After shaky start in office Labour must inspire confidence with next moves

Rather than a victory lap for Keir Starmer's new government, the Labour conference in Liverpool is instead beset with nervousness and worry about whether the party can overcome the challenges ahead

This should be a landmark conference for Labour, the first one for 15 years where the party has been in power. Keir Starmer was looking forward to a victory lap and a platform to lay out an agenda for change that Britain so desperately needs.

But there are a couple of clouds hanging over Liverpool today. The decision to deprive 10 million pensioners of winter fuel payments will rain on his parade. And taking too many freebies was a misstep of the PM’s own making.

That should not obscure how far this Labour government has come in such a short time. Change has already begun. Great British Energy has been set up to save families money and create jobs. The new Border Security Command to smash the evil people traffickers is starting its work.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting is on track to deliver 40,000 more NHS appointments a week to cut hospital waiting. And the junior doctors dispute is settled.

There is no ducking the tough choices ahead after the mess the Tories made of the country. The Budget on October 30 will be painful. But working people can be assured that they will not be hit with any increases in income tax, national insurance or VAT.

And, in an exclusive interview with this newspaper, the PM promised it will not lead to the kind of Tory austerity which did so much damage to public services.

Mr Starmer must use this conference to reassure the people that whatever clouds there are now will eventually sprout silver linings. And to give us all confidence that the change he has planned will lead to a better Britain.

Never forget

The paratroopers who fought and died in and around the Dutch city of Arnhem 80 years ago this week were asked to go a bridge too far.

But no one can doubt their courage as they tried to open up a new route over the Rhine into Germany following the D-Day invasion.

So it was fitting that the anniversary was marked yesterday in a spectacular drop by 700 NATO parachutists, made all the more moving as thousands of locals turned out to watch.

Many Dutch homes flew the Pegasus flag of the British airborne forces to honour those who lost their lives trying to liberate Holland.

The ceremony was a reminder to young people of the sacrifice a previous generation made so they can live in freedom.

And proof that those 17,000 killed, wounded or captured so long ago will never be forgotten.

Get sizzling

If you want to egg on your lover, then bacon could do the trick.

A survey shows that, for setting the mood, one in eight of us raises a toast to the buttie.

It gives new meaning to having a bacon roll.