"Philip Hammond has proved himself a master of irony in accusing Labour of putting the economy at risk for an ideological experiment," says Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable.

"The Tories’ ideologically-driven hard Brexit will do serious damage to people’s living standards and deprive our crucial public services of the funding they need.

“Likewise, how can Hammond praise Margaret Thatcher’s legacy when his party is committed to quitting perhaps her greatest achievement – the European single market?"

The Federation of Small Businesses has welcomed "the commitment by the Chancellor Philip Hammond today to focus on sustainable growth, investment in skills and retraining, as well as supporting transport infrastructure and new money for housing".

But national chairman Mike Cherry added: "FSB's latest survey showed that small business confidence has plummeted to its lowest level in a year, and they want to see concrete policy proposals to dispel uncertainty and help them invest and grow.

"While small firms did not expect detail in a party conference speech, they will want to see progress on each of these areas in the Budget next month and through the announcement of the new Small Business Commissioner."

The conference reopens for the afternoon with a more relaxed format. The Business Secretary Greg Clark is interviewing three Conservative mayors, starting with Ben Houchen, the mayor of Tees Valley.

Ben Houchen caused a political shockwave when he won the election in May. Explaining his victory, Mr Houchen says that during the build-up to the election he detected a "big shift and change in mindset to look at a true alternative".

There is a lot of talk at this conference about what went wrong at the general election.

Former cabinet minister and Brexit sceptic Nicky Morgan told a fringe meeting earlier that the biggest problem was a lack of time to put a manifesto together and select candidates.

According to the BBC's Kate West, who was at the packed meeting, this line got a big cheer: "What I think we need to do is firstly, not have any more unexpected elections."

Here's some more from the journalists watching Jacob Rees-Mogg's fringe event in Manchester Town Hall, which has been disrupted by protesters:

Laura Kuenssberg
BBC political editor

Image source, PA

"Welcome to the age of incompetence," a Tory-backing senior business figure joked this morning, in the crush of the conference hotel while in the background other attendees plundered the breakfast buffet.

The behaviour of the cabinet is not, of course on the minds of most people going about their daily business but it is most certainly on people's minds in Manchester.

One of his cabinet colleagues admitted "it's all anyone is talking about", another, "we'd be fine if everyone just got on with their day jobs", and the chancellor this morning barely disguising his frustration, reminding him that "no one is unsackable".

Should the PM sack Boris Johnson? Is he trying to get fired? Is he trying to oust her? Is he really going to give a speech titled "Let the Lion roar" tomorrow? That last bit, it seems, is indeed true but the other questions? Not as easy to work out.

Read more from Laura.

The conference session has adjourned for lunch.

Coverage will resume at 14:00 BST and the afternoon session will feature speeches from Culture Secretary Karen Bradley and Environment Secretary Michael Gove, among others.