Jennifer McKiernan
Reporting from Liverpool

There was clearly a lot of support for John Healey in his first conference speech as chancellor, as he outlined how getting young people into work was key to his vision ahead of his first Budget on 28 October.

As a veteran Labour politician, Healey sprinkled his speech with anecdotes about his time in government that kept delegates laughing, including his tale of lending Gordon Brown his red tie at the 1999 Labour conference.

Notably, some of the biggest cheers were for the re-establishment of the Union Learning Fund - a fund relatively unknown outside the trade union circles who are at the conference in force.

Healey was careful not to say too much about his Budget plans, though offered new announcements about Rolls-Royce factories and Royal Navy floating docks that went down a storm with the party faithful.

Image source, Reuters

Healey has just finished giving his first speech to a Labour conference as chancellor. Here's what we heard:

• Labour will bring back hope through a "new age of industrialisation", he says, announcing the government will commit £6bn for British shipyards, and new docks for new submarines will be built "in Britain, by British workers"
• But the chancellor Healey warns the money New Labour had in the 90s is "simply not there now", and criticises the fiscal situation left to them by the Conservatives. He says he and PM are in "lockstep" on the need to meet the fiscal rules
• It's a warning about what's to come when he delivers his first Budget next month, writes our political correspondent Jack Fenwick

• The chancellor also announces mayors will be given £100m to fund a new apprenticeships scheme, saying: "The best thing we can offer a young person isn’t a benefit payment, it’s a first job with training and a wage"
• "It's not progressive to allow a bigger and bigger benefits bill... this is not just an economic must, this is a moral duty," Healey says

Speech had a defence flavour to it - but key questions on spending remainpublished at 13:04 BST

13:04 BST

Jack Fenwick
Political correspondent, reporting from Liverpool

This speech had a distinct defence flavour to it, but big questions remain on that area for the chancellor.

Healey resigned as defence secretary, a move that many saw as one of the final nails in the coffin for Keir Starmer’s premiership.

He announced £6bn of new contracts for British shipyards, which he said would help defend the UK for decades to come.

But the chancellor still needs to find almost £5bn in next month’s Budget to fund the Defence Investment Plan.

And he's under pressure to set out when and how the UK will reach 3% of GDP on defence spending.

Expect that to be one of the biggest talking points around Healey in the coming weeks and months.

Healey says "national industrial strength is national security" as he announces the government will commit £6bn of contracts for British shipyards.

Funding will be used to build new docks for new submarines, which Healey says will be built "in Britain, by British workers" and "will defend us all for decades to come".

The chancellor says British trade unions are "full partners in this new age of industrialisation" as he announces the "rebirth" of the Union Learning Fund.

He says 180,000 workers got new training each year through the fund before it was abolished by the Tories, adding that he's proud to reinstate the fund.

Healey says he wants this new learning fund to come with a focus on artificial intelligence, to help "British workers harness AI, not be outrun by it".

He describes AI as "the greatest innovation of our time" which will "transform our society at every level", adding that the UK will also need to "face the serious risks" it poses to national security.

Returning to his analogy about the miners' lamp, Healey says the government "needs to light the way for a new generation" before finishing his speech.

Healey tries to manage expectations at a tumultuous time in global marketspublished at 12:49 BST

12:49 BST

Faisal Islam
Economics editor

Image source, PA Media

In the conference hall, Chancellor John Healey is sporting a tie he lent to his predecessor Gordon Brown 27 years ago.

In the first part of his speech he is spelling out the balancing act between talking up economic vibes and the tough message to his Labour colleagues.

That message is also aimed for the markets, and perhaps some of the business leaders I have just seen being shepherded in for his speech.

"I have to level with you that the money New Labour had in the '90s is simply not there now," he says. At the top of his speech he was trying to channel "many reasons for optimism… new leadership, new confidence and new hope".

The chancellor and PM's approach is a conscious contrast to what we heard from their own colleagues in 2024, but he is also managing expectations at a tumultuous time in global markets.

Healey announces Rolls-Royce will invest an extra £300m into its British factories in Derby, in Bristol, in Glasgow and in Rotherham.

"This is the new age of industrialisation, this is the new confidence in Britain lit by this government, driven forward by business," he says.

Healey goes on to say the government will use everything it can to create jobs and industrialise Britain, including directing more of taxpayers' money to British business jobs and innovation.

