Labour Party conference – live: Rachel Reeves backed by former Bank of England governor in blow to Sunak

The former Bank of England governor Mark Carney has endorsed Labour in a shock coup for Keir Starmer and his shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves, Adam Forrest and Archie Mitchell report.

In a surprise video shown at the party’s conference after Ms Reeves’ speech, Mr Carney praised her as a “serious economist” and said it was “beyond time” for a Labour government.

There were gasps in the auditorium as a video showed Mr Carney’s endorsement. He called Ms Reeves is “a serious economist” who “understands the big picture” – pointing out that she started her career at the Bank of England.

The senior figure, governor between 2013 and 2020, added: “Crucially she understands the economics of work, of place and family. It is beyond time we put her energy and ideas into action.”

Rishi Sunak has admitted that some of the promised transport projects he said would get money from cancelling HS2 were only “illustrative” and not meant as pledges.

There has been widespread criticism of the PM’s Network North plan after it emerged that some projects already exist, while others were dropped from an initial government press release.

Since the big move to axe HS2’s northern section, first revealed by The Independent, the prime minister has repeatedly promised that “every penny” of the £36bn removed from HS2 would go to transport alternatives.

The politician once dismissed as reliably dull gave a barnstorming conference speech, writes Andrew Grice – and now Reeves looks not just like our first female chancellor, but a future leader

Read Andrew’s full comment piece here:

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves wowed the Labour conference hall with a succession of weary sighs – and the more humdrum she was and the less carried away she got, the louder they clapped, writes Tom Peck

Read Tom’s full sketch here:

Fewer than one in 10 British voters think Brexit has gone well, a new study has found.

Voters are also increasingly pessimistic that the policy will ever turn out well, with fewer than one-third (30 per cent) agreeing.

The fight for better pay and conditions in the public sector is “far from over” after a year of industrial action by hundreds of thousands of workers, the head of the TUC said.

Paul Nowak said the government has been forced to improve pay offers because of the series of strikes across the country.

He told a fringe meeting at the Labour Party’s annual conference in Liverpool that, a year ago, the government was trying to impose pay cuts on millions of workers.

“We were told there would be no money, no more negotiations. It was take it or leave it,” he said.

“Our members did not take it – hundreds of thousands of public sector workers took industrial action, often for the first time.

“The government was forced back to the negotiation table and gave a better offer.

“But the fight is far from over. We have proved we can move the government – taking industrial action does matter.”

Darren Jones, Labour shadow Treasury secretary, has mocked chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s claim that Rachel Reeves failed to mention inflation, Adam Forrest reports.

Labour pointed  out that she did say prices had gone up. “Odd that the Tory Chancellor doesn’t know what inflation means,” he tweeted.

Mr Hunt had said: “Oops…when the biggest single issue for the economy is inflation it doesn’t get ONE mention from the Shadow Chancellor?

“Because adding £28 bn a year to borrowing will push it up – meaning higher mortgages, higher debt interest and lower growth…”

Rachel Reeves has won unions and business backing for her speech. CBI chief executive Rain Newton-Smith said business leaders will be “encouraged to hear the shadow

chancellor speak so ambitiously about driving up business investment”, adding: “Businesses will welcome the focus on planning and infrastructure delivery.”

The TUC’s general secretary Paul Nowak said: “Labour’s plan for decent work and increased investment will rebuild our infrastructure hand in hand with unions and employers, and deliver the economic growth and boost to living standards this country has been crying out for.”

Former Tory backer Iain Anderson, executive chairman at Cicero, told the BBC that it was “one of the most speeches I have heard from a conference platform in decades”.

Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy has said Britain would start “dating” the EU again under a Labour government, Adam Forrest reports.

Lammy did not signal any change in position at the conference fringe event – insisting the UK would remain outside the single market and customs union. But he suggested Labour would seek much closer ties – again backing a formal defence pact with Brussels.

“We had a very, very bitter divorce with the EU. It’s a divorce that went on for years and years and years … No one in this room in all seriousness would suggest you can have a divorce and … that you could get married again without even going on a date.”

He added: “The starting point for a Labour government is let’s get back to the strong partners that we have always traditionally been with our friends and colleagues in Europe.”