A big part of Labour's plan is contingent on growthpublished at 09:38 British Summer Time 8 October 2023

09:38 BST 8 October 2023

Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent

Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves, his shadow chancellor, have put fiscal responsibility at the heart of their attempt to win power.

They believe that crucial swing voters need reassurance that a Labour government would not be profligate before they will be willing to entertain voting for them.

But one consequence of their tight fiscal rules is that Labour are not promising significant increases in public spending. Instead, they say they want to boost economic growth and use the proceeds for public services.

Starmer says that this growth can be unlocked through changes to planning rules and other reforms. But that leaves open the crucial question of how quickly these changes would fuel growth.

Asked that question by Victoria Derbyshire, Starmer said the growth would come “very quickly” but resisted a more specific timeframe.

He said that changes to promote growth could happen within months.

The exchange was a reminder that a big part of Starmer’s programme is contingent on economic growth, something that all governments want but often find hard to achieve.

Finally, Starmer is asked what he admires about Rishi Sunak (the prime minister was asked the same about the Labour leader on last week's programme).

"I admire the fact that on the day he was appointed prime minister, he made a point of phoning me," he replies.

"And in that conversation we agreed we would challenge each other robustly.

"But when it came to national security and terrorism, we would stand together. I admire that, I think it was the right thing to."

Like other politicians appearing on the show, Starmer is shown a word cloud of what voters think about them.

The words "nothing" and "don't know" are quite prominent.

"I've had a lot worse thrown at me," he quips, when asked how he feels about it, adding "that is why this week is so important for us".

Now Starmer says he would “reverse” the government’s controversial Rwanda plan - even, he says in response to Derbyshire, if it was working.

The five-year trial - announced in April 2022 - would see some asylum seekers sent to Rwanda on a one-way ticket, to claim asylum there.

It's “the wrong policy” as well as “hugely expensive”, he says.

He accuses the government of focusing on “rhetoric” rather than tackling the real problem of “smashing the criminal gangs who are running this vile trade”.

Derbyshire now turns to housebuilding, and asks: "How many houses would need to be built each year to fix the housing crisis?"

Starmer responds by saying Labour's aspiration would be "a million and a half" over a five-year period.

Derbyshire gives some stats from the Centre for Cities, which says to end the housing crisis in the next 25 years, England would need to add 442,000 homes a year.

Starmer says talking about it won't acheive it - and the current government has taken the targets down.

Starmer is asked how he would pay for investment in public services, if the economy doesn't grow as much as he would want it to.

"I'm confident we can get the growth," he replies, saying boosting the economy would be the "single defining mission" of his government.

Derbyshire asks whether using future growth to pay for sevices is merely "crossing your fingers".

Starmer repeats that he's confident the economic growth will come under a Labour government.

Asked how soon he would you expect to see higher growth than we've had in the last ten years, he responds "very quickly.

When pressed further, he says "we think this can happen within months" of Labour coming into power "if we can turn this around and get the investment that we need".

Starmer now defends his plan to cut NHS waiting lists in England by funding two million more hospital appointments a year out of hours.

Under the scheme, Labour claims, £1.1bn per year from scrapping the non-dom tax status would be spent to ensure 40,000 out-of-hours appointments each week.

Under questioning from Derbyshire, he says doctors' contracts will not need to be changed - and his team have been speaking to “many staff who are willing to do this”

Sir Keir concedes NHS doctors will still probably earn “more in the private sector” at weekends - but insists similar schemes have worked elsewhere in the country.

Victoria Derbyshire starts by asking the Labour leader about the attack on Israel yesterday, with violence ongoing.

He describes the rocket fire and incursions from Gaza as an "appalling terrorist attack", saying Israel has "every right to defend herself".

We'll bring you the updates here - don't go anywhere.

Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg - this week hosted by Victoria Derbyshire - is live now on BBC One, the BBC News Channel, BBC iPlayer and here on this page.

Press play above to watch the show.

A Labour government would cut NHS waiting lists in England by funding two million more hospital appointments a year, Sir Keir Starmer has said.