Image source, UK pool

Healey says when he sees a million youngsters he sees hope not despair.

He says he wants to announce a "down-payment" on the work of Alan Milburn - who is delivering a major report on youth unemployment - and deliver thousands more apprenticeships.

Healey says a local apprenticeship service will be like football scouts for apprenticeships, delivering more apprenticeships for young people.

It will be led by mayors, he says. "They know which firms are hiring and which colleges are delivering and they know which estates have been left behind – that’s what devolution means," he says.

He says the Labour government had planned to start in a few areas, but now every mayor will have a chance to do it, backed by an extra £100m fully funded by savings from the Department for Work and Pensions.

The best thing we can offer a young person isn't a benefit payment, it's first job, with training and a wage, he says.

Healey uses speech to reassure he's a safe pair of handspublished at 12:36 BST

12:36 BST

Jack Fenwick
Political correspondent, reporting from Liverpool

Much of the talk around Andy Burnham in the weeks leading up to him becoming prime minister focused on how much he’d be willing to spend.

This time last year Andy Burnham, then the mayor of Greater Manchester, caused a stir at Labour conference when he suggested the country needed to stop being in hock to the bond markets.

Those comments led some to believe that a Burnham government may look to spend and borrow more money.

Some of the prime minister's critics worried that approach would spook the markets and lead to even higher borrowing costs.

Burnham has since then sought to reassure people and talked up his belief in economic restraint.

His appointment of John Healey as chancellor was intended to signal that he'd put a safe pair of hands in the treasury.

And he's used this speech to stress that he will stick to the previous government's fiscal rules, designed to keep the bond markets on side.

Economically those around the chancellor feel there is no other option.

But politically that does restrain the government.

One big question being asked by Labour members here will be whether Burnham and Healey can achieve the sort of change they've promised, while sticking to those rules.

Healey says world wide economic shocks and trade tensions are felt hard here at home, from prices at the pump to the cost of monthly mortgage payments.

"These times demand of us a greater resolve, a greater determination and a greater hope, to build a more resilient country," he says.

Healey says his first duty on his first day as chancellor was fiscal discipline because it "underpins every promise this government makes", adding that "we can't succeed without it".

He says it's not just the shadow chancellor who "offers the opposite" as he criticises Reform UK for what he describes as "dodgy donors and fantasy funding behind every plan".

Healey says Reform UK leader Nigel Farage "wants you to think he's a man of the people but when it comes to the economy he's Liz Truss with a Bitcoin account".

"Through the core of the Budget I deliver a month today will be fiscal discipline," Healey adds.

Jack Fenwick
Political correspondent, reporting from Liverpool

We've had our first warning from John Healey about what's to come when he delivers the Budget a month today.

The chancellor has spent the first part of his speech talking up the record of the New Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, which Healey was part of.

But he says "the money New Labour had in the '90s is simply not there now".

Healey said the amount of money the UK is spending servicing its debt is preventing the government spending in other areas.

Andy Burnham's government has strived to strike a more optimistic tone in its first few months.

But the economic situation is clearly very tricky.

And this was a clear indication that difficult decisions on tax and spending lie ahead in the next few weeks.

Image source, PA Media

Healey accuses the Conservatives of gutting public services through austerity measures, and says Brexit hammered exports, while the Liz Truss mini budget "crashed the economy" and collapsed confidence in Britain's fiscal strength, leaving a "legacy of sky-high debt costs".

These levels of debt are an "assault on our common sense" and an "affront to our values", he says.

He adds that is why he and the PM are in "lockstep" that they will meet the fiscal rules and maintain control of the UK's finances.

Healey tells the conference he wants to talk about the "politics of hope, our belief in a better day". He says hope is earned through "fiscal discipline, good work and through strong industries".

Labour will bring back hope through "good jobs" and a "new age of industrialisation", he says, adding that he is a "proud Yorkshireman representing a former coalfield".

He says coal miners' lamps were a "symbol of hope" that there was "always light at the end of the tunnel" and that "the same goes now for Britain's future".

He lists what he says the Labour party has achieved in the last two years, and since Andy Burnham has became PM, with policies on the cost of living, cutting VAT from energy bills and reducing business rates on pubs, clubs and music venues.

