Party conferences offer oppositions space to set out their stall and get far more attention than any other time in the political year. But this year’s Labour conference will see the party being much more reactive than it might have hoped, given this is supposed to be the point where Keir Starmer sets out his stall for Labour as a government in waiting.
The government’s ‘Plan for Growth’ was unveiled on the very eve of this meeting in Liverpool, and it is so big that naturally the party’s spokespeople are going to spend a fair amount of their time in interviews, speeches and fringe debates responding to it. This conference is supposed to see the party shift from talking to itself to the country. Here are some of the challenges that Starmer faces in achieving that:
What would Labour actually do?
Starmer’s allies say the focus on the new government’s policy is not necessarily unhelpful, given Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng have vacated the centre ground and allowed Labour to have very clear dividing lines with the Conservatives.
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