Starmer says he wants to give ‘hope’ he can deliver ‘massively different and better country’ – Labour conference live

Starmer says he wants to give 'hope' he can deliver 'massively different and better country' Good morning. The last time Labour held a conference after a summer general election was in 2017. The party lost, but because Jeremy Corbyn did much better than expected, conference ended up feeling like a victory party. This time Keir Starmer won a landslide. But early messaging from the government has focused on the dire economic inheritance, and the need for tough decisions in the budget, Starmer's approval ratings have plunged, and the past week has been dominated by controversy caused by unforced errors (freebies, and feuding about Sue Gray). It is too early to assess the mood of Labour, holding its conference in Liverpool as a party of government for the first time in 15 years, but no one is describing it as pure celebratory.

In an interview with the Observer ahead of the conference, Starmer said he would protect public services from further austerity.

He had a similar message for the Sunday Mirror , telling them:

I was running a public service when the coalition government went down the austerity route. It did a huge amount of damage to our public services and we are still feeling the damage even now. So we are not going down the road of austerity.

But Starmer also told the Mirror that he wanted to use the conference to give people "hope" that Labour could deliver "a massively different and better country". He said:

We've got to deal with the problems we've inherited, that's what we are doing. What we'll set out at conference is the why. What do you get for this? The hope, the changed Britain.

Starmer referred to goals like driving up living standards, fixing the NHS, delivering clean energy, improving opportunities for young people and cutting crime. He said:

This would be a massively different and better country, real sunny uplands stuff. But to get there we have to do the tough thing to start with.

Normally Starmer would do a big interview with the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg on the first day conference. But he was on the show earlier this month, and so today Angela Rayner , the deputy PM, is in that slot.

Here is the agenda for the day.

Lunchtime: David Lammy, the foreign secretary, Louise Haigh, the transport secretary, and Anneliese Dodds, the development minister, are among the ministers speaking at fringe meetings.

Afternoon: Lammy, Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Cabinet Office minister, and Stephen Doughty, the Foreign Office minister, are among the people speaking at fringe meetings. The fringes include a Labour Movement for Europe rally.

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