Miliband goes on, outlining Labour's plans for GB Energy, a state-owned company which would invest in energy.

He says other countries own "nearly half of our offshore wind because they know it creates jobs and wealth for them" and asks if it's good enough for them - "why not us?"

The shadow minister says he's "proud that [Labour leader] Keir’s 2030 mission is for the greatest investment in homegrown energy in British history".

He goes on: "We’ll double onshore wind. We’ll treble solar. We’ll quadruple offshore wind. We’ll invest in nuclear and hydrogen and carbon capture and tidal power."

To huge applause, he adds:

Next up on the main stage is former Labour leader, and current shadow energy security and net zero secretary, Ed Miliband.

He delivers an attacking speech, in which he tells delegates it's time for the Labour party to "bring the long-dark night of Tory rule to an end".

Referring to last week's Conservative Party Conference, he says Rishi Sunak and his MPs "just don't get the fundamental struggles people are facing".

"A deeply painful cost of living crisis, a deeply entrenched economic crisis, and a deeply dangerous climate and nature crisis," he goes on, accusing Sunak of "dithering and delaying" over tackling the the climate crisis.

"But friends, he’s wrong. He’s dead wrong," Miliband says, before going on to list the things Labour would do differently when it comes to energy.

Image source, Getty Images

Back to Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar. Addressing delegates, he began by hailing the party's victory in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election. (Labour won the seat with a swing of 20.4% from the SNP and got more than double the number of votes polled by the SNP candidate.)

Sarwar said his party had "made history and changed the face of Scottish politics" but added: "This is just the start."

Labour success in Scotland is likely to be key if the party is to win the next general election, which must be held before January 2025.

Sarwar used his speech to attack both the SNP and the Conservatives, branding the Tory government "lying" and "out of touch", and accusing the SNP of "talking down our country, with no hope for the future".

However, he also addressed voters who may have supported the two parties in the past, saying "I understand your frustration" and "why you are desperate for change".

If you missed shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves' speech a little earlier, here's one of the key moments when she attacked Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for "being too weak" to stand up to the policies of former PM Liz Truss, whose mini-budget last year has been blamed for causing economic turmoil.

Back inside the hall, we've moved on to what's being called the Scottish section of conference.

We're not far off hearing Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar speak, but before then shadow Scotland secretary Ian Murray has taken to the stage.

He begins by telling delegates he wants to say just four words: "Rutherglen and Hamilton West." It is, of course, the constituency where Scottish Labour won a by-election last week - taking the seat from the SNP.

Michael Shanks, the Scottish Labour candidate who won, also makes an appearance. He uses his speech to thank Sarwar and says his win is a sign that people have had enough and want "hope" and "change".

Unite's Graham repeats calls for Labour to be bolderpublished at 15:00 British Summer Time 9 October 2023

15:00 BST 9 October 2023

Iain Watson
Political correspondent, reporting from Liverpool

More now on that tension I mentioned earlier between Unite and the Labour Party.

Delivering her remarks to conference, trade union Unite's leader Sharon Graham said she felt the party had to be bolder in the run up to the next election.

But another female leader of a big trade union - Christina MacAnea of Unison - delivered a thinly-disguised rebuke.

She pointed out there were "bold" and "ambitious" policies on the agenda - including higher wages across the social care sector, and that plans for a national care service would be transformative.

And with lots of emphasis from the leadership on restraining day-to-day spending, it is worth remembering that Labour still plans to "borrow to invest", and that across the Labour political spectrum their policies on climate change and net zero are seen as radical.

Image source, Reuters

Following shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves' speech, and all the reaction since, let's take a look at what else is coming up at Labour's conference this afternoon.

• Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar is due to speak before 15:00 - fresh off the back of his party winning the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election last week
• Shadow energy security and net zero secretary Ed Miliband is another speaker who'll appear on the main stage later today

• Delegates will vote on a motion from union Unite calling for UK energy to be brought back into public ownership. We're expecting the vote at around 16:30
• Tomorrow the main event is leader Keir Starmer's speech at 14:00

Our political team in Liverpool, and us in London, will continue bringing you all the latest right here - stay with us.

Earlier, before Rachel Reeves gave her speech, the director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) spoke to the BBC about Labour's plans to improve public services without additional tax rises.

