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Francesca Gillett
Live reporter

That’s the joke lots of people are making after Starmer was showered with glitter at the start of his speech this afternoon.

Labour figures have been using it to their advantage – "everyone will get their sparkle back under the next Labour government", one local Labour Party has tweeted,, external and Starmer’s team say he was unfazed.

But aside from the glitter incident, Starmer delivered a confident speech, the BBC's Henry Zeffman says.

It was light on policy – but the headline announcement is Labour’s plan to create a wave of new towns on urban land and build 1.5 million homes. More here.

There'll be more coverage tomorrow on the final day of Labour's conference. Today's live coverage was brought to you by Nathan Williams, Laura Gozzi, Sam Hancock, Imogen James, Jasmine Taylor-Coleman and myself. Thanks for following along.

Image source, Reuters

We all know Sir Keir Starmer grew up in a pebble-dash semi - he even promised not to mention it again in today's speech (in the end he did, but just once). But here's some things that may surprise you:

1. He's named after Labour's first MP, Keir Hardie. You could say his parents were staunch Labour fans, clearly
2. When he's not debating his opponents in Westminster, Starmer likes to watch Arsenal and is a season ticketholder
3. When he was a human rights lawyer, he played a part in getting the death penalty abolished in Caribbean countries
4. In 2021/22, he earned £126,154 as MP and leader of the opposition
5. He's a talented musician, and can play flute, piano, violin and recorder.

If you're curious to know more about the Labour leader, read our profile here.

We've now heard from Conservative Party chairman Greg Hands, who has a few criticisms of Starmer's speech.

He "failed to say anything about how he would tackle illegal immigration", "committed Labour to more borrowing, which would increase inflation" and would reverse the government's "more proportionate" approach to net zero, he said.

"Sir Keir just offers more of the same short-term political decision-making of the last 30 years that has failed Britain - all glitter, no substance," he said.

Shadow environment secretary Steve Reed has just been up. Speaking about areas that have suffered from lack of investment, Reed says a Labour government would "empower rural communities" and "turbo-charge their growth".

Reed also tackles the issue of sewage being dumped into waters, saying that it happens all over the country "because the Tories have hobbled the environment agency", "thrashed biodiversity" and put "kids' health at risk."

He promises water bosses who break regulations will "face the full force of the law... The polluter, not the public, will pay."

"The Tories might have given up on nature, but we haven't. Labour will get nature its future back," Reed says to applause.

We're just heard from Oliver Coppard, the Labour mayor of South Yorkshire.

He says the current government have no answers to the problems the country is facing. In his region, people have lower wages and face bus service cuts, he says.

"Right now it's through our mayors that communities are beginning to take back control," Coppard says. He gives the example of London's mayor Sadiq Khan getting to work on cleaner air.

Although it didn't come up in Starmer's speech, Labour announced today it would give stronger powers to local mayors, especially on planning and housing budgets.

"The potential of mayors in power with a Labour government in Westminster is huge," says Coppard.

MPs have been reacting to the shock glitter-bombing earlier - with Conservative MP Angela Richardson writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, she's "thankful that Keir is okay".

"Everything wrong with this from a security point of view. None of my colleagues from any party, should be in a position of physical vulnerability like this. It could have been so much worse."

Tory MP Mark Jenkinson writes: "We're lucky that this time was glitter."

Labour MPs have been tweeting support for Starmer too, with Karl Turner writing: "Surprised how good the gaffer looks in glitter."

"He sparkled!" replied Chesterfield's MP Toby Perkins.

A Labour Party spokesman says Starmer is "fine" and "completely unfazed" by the protester.

Back inside the hall, we're hearing from the next Labour MP to address conference - shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh.

She uses her speech to attack the Tories for their HS2 failures ("it's clear the party has gone off the rails") and pledges to return ownership of Britain's buses and trains to the public ("we will run a transport system that finally runs with the interests of the public").

She also mentions an independent review that she'll order into the failings of HS2, which is something shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in her speech yesterday.

If elected, she says the Labour government will deal with issues such as spiralling petrol and car insurance costs, before telling the hall: "At the next election, the choice is clear - change with Labour or more of the same failure with the Conservatives."

Paul Seddon
Reporting from the Labour Party conference

I've been talking to people at the conference about what they made of the speech. Shirley is a long time Labour member in Daventry, Northamptonshire, but this is only her second time attending the party’s annual conference.

She says there was a "really good vibe" in the hall - and she was especially happy with the party's policies on climate change.

She adds that in her area, she's spoken to a lot of Conservative voters who are saying they won't vote Tory at the next election.

Her party's challenge, she says, it to get them voting for Labour - but she feels the party now has "positive, detailed concrete policy" to offer to voters on the doorstep.

As delegates file out of the conference hall to find a cup of tea or a bit of fresh air, some have been telling reporters what they made of Sir Keir Starmer's hour-long speech.

Matt Wrack, general secretary of the Fire Brigades' Union, gives PA Media his mixed review, saying "it will be a relief to all working people that we are on the brink of kicking the Tories out of power".

But he also has a warning for the party leadership:

Rebecca Newsom from environmental group Greenpeace also praised the speech in part but said she would have liked more detail on key issues:

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper spoke to BBC News shortly after Starmer's speech, and said the glitterbomb protest "just shows that you can't bother Keir Starmer with stuff like that", suggesting he carried on unfazed.

