Chancellor John Healey pledges apprenticeships and shipbuilding cash as diesel hits record high

John Healey used his first Labour conference speech as Chancellor to promise a new age of industrialisation, more apprenticeships and a tough line on the public finances, one month before his first Budget. Speaking in Liverpool, he said Labour could bring back hope, but warned that the money available to New Labour in the 1990s is simply not there now.

He announced £100 million worth of new apprenticeships and confirmed £6 billion worth of contracts for British shipbuilders. Thousands more apprenticeships would be created in England, and the Union Learning Fund would restart to support training. He said confidence, investment and profits mattered, and linked the shipbuilding contracts to jobs in British yards.

On welfare, Healey said it was not progressive to allow a bigger and bigger benefits bill and a system that offers an income but no future. He said getting people into work was an economic must and a moral duty, and suggested the Government would try to bring welfare spending down. He did not set out detailed savings.

He stressed fiscal discipline. He said debt interest payments were money that could not be spent on the NHS, schools, housing, social care, policing, borders or defence. He said he and Prime Minister Andy Burnham were in lockstep on meeting the fiscal rules. He paid tribute to former Chancellor Rachel Reeves and thanked Treasury ministers and his wife, Jackie.

The speech came as diesel reached an all-time high of £1.99 a litre on average, according to the RAC. The price has risen by almost 40% since the US war with Iran began in February. The RAC said it now costs almost £100 to fill the average family car, over £30 more than before the Iran war. The rise reflects Middle East conflict, Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil facilities and tight refining capacity. President Donald Trump is considering an export ban on US diesel, which could hit the UK, which imports a significant share of its diesel from the US. Hauliers warned that a spike in diesel is a spike in food prices, and called for another fuel duty freeze and a tax rebate.

Healey said he was watching fuel prices closely but made no promises. He said the Government could not remove the pressures people feel on the cost of living or on business, but would try to give them 'breathing space' at the Budget. He declined to rule out tax rises, saying tax measures were for the Budget. Fuel duty is due to rise in January and again in March.

The Chancellor's speech was more about the scale of the challenge than about detailed policy. He said the country had strengths in life sciences, defence tech, AI, financial services and creative industries. But he also used the speech to manage expectations, saying the money New Labour had in the 1990s was not available now. His first Budget is due in exactly one month.

Delegates also looked ahead to the Prime Minister's speech tomorrow. Andy Burnham is expected to set out his vision for funding social care. He said his plan would require significant changes but was made with the best of intentions. There is speculation that he could partly fund social care by reforming the state pension triple lock, which has already caused a row within Labour. One union leader called it a disaster, while a Cabinet minister said it risks intergenerational warfare. Economists have argued the triple lock is unaffordable.