Paul Johnson told Radio 4's Today programme this would be "very hard, adding: "I'm not convinced that either a Labour or a Conservative government could do that."

In her speech, the shadow chancellor warned that "you cannot tax and spend your way to economic growth", arguing instead that the "lifeblood of a growing economy is business investment".

There was also a pledge to borrow money to invest, rather than for day-to-day spending. But Johnson warned that Labour's desire to get debt falling "is actually the big constraint here".

He said debt is "not really on course to fall in the next five years or so" - referring to a government's term in office - and said it was this that tied Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's hands in March. The same could happen to Labour, he warned.

Image source, Reuters

Responding to his opposite number's speech, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt says: "It is extraordinary that inflation wasn't mentioned once by Rachel Reeves when it is the biggest challenge facing the British economy.

"Instead, Reeves made it clear Labour will increase borrowing by £28bn every year which is a fairy tale for the British economy with no happy ending - just higher inflation, higher mortgages, higher debt and lower growth."

This is a reference to Labour's pledge to invest £28bn a year in green industries - which the party watered down in June, saying it would reach that target by 2027 if elected in 2024.

Reeves didn't mention the figure in her speech, but she said this morning Labour would only borrow if it was consistent with its "fiscal rules", which state the party would only borrow to invest.

She also said the £28bn was not all additional money as the government was already spending on some green projects.

Hunt adds: "Borrowing more doesn't solve problems, it creates them - the worst kind of short-termism when instead we should be taking long-term decisions that will actually tackle inflation and unleash growth."

Inflation - the rate prices are rising - fell to 6.7% in August but remains high.

Chas Geiger
BBC Politics in Liverpool

The UK should "not turn a blind eye" to the "huge injustices committed against the Palestinian people for many years", Labour's shadow minister for the Middle East and North Africa has said.

Wayne David told a conference fringe meeting, organised by the Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East, hearts must go out "to all people of Israel and Gaza who are suffering in this terrible, terrible conflict".

Israel had the right to defend itself against "terrorist attacks", he said, but its response should be proportionate and according to international law. "The people of Palestine should not be equated with Hamas," he added.

David also criticised what he called Israel’s “creeping annexation” of the West Bank and the rise in violence by Israeli settlers there.

And he urged the British government to send more humanitarian aid to the Palestinians.

Has £7.2bn been lost in Covid fraud?published at 13:50 British Summer Time 9 October 2023

13:50 BST 9 October 2023

Rachel Reeves told the Labour conference the party would “go after” those who profited from the ”carnival of waste” during the pandemic.

She said: “The cost to the taxpayer of Covid fraud is estimated at £7.2bn.”

That is correct. A report by public spending watchdog the National Audit Office, external estimated the fraud related to Covid schemes at £7.3bn.

The report says the government prioritised speed when setting up Covid schemes, leaving it vulnerable to fraud.

It says it is very unlikely that most of lost money will be recovered.

Labour sets out 'time for a change' messagepublished at 13:38 British Summer Time 9 October 2023

13:38 BST 9 October 2023

Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent, reporting from Liverpool

At the end of Rachel Reeves’s speech, it was possible to detect the contours of the argument Labour will make in the general election campaign.

“Do you and your family feel better off than you did 13 years ago?”, the shadow chancellor asked.

“Do our hospitals, our schools and our police work better than when the Conservatives came to power 13 years ago?

“Frankly, does anything in Britain work better than when they came into office 13 years ago?”

These are the questions which will underpin Labour’s "time for a change" message.

The Conservatives recognise they are vulnerable to those questions - which is why last week Rishi Sunak said he, too, believes it is time for a change, but portrayed himself as a bigger change in approach than Labour would be.

Internally, Labour figures say that taking the fight to the Conservatives on the economy rather than, say, the NHS, is a measure of their political confidence.

One senior source said that elections are “won and lost on the economy”, adding: “We’re not in our safe zones any more, we’re on their turf.”

Momentum, the grassroots left-wing campaign group set up to support Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the Labour Party, says that, overall, Rachel Reeves's speech was "disappointing" and "failed to rise to the huge crises facing Britain".

The group's co-chair, Hilary Schan, welcomes pledges on housebuilding and windfall taxes but adds: "As millions lose faith in the Tories, the question on everyone's lips is: will Labour offer real change? Based on today's speech, the answer is: some, but not enough."

