Unrest broke out at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool on Monday as an anti-Israel protester disrupted the speech from Chancellor Rachel Reeves and anger boiled over plans to cut winter fuel subsidies to pensioners.
While the fledgling left-wing government attempted to put on a unified front at the Labour conference, the deep divisions remaining within the party were put on full display on Monday.
During a speech from Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves, a protester was hauled off as he shouted down the treasury chief for the UK continuing to arm Israel during the conflict with Hamas terrorists in Gaza.
The man was heard shouting: “We are still selling arms to Israel! I thought we voted for change, Rachel!” As the protester was hauled off, chants of “free Palestine” and “stop oil” could be heard from the crowd.
The protest was claimed by the leftist Climate Resistance group, which accused the Labour Party of delivering “more of the same”.
“The same pandering to the fossil fuel industry; the same arms licences that are fuelling a genocide in Gaza, and the same austerity that sees the poorest hit hardest,” spokesman Sam Simons said per GB News. ”It’s time for Labour to start putting the needs of people before the interests of profit.”
“That means immediately stopping arms licences to Israel, blocking new oil and gas, and standing up for the communities already being devastated by the climate crisis.”
In response to the heckler, Reeves said: “This is a changed Labour Party, a Labour Party that represents working people, not a party of protest.”
However, the leftist government has come under fire from unions and activists as debate on the government’s plans to cut winter fuel subsidies — despite sky high energy prices — was pushed back until Wednesday, sparking audible heckles from the crowd in Liverpool.
The chairwoman of the conference arrangements committee (CAC), Lynne Morris was openly booed as she announced the delay: “This is a really busy conference and we are trying to accommodate as much as we can, and I’m going to take this back straight to CAC and I’ll come back to you with an answer ASAP.”
Regardless of the debate schedule, the government has made it clear that it has no intention of listening to objections from party members over the issue, with Chancellor Reeves noting that any vote in Liverpool will be non-binding and therefore the government will carry out its controversial plans to cut winter fuel payments to pensioners.
The conference comes amid a budding scandal for the new Labour government, with senior figures, including Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, Deputy PM Angela Rayner, and Chancellor Reeves coming under fire for accepting lavish gifts such as clothes and concert tickets from Labour Party donors.
The scandal has coincided with a steep decline in popularity for the fresh-faced government, with Prime Minister Starmer seeing his popularity decline by a staggering 45 per cent since the July general election. According to Opinium, the PM has an approval rating of negative 26, one point lower than former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak before he lost to Labour.
