Andy Burnham has arrived at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool as he pledges his government will bring about radical change for Britain.
The prime minister has promised to take the country in a “new direction” after a decade since Brexit had resulted in “drift and division”.
On the eve of the conference in his native Merseyside, the former Greater Manchester mayor unveiled a new scheme to help first-time house buyers and also announced he was expanding the job guarantee scheme by giving young people on health benefits fast access to opportunities.
However, he acknowledged the country faced a “challenging” set of circumstances at the budget and he would have to make tough choices to maintain the public finances.
He said his vision would leave “people able to have hope again that things will improve, that life will get better – and it will”.
On Sunday, party chair Bridget Phillipson, deputy leader Lucy Powell and first secretary of state Louise Haigh will be among the speakers.
Mr Burnham will be interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg on the BBC on Sunday morning
Watch: Rayner asked if collective responsibility is 'dead' after criticism of home secretary
Angela Rayner backs down from criticism of home secretary
Angela Rayner tells Sky News she has absolute support for Shabana Mahmood and says the home secretary is doing a “fantastic job”.
It comes after Ms Rayner has hit out at Ms Mahmood’s plans to make it harder for migrant workers to claim settled status in the UK, warning it would “change the goalposts”.
In an interview with The Times on the eve of Labour’s party conference in Liverpool, the communities secretary and former deputy prime minister stood by her previous description of the home secretary’s plans as “un-British”.
However, speaking to Sky this morning, she is now backing the home secretary. You can read yesterday’s piece below.
Watch: Burnham promises to set UK on new course after Brexit resulted in 'drift and division'
In pictures: Burnham's arrival in Liverpool
Angela Rayner hits out at Shabana Mahmood’s migrant visa plans on eve of Labour conference
Angela Rayner has hit out at Shabana Mahmood’s plans to make it harder for migrant workers to claim settled status in the UK, warning it would “change the goalposts”.
Read more.
Councils will be given more powers to seize empty homes and bring them into use
Local leaders will get stronger powers to take possession of empty and derelict homes so they can be brought back into use, Angela Rayner has announced.
The housing secretary revealed the plans on the first day of Labour’s annual conference, which are aimed at bringing the 300,000 empty homes across England back into use.
The sweeping reforms to Empty Dwelling Management Orders (EDMOs) are being made as the Government aims to build 1.5 million homes before its self-imposed deadline of 2029.
EDMOs can be used to restore homes for use for an initial 12 months, and up to a total of eight years, but no applications have been made since 2021.
Ms Rayner’s plans will reduce the period of time a house must be empty before it can be taken over from two years to six months.
Ministers also aim to speed up the backroom process which allows councils to seize properties through a tribunal system, and want to protect local authorities from absorbing the costs associated with using EDMOs.
Ms Rayner said: “With so many children and families still in need of a safe and secure home, we can’t sit by and allow 300,000 long-term empty dwellings to be left unused.
“That’s why Labour in power is putting the tools in local leaders’ hands to take over desperately needed derelict homes and put them back into use. We’re reversing the Tories’ damaging changes by supporting councils to intervene and use untapped powers to meet local housing need.
“These changes will ensure councils can intervene earlier to prevent properties from falling into serious disrepair by accelerating their return to use and simplify the process to empower local authorities to act more decisively and with greater speed.
“But we won’t stop there, and we’ll explore further changes to protect local authorities from absorbing the costs they face in taking over empty homes.”
Comment: This is the only way that Andy Burnham can beat Nigel Farage
Russia and Putin the ‘biggest threat’ to UK security, warns Streeting
Wes Streeting has labelled Russia and president Vladimir Putin the biggest threat to the country’s security as he warned the UK is at the “greatest risk” of war in his life.
Defence secretary Mr Streeting said the threat was behind the decision to “deliver the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War”.
Speaking to The Sun on Sunday ahead of Labour’s conference which starts in Liverpool on Sunday, he said: “Without a shadow of a doubt, the biggest threat facing Britain is Russia and President Putin.
“We’ve got war in our continent. We’ve got a Russian president who has imperialist ambitions, who is constantly testing Britain’s defences, Nato defences and testing the strength of our alliances.
“And so, the sobering reality is that we face a greater risk of war than we’ve done at any point in my lifetime.”
He said he is confident the country has what it needs to remain safe, but the same would not be true if defences were to “stand still” for five years.
“Strength builds deterrence, and deterrence makes it far less likely that we will end up in a place we don’t want to be – which is at war with Russia or, indeed, anyone else,” he said.
Healey reveals plans to get more British products and services bought abroad
The Government is launching a new scheme to encourage foreign companies to buy more British goods and services.
Chancellor John Healey has announced a new UK Export Finance product, Flexible Finance, aimed at providing loans to buyers in fast-growing markets such as Brazil, Morocco and Mexico, to incentivise them to purchase British products.
The chancellor is expected to reveal more details of the scheme in his speech at the Labour conference on Monday.
Mr Healey said: “We’re backing British businesses to strike more deals overseas, especially in countries which are growing fast but where we don’t have a big British footprint.
“This is a new approach and part of the argument I will make in my speech in Liverpool on Monday that we are backing British industry and British innovation, helping create more markets abroad and more jobs at home.”
He added: “The British export market is strong, making Britain the place to do business. Companies across our four nations are seizing the opportunities to sell their goods and services around the world, but there are some markets we are yet to properly capitalise on.
“This new pilot is a win-win for the companies that can continue to scale up, and for the communities in which they can inject new jobs and growth.”
Burnham should still call snap election and campaign on reversing Brexit, former adviser says
Andy Burnham should reconsider calling a snap general election and make undoing Brexit the centrepiece of the campaign, a former Labour government adviser has said.
Mr Burnham tried to “knock dead” the idea of going to the polls early in interviews on the eve of the annual Labour party conference.
But Ben Judah, a special adviser to David Lammy in the Foreign Office until earlier this year, believes the prime minister could pull off an election victory to rival Boris Johnson’s in 2019 if he seized the moment on Europe.
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