Sunak bids to knock Rachel Reeves off course in ‘desperate’ move – live

Rachel Reeves has promised a “Covid corruption commissioner” if Labour wins power that will seek to recoup billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money that has been lost to waste, fraud and flawed contracts during the pandemic, Archie Mitchell reports.

The shadow chancellor will set up the body to chase at least £2.6bn of “lost” public funds.

The commissioner would be given the power to bring together public agencies including HMRC, the Serious Fraud Office and the National Crime Agency, the Guardian reported.

An estimated £7.2bn was lost in fraud from Covid support schemes including from business loans and grants, furlough and Rishi Sunak’s “eat out to help out” programme.

Rishi Sunak has been accused of “desperate stuff” over his plans to hold an event and take part in a broadcast interview during Labour conference.

An unwritten agreement between the two main parties usually means Labour and the Tories don’t hijack each other’s annual conferences.

But the prime minister will hold one of his “PM connect” Q&A events this morning and do a Radio 2 interview with Jeremy Vine that will clash with the shadow chancellor Rachel Reeve’s set-piece speech, in an apparent bid to keep her out of the headlines.

A Labour source told the Playbook website the move was a “bit below the belt and a bit naff”.

Another said it was “desperate stuff and shows they’re rattled by a changed Labour Party and our plans to change Britain.”

The Conservative Party has sent extra “spies” to Labour’s annual conference to “dig up dirt”, Archie Mitchell reports.

The parties usually allow two official “observers” at each other’s get togethers, but Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) is said to have dispatched at least half a dozen more to Liverpool this week.

They have been tasked with attending fringe events outside the main conference to record comments that could be used to attack Labour.

The move, reported by the Guardian, is a sign of the party’s fears about the Labour Party a year out from a general election.

A Labour government would be prepared to borrow but only within its fiscal rules, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has said.

Ms Reeves, speaking from her party’s conference in Liverpool, said she had set out fiscal rules and would stick to them with “iron discipline”.

They include paying for day-to-day expenditure through tax receipts, getting debt down as a share of the economy “and then only subject to that will we invest in things that are going to grow our economy”, Ms Reeves told Times Radio.

“We will only borrow if it is consistent with those fiscal rules,” she said, adding that that could be “if debt is coming down by the end of the parliament”.

It would be “very hard” to improve public services without additional tax rises, the director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies has said.

Asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme if Labour could stick to their spending plans without substantial rises in taxes, Paul Johnson said: “I’m not convinced that either a Labour or a Conservative government could do that.

“The most recent budget red book suggests extremely tight spending plans after the next election, even though taxes are at quite a high, or very high, level.”

Speaking about any potential Labour plans to improve public services and the welfare system, he said: “That’s going to be very hard indeed, I think, without some tax rises, at least in the short run until and unless growth really does change.”

Labour risks losing black and LGBT voters in the same way voters in Scotland ditched the party for the SNP, an MP has warned.

Left-winger Bell Ribeiro-Addy used a fringe event at Labour conference to urge the party to stand up to racism and stand up for trans rights.

Ms Ribeiro-Addy said: “In 2015, we saw what happened when one of our most loyal voting bases just decided to vote for another party, and that was the voters of Scotland.

“No one ever thought they would turn in the numbers that they did away from the Labour Party.

“And we risk that with the black community. We risk losing the black community if we do not take the time to stand up against racism.

“And we risk the LGBT community if we do not stand up for trans rights.”

The Labour leader insisted that putting Channel migrants on one-way flights to Rwanda was the “wrong policy” as he kicked off his party’s crucial conference in Liverpool.

The Independent explains:

Sir Keir Starmer will ramp up his attempts to charm business by gathering hundreds of company bosses at the Labour conference.

The party said Monday’s meeting in Liverpool will be the biggest of its kind – with hundreds remaining on the waiting list despite a doubling of the capacity.

Microsoft, Ikea and Octopus were to be among the attendees as the Labour leader tries to portray his party as both pro-worker and pro-business.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar will say his party can beat the SNP in seats “across Scotland” at the next general election.

He will address Labour’s conference in Liverpool on Monday, where he will hail his party’s win in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election.

Michael Shanks exceeded expectations and took 58% of the vote at the by-election count in South Lanarkshire on Thursday night. While turnout was low, Labour achieved a swing of 20.4% from the SNP.

Mr Sarwar will say his SNP opponents have chosen to “blame the voters” for their loss.

He will tell delegates: “Now no SNP MP can sit safely, taking their communities for granted as so many have.

“So I say to Humza Yousaf: This isn’t about swings or the polls – this is about putting the people of Scotland first.

“And because you won’t do that – we can beat you across Scotland.

“Every community in Scotland now has the chance to choose change with Scottish Labour.”

John McDonnell has said he was “really worried” watching Sir Keir Starmer being interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday morning.

The former shadow chancellor slammed the Labour leader’s suggestion NHS staff could work overtime to bring down record waiting lists.

“I was really worried …health Workers in my constituency are already on their knees.”