Jennifer McKiernan
Reporting from Liverpool

There's a strong response to Healey mentioning the lifeboat volunteers of the RNLI.

He's speaking after some volunteers were targeted by anti-immigration activists earlier this month due to their work in the Channel.

Image source, UK pool

Healey says it's been 40 years since his first Labour conference, and that it is the "privilege of my life" to address it as chancellor today.

He then praises Andy Burnham, saying the prime minister has the vision and determination to "give people hope again".

He then pays tribute to former Chancellor Rachel Reeves, who he says delivered two Labour budgets which mean "we're cutting NHS waiting lists and lifting half a million children out of poverty".

Also paying tribute to Keir Starmer, Healey says the former prime minister rebuilt Britain's respect and international reputation, especially in standing up to Russia in defence of Ukraine.

Jennifer McKiernan
Reporting from Liverpool

Image source, PA Media

A warm response in a packed hall as Chancellor John Healey starts his speech.

There's laughter as he recalls how his first Labour conference was in 1986.

"Back then, I had hair," he quips.

Chancellor John Healey has just begun his speech at the Labour Party conference.

Watch live at the top of the page, and we'll bring you the key lines, analysis and reaction in updates here.

Image source, Getty Images

Chancellor John Healey is expected to address the Labour Party conference in Liverpool shortly.

It is Healey's first conference speech as chancellor, after previously having served as defence secretary in Keir Starmer's government.

He is expected to promise a "new age of industrialisation" for the UK in his address, which will also announce plans to boost the UK's shipbuilding industry.

You'll be able to watch live at the top of this page, and we'll also be providing text updates on all the key points.

Nick Edser
Business reporter

One of the businessmen at the Labour Party conference today to listen to the chancellor is Steve Rigby, the chief executive of the family-owned Rigby Group, a technology and investment company.

Ahead of the speech, Rigby told the BBC’s Today programme that at the conference events he had attended the sentiment for businesses had been positive, adding: "I think there's a feeling of change."

However, he said he was hoping for a "pretty boring Budget" next month, with no tax rises for business as some sectors in the economy were "at their limit".

"I think that the business tax kitty has got to stop being raided, and we've got to get on with growth as the main agenda."

Rigby said people behind business start-ups were worried about possible changes to capital gains tax.

Asked if he thought there was a risk that changes to the tax might push start-ups out of the UK, he said: "I've no doubt there'll be an impact along those lines. I think you know the mobile nature of business today."

Emer Moreau and Theo Leggett
Business reporter and international business correspondent

Image source, EPA

Ahead of the chancellor's speech, diesel prices have hit an all-time high of 199.18p per litre, according to the motoring organisation RAC, as the war in the Middle East continues to push up the cost of fuel.

Petrol prices are also still rising, with a litre currently costing 174.13p.

Over the past seven months, the Iran war has severely disrupted the production and transportation of wholesale oil across the region, causing the price of fuels made from oil to surge.

RAC said diesel prices had entered "uncharted territory" and served as a reminder of "just how exposed the UK is to events occurring far away".

The cost of diesel has now risen by 59p a litre, or just under 40%, since the conflict between the USA and Iran erupted at the end of February. The previous record was 199.09p in June 2022.

How much ‘fiscal headroom’ does Healey have on spending?published at 11:48 BST

11:48 BST

By Daniel Wainwright

There’s been some discussion recently around the amount of “fiscal headroom” Chancellor John Healey has in the run-up to his first Budget.

Fiscal headroom is the margin by which the government is forecast to meet its fiscal rules which govern how it manages spending and borrowing. The headroom figure is the amount of leeway it has to increase spending or cut taxes, without breaking those rules.

When former Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered her final spring statement in March the government had about £23.6bn of fiscal headroom against its fiscal rules, up from £21.7bn at the November 2025 budget.

This was more room than forecasts at other recent Budgets and spring statements since 2022, as the chart below shows

The UK’s public finances watchdog the Office for Budget Responsibility should give an official update at the Budget.

But a, externalccountants KPMG estimate the current headroom has halved from £23.6bn in the spring to about £12bn. It puts this down to rising borrowing costs caused by the war in Iran and weaker economic growth.

The Resolution Foundation think tank has a more pessimistic estimate. It puts the headroom figure at about £8bn, saying “market turmoil” has potentially reduced it even further.