In remarks echoing Keir Starmer, the Chancellor said she believed some Reform supporters would be ‘horrified’ at the prospect of deporting migrants working and living legally in the UK by revoking settlement rules.
Speaking to LBC ahead of her speech at the Labour Party Conference later today, Ms Reeves said: ‘I think it is a racist policy. People support the Reform party for all sorts of reasons, but this policy is a racist policy.’
Pressed on how she thought people could back the policy without being racist, she said: ‘You can support the Reform party and not be racist. I think there are lots of people who back Reform who will be horrified by the thought that people who have come to this country legally, who are working and contributing, will be deported from this country.’
Later on, the Chancellor is expected to unveil Labour’s new plan to tackle youth unemployment as speculation mounts taxes will increase at the next Budget in November.
Follow the Daily Mail’s live updates from the Labour Party conference
Labour conference: Who is speaking today?
Speeches at today’s Labour Party conference in Liverpool will start at 10am with a host of Cabinet ministers speaking today.
We will endeavour to bring you the best lines from the speeches as well as other developments in and out of the conference.
10:05am Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper
10:50am Defence Secretary John Healey
11:40am Business Secretary Peter Kyle
12:00pm Chancellor Rachel Reeves
2:00pm Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson
2:40pm Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden
2:50pm Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy
3:30pm Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood
3:45pm Technology Secretary Liz Kendall
4pm Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy
Reeves calls for less input from Office for Budget Responsibility
Rachel Reeves has signalled she wants the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to do fewer full forecasts because she said she wants to only do one budget or fiscal statement a year.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) have said that we should move to just one major fiscal event a year, and I agree with their recommendations, and to be able to do that, we do need to change the way that the OBR do their forecasting.
Two full forecasts a year make it harder to have that one fiscal event. There are different ways you could do it, you could do a shorter term forecast, you could do a forecast that just looks at the changes in the economy over that period of time.
We’ve already moved to having just one budget a year, but we’re trying through these changes to facilitate that.
Reeves – People are ‘talking rubbish’ about my Budget
Ms Reeves said people who claim to have insight on the contents of her Budget are ‘talking rubbish’ and branded some predictions as ‘very irresponsible’.
The Chancellor dismissed ongoing speculation around the Budget in November, adding some people had made decisions on their personal finances based on rumours which had proved to be unfounded.
Ms Reeves was pressed by BBC Radio 4 on whether changes could affect people with shares, pensions or property.
There are a lot of people who claim to know what is going to be in my Budget. They don’t. A lot of them are talking rubbish, and frankly a lot of it is very irresponsible.
People were told last year that I was going to do this, I was going to do that, and people made decisions with their money, that were often irreversible decisions, and I would urge people to wait until that Budget and not listen to people who claim to know what is in my Budget.
Reeves insists Labour will tackle child poverty amid speculation on two-child benefit cap
Child poverty will reduce under Labour, Rachel Reeves has said, amid growing speculation the Government will lift the two-child benefit cap.
The Chancellor told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
There’s absolutely more to do to make working people better off, to lift people out of poverty, to ensure that our businesses can trade around the world.
She was asked directly about dropping the current two-child limit on benefit payments. She said:
That’s a decision for the Budget. No-one needs to tell me about child poverty, I came into this party because I desperately care about children and their life chances.
It’s why we’ve done free school meals, it’s why we’ve done breakfast clubs, it’s why we’ve increased the national living wage, and the national minimum wage, so I’m that Chancellor that cares about child poverty.
We will reduce child poverty, but we’ve also got to make sure the numbers add up, and people can trust me to ensure that that always happens.
Reform – Starmer ‘circling the drain’ after branding immigration plans ‘racist’
Reform’s Zia Yusuf has claimed Keir Starmer is ‘circling the drain’ after the Prime Minister branded the party’s immigration policy as ‘racist’.
Sir Keir has accused Nigel Farage’s party of promoting a ‘racist’ policy on immigration after it pledged to scrap settled status for all non-EU migrants, requiring those who have been granted indefinite leave to remain to re-apply under much stricter rules.
Mr Yusuf, Reform UK’s head of policy, told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that Sir Keir ‘is literally the least popular, the most unpopular, Prime Minister on record, according to polls this week.’
Look, the reality is that the British people are sick and tired of having their legitimate concerns about immigration being sneered at, being belittled and ultimately being insulted for raising those legitimate concerns.
What Reform have announced is that migrants must pay their way, speak English and not commit crime, and the fact that Keir Starmer considers that policy – and those very reasonable people, the majority, frankly, of the people in this country who agree with that policy – as racist, says everything about the fact that this is a Prime Minister circling the drain, who is speaking to the activists in his own party.