Labour is "a party of power not protest," she added, and praised her leader for carrying on after the interruption.

"There wasn't any protester that was going to bother him," Cooper concluded.

Things are going well for Starmer - and his confidence showedpublished at 15:53 British Summer Time 10 October 2023

15:53 BST 10 October 2023

Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent

In his three and a half years as Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer has slowly established near-total authority over his party.

Today’s conference speech exemplified that. Praising Tony Blair, vowing reform of the NHS and leading a standing ovation in support of Israel - this was not a leader trying to nudge his party out of its comfort zone, but drawing attention to how far its comfort zone has already moved.

It was also a testament to Starmer’s current boldness. Those who work with him closely say that he is a confidence performer - that he loosens up and takes risks when things are going well for him, but that he can lose a bit of his mojo in adversity.

With a persistent lead over the Conservatives in the polls, things are going well for Starmer at the moment. That confidence showed in his speech.

Though the promise to build a generation of new towns is eye-catching, it’s fair to say Starmer resisted calls from some in his party to unleash a torrent of policy in the speech. But those around him say that was less important than formulating an argument about why Starmer wants to be prime minister and why Labour deserve the voters’ trust.

Paul Seddon
Reporting from the Labour Party conference

Seyi Agboola, a member and councillor in Coventry, says Starmer was "wise" to put economic renewal at the heart of his speech.

He says “not having a clear message" for the electorate has been a problem for the party in the past.

But, adding that the Conservatives have "wrecked" the economy, he says focusing on growth is a message that will resonate with a "majority of British voters”.

Chas Geiger
Reporting from the Labour Party conference

Outside the building I caught up with some Labour supporters about what they made of it.

Alex, from Ealing Labour Party in London, said Starmer articulated a better vision, with a message of national renewal and more on the planning policy outlined by shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves yesterday. He would have liked to hear more about education and free school meals though

Ciara, also from Ealing, said the speech was "defiant and exciting" and "showed passion".

Lucy - who didn't want to be pictured - said it was a "very good speech", and she liked the tone and pace of it. Starmer caught the mood of the conference and offered some concrete policies, especially around house building, she says.

She would have liked to hear a bit more about skills training, and was disappointed he had a pop at the Tories near the end. He was on an up and the speech didn’t need it, she said.

Matt Cole
Senior political reporter, in the conference hall

Inside the conference hall listening to Starmer's speech, if I counted correctly he had 10 standing ovations – plus one on his arrival, and another for the way he dealt with the glitter-throwing protester.

The conference rose to its feet over his pledges for solidarity with Israel, for “ripping out antisemitism”, for fixing the NHS, for “speeding ahead” with climate change reduction measures and more…

Image source, Reuters

Phew - that felt like a long one. While we give our hands a rest from the typing, here's a recap of some of the key points from the Labour leader's speech:

• Homebuilding - This was the big announcement. Starmer said home ownership shouldn't be a luxury for just a few and promised to "tear down" the barriers blocking it. He said Labour planned to get Britain building again with a plan for 1.5 million homes and a host of "Labour new towns" - new, large scale housing settlements like the so-called new towns built after WWII under Labour
• Cost of living - the crisis is weighing heavily on people's lives, he says - and Labour can offer "long-term solutions"
• NHS - Starmer said he would abolish the controversial nom-dom tax status, which he says allows the richest people to avoid paying for vital services, and that the money would be put into the NHS, which he wants to "get back on its feet"
• Education - he reiterated Labour's plan to charge private schools 20% VAT, saying the money will be put into other school services
• Conservatives - he repeatedly took aim at the Tories and Tory PMs past and present, who he says "don't solve problems but use them to divide"
• Police - Labour would invest to get more police on the streets, he said
• And... glitter - His speech hadn't even begun when a man from the group People Demand Democracy ran onto stage and tipped some glitter over him

We've just had this from Merseyside Police: "We can confirm that a 28-year-old man from Surrey has been arrested following an incident at the Labour Party conference earlier this afternoon.

"The man was detained by security at the event and handed over to the police who arrested him on suspicion of S39 assault, breach of the peace and causing public nuisance.

"He has been taken to a police station where he will be questioned by police."

More now on that glitter protest, which unexpectedly interrupted the start of the speech about an hour ago.

People Demand Democracy, which claims to be a "new group calling for an upgrade to the UK political system", says the lone protester is one of their members.

The man in question covered Keir Starmer in glitter, as his speech was about to get under way, and shouted to the crowd: "True democracy is citizen led, politics needs an update."

People Demand Democracy says it wants a "fair, proportional voting system for Westminster elections" and will continue to use civil disobedience to get its message across.

Proportional representation (PR) is an electoral system in which parties' seats in parliament are allocated so they are in proportion to the number of votes cast. This isn't what's used in England and Wales - instead we go by a first-past-the-post system.

There's long been debate about whether Westminster should start using PR - this explainer, although a few years old, is a good insight into the many corners of the argument.

As is usual with party conferences, delegates get a bit of a cardio workout during the speeches as they rise to their feet to applaud key messages, promises and the occasional piece of oratory.

Today was no exception - with the TV cameras panning around to catch the faces of those giving their party leader rapturous applause as his speech reached its climax.

Sir Keir Starmer pledges to “get Britain building again” as he tells his conference he will “fight the blockers” who are stopping developments as rents rise.