"Once again, Reeves clung to outdated and damaging economic orthodoxies: that the wealthiest can pay no more, that we cannot have the investment the country is crying out for, that key public services should remain in private hands," she says.

"A Labour government which leaves the fundamentals of this failed system in place won't just fail to fix Britain's huge problems - it will be blamed for its failure."

We've just heard from shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, where she pledged to "rebuild Britain" if her party wins the next election.

Here are some of the key announcements and messages from her speech:

• Reeves promised to speed up the planning process for key infrastructure projects, as well as encourage business investment, to grow the economy and create jobs

• There was also a focus on economic responsibility, with Reeves saying Labour will fight the next election on the economy and "not waver from iron-clad fiscal rules"
• She made no new commitments on the northern leg of the HS2 high speed rail line - which Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has scrapped - but said a Labour government would commission an independent inquiry into the project, which has been repeatedly delayed and is running significantly over-budget
• Reeves said Labour would tackle fraud, waste and inefficiency, including by cracking down on ministers' use of private jets, slashing spending on consultants and recovering money lost to fraud during the pandemic through a new anti-corruption commissioner
• She pledged to strengthen workers' rights and ensure the national minimum wage "takes into account the real cost of living"

Carney's endorsement is extraordinary and unprecedentedpublished at 13:03 British Summer Time 9 October 2023

13:03 BST 9 October 2023

Faisal Islam
Economics editor

The endorsement of shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves from the former Bank of England Governor Mark Carney is extraordinary and unprecedented.

His liberal politics were no secret in Canada. But he was appointed by a Conservative chancellor, and was an adviser to Boris Johnson on climate policy.

It is one thing to endorse Reeves's credentials as a former Bank of England economist.

It is quite another for him to say, as he did, “it is beyond time we put her energy and ideas into action".

Reeves herself mentioned the importance of the independence of the Bank of England.

Carney is now a well-connected financier, specialising in green finance.

He was known to be privately concerned about the rolling back by the government of some net zero policies.

After Reeves's speech the conference is played a short video from former governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney.

He describes Reeves, who began her career at the UK's central bank, as "a serious economist".

"It's beyond time to put her ideas and energy into action," he adds.

The Bank of England is independent of government but works closely with the Treasury.

Image source, PA Media

Reeves brings her speech to a close by saying that under Keir Starmer, Labour has been changed so it "may have the chance to change our country".

She asks conference whether anyone there is better off now than they were 13 years ago - when the Tories came into power. She says, if like her, you believe Britain can be better, it's time to "join" Labour in its mission to rebuild Britain.

Finishing with a list of her party's aims, if elected, she says it will:

• Create new jobs
• Drive down bills
• Revive high streets
• Rescue Britain's public services - with more teachers in schools and more doctors in the NHS
• Achieve energy security

And with that, there's a standing ovation and Reeves thanks conference before walking over to Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer - who embraces her with a hug.

Reeves's fiery rhetoric repeatedly gets audience to their feetpublished at 12:47 British Summer Time 9 October 2023

12:47 BST 9 October 2023

Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent, reporting from Liverpool

The conventional wisdom is that there is a tension at the top of the Labour Party between being cautious enough not to give the Conservatives targets to attack, and being bold enough to give party activists - and the country - something to get excited about.

Rachel Reeves’s speech is in part an attempt to demonstrate that this is a false choice.

There is some new policy in the speech, though nothing so daring as to take over the political debate. But Reeves’s fiery rhetoric has repeatedly brought the conference hall to its feet.

Her passionate vow to levy VAT on private school fees prompted a prolonged bout of whooping in the hall, as did her refrain - used more than once in the speech already - that Labour is “ready to serve” and “ready to lead".

Reeves says the post of chancellor has existed for 800 years and in that time not one woman has held the position.

She says when conference next meets, she intends to “address this hall as Britain’s first female chancellor”.

She says taking that role would show “our daughters that they should place no limits on their ambitions”.

But, she adds, there is still a pay gap between men and women. Women in Britain earn on average 15% less than men, she says.

She says Labour will examine how it can “make great strides towards ending the gender pay gap once and for all”.

Reeves moves on to Labour's policies on workers' rights, including banning zero-hour contracts, strengthening sick pay and giving basic rights from day one of a job.

She also pledges to reform the national minimum wage so it takes into account the real cost of living and is "a genuine living wage" - prompting a standing ovation from the audience.