Rachel Reeves’ speech at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool has been interrupted by a protester. The Chancellor was speaking on Monday afternoon when she was heckled by a demonstrator in the main hall.
A young man interrupted Reeves while she was speaking and shouted that Labour should “stop arming Israel”. A video then showed him being hauled out of the hall by security. The audience clapped as he was being dragged out of the room.
Reeves responded by saying Labour is “not a party of protest”. She said: “This is a changed Labour Party, a Labour Party that represents working people, not a party of protest.”
Campaign group Climate Resistance claimed responsibility for the protest. This was Reeves’ first Labour Party conference speech since becoming the UK’s first-ever female Chancellor in July.
Reeves received applause and a standing ovation as she began but was interrupted just a few minutes in. Keir Starmer’s speech was interrupted at last year’s Labour Party Conference. A protester managed to get on the stage and sprayed him with glitter.
Reeves’ speech comees little over a month before her first Budget on October 30. She attempted to be more optimistic about the UK’s economy after months of gloomy messages about the inheritance she was left by the Tories.
She said: “Because I know how much damage has been done in those 14 years, let me say one thing straight up: there will be no return to austerity. Conservative austerity was a destructive choice for our public services and for investment and growth too.
“Yes, we must deal with the Tory legacy and that means tough decisions but I won’t let that dim our ambition for Britain. So it will be a budget with real ambition, a budget to fix the foundations, a budget to deliver the change that we promised, a budget to rebuild Britain.”
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