Newscast

At the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, with Andy Burnham as the new Prime Minister and due to speak the following day, Chancellor John Healey gave his first conference speech in the role. The broadcast noted his emphasis on a defence dividend, money for British shipyards and British shipbuilding jobs, and the budget a month away. It also reported that counter-terror police leading an investigation at RAF Fairford had five people in custody, described as British nationals and young men living in London. The Defence Secretary paid tribute to police and intelligence services and addressed criticism that police only arrived after a farmer returning from a party spotted vans. Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Bryant flew to Northern Ireland to deal with a standoff over a parade and Drumcree.

In an interview after the speech, Healey said the government faced hard economic facts, including global shocks, war in the Middle East and Russia’s war in Ukraine, pressure on fuel and mortgages, and debt costs limiting spending on the NHS, schools, housing, borders, social care and defence. He announced £100 million for a new local apprenticeship service, funded from savings already made by the Department for Work and Pensions through fraud crackdowns, and discussed Alan Milburn’s review of the benefit system, nearly a million young people not in education, training or employment, social care reform, the state pension triple lock, record diesel prices, the freeze on fuel duty until the end of the year, and a fuel finder tool. He said more cost-of-living measures could be set out in the budget.

In later analysis, the broadcast noted the budget was a month away and that headroom against fiscal rules had tightened, with a 10-year plan expected from the Prime Minister before Christmas. It also reported a Transport Secretary announcement that Avanti West Coast would be nationalised in March as part of bringing rail franchises into public ownership, with £50 million for Euston station and £10 million for all other stations on the line combined. The discussion covered reindustrialisation, the apprenticeship announcement, possible diesel-price action, and whether the triple lock could be changed to help fund social care.