Adam Fleming
Chief political correspondent

Starmer's team are staging a war against the Corbynites because Starmer wants to vanquish them.

But there are still quite a lot of them here so the vanquishing isn't finished yet.

They are going to be a thorn in Starmer's side and versions of the heckles will last as long as he is leader.

But what will matter is, when people watch the news tonight, do they see a tough guy standing up to people causing trouble in his own backyard.

Or do they see a party that is a bit of rabble that shouldn't be trusted with the levels of government.

Sir Keir Starmer asked "shouting slogans or changing lives conference?" as he was heckled at his first party conference as leader of the Labour Party.

He had earlier joked about how he was used to be being shouted down by Tory MPs at PMQs on a Wednesday lunchtime. Some of the shouting from the conference floor was drowned out by a standing ovation for Sir Keir.

90 minutes on Labour's pitchpublished at 13:37 British Summer Time 29 September 2021

13:37 BST 29 September 2021

Iain Watson
Political correspondent

Keir Starmer - a big football fan - was close to doing a full 90 minutes in front of a crowd who are not entirely on his side

He seemed more relaxed, pausing between paragraphs, slowing his delivery.

He had heckles from the away team, but tackled them only occasionally - repeating the pre-prepared line that he prefers changing lives to chanting slogans.

But his wider message is if the party wants to win elections, it has to turn outwards to voters

Starmer says with Brexit, the pandemic and climate change, this is a "big moment" which demands leadership.

His leadership, he says is founded on the principles "that have informed my life".

He says the party should always be at the heart of British values - "work, care, equality, security".

"These are the tools of my trade - and with them I will go to work," he says.

And that concludes his speech.

The Labour leader is coming to the end of his speech now.

If the Conservative government is so bad, he asks "what does it say about us?"

He says the 2019 election hurt but says his party can win the next general election.

"I have loved my first full conference as leader but I don’t want to go through the same routine every year," he says.

He tells delegates he wants to take the party from "talking about the difference we are making, the problems we are fixing as a Labour government".

Starmer also praises those in military service describing them as "another band of great British men and women".

He says he was proud of their work in Afghanistan but adds that he "grieves" to see Britain "isolated and irrelevant".

He promises that a Labour government would "mend broken relationships".

Sir Keir accuses the Conservatives of a "pathetic attempt" to divide the country "in a culture war".

He says he "couldn't believe it" that Boris Johnson declined to condemn fans who booed England footballers taking the knee before Euro 2020.

He adds that Home Secretary Priti Patel's comments on the gesture during the tournament "encouraged" people to jeer.

"Well, here in this conference hall we are patriots," he tells the conference.

"When we discuss the fine young men and women who represent all our nations we don’t boo. We get to our feet and cheer."

Keir Starmer turns to constitutional issues.

He says Scotland is in the "unfortunate position of having two bad governments - the Tories at Westminster and the SNP at Holyrood."

He attacks the "cavalier" Conservative government of putting the future of the UK "in peril".

But he also criticises the SNP's record in Scotland over education, health and drug-related deaths.

"The SNP and the Tories walk in lock step. They both exploit the constitutional divide for their own ends," he says.

Attacking the Conservative's levelling up slogan, he says that after a decade of Tory government "more than half a million more children live in poverty and so do half a million more pensioners".

He adds that life expectancy has stalled.

He now pays tribute to Labour's past record in government

"Hospital waits down, GCSE results up, 44,000 more doctors, 89,000 new nurses, child poverty down 1 million, pensioner poverty down 1 million, rough sleepers down 75%, a National Minimum Wage and the OECD said that no nation had a bigger rise in social mobility than Britain," he says and receives one of the biggest claps of the speech so far.

"You want levelling up? That’s levelling up," he says.

The B wordpublished at 13:16 British Summer Time 29 September 2021

13:16 BST 29 September 2021

Iain Watson
Political correspondent

Some of Keir Starmer's MPs have been increasingly frustrated that his way of dealing with the divisions created by Brexit was to avoid uttering the B word at all

They felt this was letting Boris Johnson off the hook.

But now he has come up with a phrase which both accepts the leaving of the EU, and criticism of the handling of it: "make Brexit work".

And a tour of European capitals is expected soon.

The hope is he can make his own party feel more comfortable without alienating current and former Labour voters who backed Brexit

The Labour leader now addresses climate change describing it as a “question of security” which poses “an existential threat”.

“Time is short and we have a duty to act," he says.

However he says the challenge shouldn't daunt us and points to new technologies such as deep-sea wind turbines.

"If only we funded science seriously we could make a historic contribution to the battle against climate change."

He says Labour would bring forward a Green New Deal to cut "the substantial majority of emissions this decade".

And he adds: "it will be Labour’s national mission over the next decade, to fit out every home that needs it, to make sure it is warm, well-insulated and costs less to heat and we will create thousands of jobs in the process."

He also promises that "everything we do in government will have to meet a 'net zero' test".

Starmer warns conference delegates that public finances "will need serious repair work".

"I take the responsibility of spending your money very seriously," he says.

He says that "Too often in the history of this party our dream of the good society falls foul of the belief that we will not run a strong economy.

"But you don’t get one without the other and under my leadership we are committed to both.

"I can promise you now Labour will be back in business."

Keir Starmer pledges that, under Labour, the government would increase spending on new research and technologies to 3% of national income.

He warns that the "economic inheritance from the Tories" would be "appalling" because of "a botched Brexit followed by Covid".

"The government is learning that it is not enough to Get Brexit Done," he adds.

"You need a plan to make Brexit work."

Iain Watson
Political correspondent

There is an adage in politics that those who own the future win elections - whether Harold Wilson's 'white heat of technology' to Tony Blair's New Labour, New Britain.

That's why we heard so much from Starmer about genomes.

And he also wanted - yes like New Labour - to emphasise he wouldn't just throw more money in to the health service but reform it too.

Recalling the new technologies that powered Britain's industrial revolution, he vows that a Labour government would make the most of the "scientific revolution happening around us".

He vows to work with modern-day sectors including pharmaceuticals, materials, defence, and chemical engineering.

The lesson of the industrial revolution, he adds, is that a "secure well-paid workforce of skilled people in high-class work, protected by good trade unions, is not separate from good business."

"It’s the definition of good business. And good business and good government are partners."

He says employers need young people skilled in life - who can communicate and work in a team.

"That's why it's stupid to allow theatre, drama and music to collapse in state schools."

"When I was at school, I had music lessons with Fat Boy Slim I can’t promise that for everyone," he says, but does promise that Labour will help young people get ready for work.

He pledges to reinstate two weeks of compulsory work experience and guarantees that every young person would get to see a careers adviser.

He also emphasises the importance of digital skills saying it should be added to the three Rs of reading, writing and (a)rithmetic.

The Conservatives, he says, want to reintroduce Latin to state schools.

Next up, Starmer talks about education.

"Education is so important I am tempted to say it three times," he says - a reference to the famous slogan of a former leader - Tony Blair.

He says "the pandemic showed you can't trust the Tories with the education of our children" point to a growth in the attainment gap between rich and poor.

"If you can’t level up our children, you’re not serious about levelling up at all."

He promises that Labour will launch "the most ambitious school improvement plan in a generation".

"Let me tell you what Labour would do," says Starmer.

He says he would shift the priority in the NHS away from emergency care, towards prevention and ensure NHS resources are better-used.

He now announces a policy that was trailed ahead of the speech - namely a promise that under Labour mental health support will be available in less than a month.

Under Labour, he says there will be 8,500 more mental health professionals and that spending on mental health "will never be allowed to fall".

"This is prevention in action," he says.