On the eve of the party's conference in Liverpool, he said that £1.1bn per year would be spent to ensure 40,000 out-of-hours appointments each week.

This would be paid for by savings from ending the non-dom tax status, he said.

Labour is also promising to set up specialist further education colleges to tackle local skills shortages.

Read more here

Steven McIntosh
Entertainment reporter

A new TV drama sees actor Steve Coogan portray one of the most notorious paedophiles and sex offenders in British criminal history: Jimmy Savile.

The TV presenter and radio DJ, who died in 2011 aged 84, enjoyed a successful career over several decades. At the time, he was known for his eccentric personality and charitable fundraising. It was only after his death that the full extent of his sexual abuse became clear.

BBC One's The Reckoning follows Savile's career - from DJ-ing in music halls in the north of England in the early 1960s to hosting hugely successful shows such as Top of the Pops and Jim'll Fix It - and examines why he never had to face consequences for his actions.

Read more about Savile's history of abuse and Steve Coogan's new drama click here.

Action line: If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this story you can find details of organisations that can help via the BBC Action line

Unsurprisingly, Israel is dominating the front pages this morning - you can follow our live coverage of that here.

But a few of today's papers are leading on the Labour conference, click here for a full paper review.

Image source, EPA

As Labour’s conference begins, here’s a recap from this time last week, when the prime minister was setting out his own ambitious plans at the Conservative Party conference.

What made the biggest headlines was his scrapping of the northern leg of HS2. He promised to spend all of the money saved on local transport improvements, trams, buses rail and roads.

As a major incursion into traditional Labour territory, he also announced a string of new education policies aimed at boosting the prospects of 16 to 19-year-olds.

What’s clear is he badly wants to be seen as the "change candidate" at the next general election - not an easy task after 13 years of Conservative rule.

Read more here.

As usual, you’ll be able to stream Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg - this week hosted by Victoria Derbyshire - live at 09:00 BST without leaving this page - click the Play button at the top of this page to do so.

The show will also be available on BBC One and iPlayer.

We’ll also be bringing you the key quotes, news lines and video clips on this feed.

James Cook
Scotland editor

Image source, PA Media

A decade ago, it was fashionable for opponents of the Conservatives to scoff that Scotland had more pandas than it had Tory MPs.

In recent years that taunt could have been directed at the Labour Party.

Not anymore. With a resounding victory in Rutherglen and Hamilton West, Sir Keir Starmer has now met, though not yet exceeded, Scotland's political panda threshold (that is, two MPs).

But panda parity is not the limit of Labour's ambition. Sir Keir Starmer's eyes are fixed on the UK general election, likely to be held in either spring or autumn next year, when further gains in Scotland could ease his path to Downing Street.

You can read the whole story here.

Sir Keir Starmer, 61, became leader of the Labour Party in 2020, succeeding Jeremy Corbyn after Labour was defeated by Boris Johnson’s Conservatives in the 2019 general election.

The son of a toolmaker father and a mother who was a nurse, Starmer studied law before working as a barrister.

In 2008 he became director of public prosecutions and head of the Crown Prosecution Service of England and Wales - and was knighted for services to criminal justice in 2014.

He was first elected to Parliament in 2015 in the London seat of Holborn and St Pancras and served in Corbyn’s front-bench team as shadow Brexit secretary.

Jamie Whitehead
Live reporter

Image source, PA Media

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg - this week broadcast from Liverpool where the Labour Party conference is getting under way.

Presenter Victoria Derbyshire - who is stepping in as host - will be interviewing the party’s leader, Sir Keir Starmer, who is fresh from Labour’s win in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election.

In a week which saw the government cancel the northern leg of the HS2 high-speed rail line - which Labour has not committed to reinstating if it were to win power - it will be interesting to see what Starmer has to say about the things his party will - and will not - do if elected.

Stay with us we bring you the latest news lines, quotes and video.

And of course you can stream the show without leaving this page come 09:00 BST.