When Boris Johnson swept into Downing Street in 2019, he vowed to deliver the core promise of the Vote Leave campaign and ‘take back control’ of Britain’s borders.
The Conservative manifesto pledged an ‘Australian-style points-based system to control immigration’. In black and white, voters were told: ‘There will be fewer low-skilled migrants and overall numbers will come down.’
Six years on, everyone knows what actually happened. Instead of reducing the numbers of migrants, the last Tory government oversaw the biggest influx in British history.
Watch: Reeves to warn unemployed youngsters they could lose benefits
by Harriet Line Deputy Political Editor
Tens of thousands of out-of-work young people could be stripped of their benefits if they refuse to take a job, the Chancellor will announce today
Rachel Reeves will vow to ‘abolish’ long-term youth unemployment by guaranteeing paid work for those aged 18 to 21 who have been on Universal Credit for 18 months without earning or learning.
Those eligible will be given support to take advantage of available opportunities but those who refuse to take an offer without a good reason could face a sanction – including losing their benefits.
The Government will subsidise the jobs available under the ‘Youth Guarantee’, meaning the scheme is likely to cost the Treasury. It is thought big retailers will be appealed to for support.
One in eight 16 to 24-year-olds are not in education, employment or training – known as NEETs.
Ms Reeves is set to outline the plan in her keynote speech to the Labour Party conference in Liverpool later today.
Reeves fuels fears over VAT raid and hints at tax rises AND spending cuts in Budget
Rachel Reeves fueled fears over a VAT raid today as she hinted the Budget could see tax rises and spending cuts.
The Chancellor said she had made a ‘solemn promise’ to stabilise the finances as she dodged on how she plans to fill an estimated £30billion gap in the government’s books.
Speculation has been mounting that Ms Reeves could have to break Labour’s election manifesto, which pledged no increases to income tax, employee national insurance or VAT.
Touring broadcast studios at party conference in Liverpool this morning ahead of her keynote speech, Ms Reeves repeated the formulation that she ‘stands by those commitments’ without giving specific guarantees. Some believe the government could expand VAT to areas such as taxi fares, rather than increasing the main rate.
‘There are global headwinds at the moment, we can see that the world has changed hugely since the last election,’ she told Sky News.
‘But those manifesto commitments we made in the manifesto 15 months ago, those manifesto commitments stand.’
Reeves suggests Andy Burnham ‘risks following Liz Truss’
Ms Reeves also suggested Andy Burnham ‘risks going the way of Liz Truss’ as she warned being Chancellor meant making sure ‘the numbers add up’.
Asked whether she agreed with the Prime Minister, who last week appeared to liken Mr Burnham’s economic agenda to that of the former Tory prime minister, she told LBC:
If he’s saying… anybody that says you can just borrow more, I do think that risks going the way of Liz Truss. Already one pound in every 10 the Government spends is on financing the debt that was racked up by the previous Conservative government. There’s nothing progressive, nothing Labour about that.
Her remarks come after Mr Burnham gave interviews in which he revealed Labour MPs had encouraged him to mount a leadership challenge against the Prime Minister.
Reeves – Reform supporters will be horrified at racist immigration policy
Earlier this morning, Rachel Reeves said people can support and not be racist but added some would likely be ‘horrified’ by the party’s immigration policy relating to migrants working and living legally in the UK.
Asked how that was true for people who support the plan to revoke the right to remain in Britain for some migrants, she told LBC:
I think it is a racist policy. People support the Reform party for all sorts of reasons, but this policy is a racist policy.
Pressed on how she thought people could back the policy without being racist, she said:
You can support the Reform party and not be racist.
Asked again whether she thought people could support the policy and not be racist, she said:
I think there are lots of people who back Reform who will be horrified by the thought that people who have come to this country legally, who are working and contributing, will be deported from this country.
Here’s what the Prime Minister Keir Starmer said at the weekend:
Rachel Reeves insists Reform’s immigration plan is ‘racist’ but Farage supporters are not
Hello and welcome to our live coverage as Rachel Reeves makes her speech at the Labour Party Conference today.
The Chancellor will be among a slew of Cabinet ministers speaking in Liverpool ahead of Keir Starmer’s appearance tomorrow.
Earlier, Ms Reeves reiterated the Prime Minister’s view that Reform’s immigration plans are ‘racist’ while stressing those who support Nigel Farage are not.
The Chancellor also hinted the Budget could see tax rises and spending cuts and suggested Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham ‘risks going the way of Liz Truss’ after he declared Labour MPs wanted him to challenge Starmer.
Follow the latest updates throughout the day with our political reporters James Tapsfield, David Wilcock and Greg Heffer with Jamie Bullen reporting from London.
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Labour conference: Rachel Reeves says Reform’s immigration plans are ‘racist’ but people who support Nigel Farage are not – live updates
