Good afternoon. In the last hour, Rachel Reeves has used her fIrst Labour Conference Speech as chancellor to promIse that therell be no return to austerIty. After weeks of warnIngs about the dIre state of the publIc fInances, she trIed to convey a brIghter message, sayIng she Is optImIstIc about the uks economIc future. She was brIefly heckled by one protestor at the start of her speech. Our polItIcal correspondent Helen Catt reports. As you can see behInd me, people are stIll fIlIng out from the Conference Hall where Rachel Reeves gave her speech In the last hour or so. A much traIled speech, very antIcIpated because, as we know, there has been crItIcIsm about the gloomy outlook that the chancellor and the PrIme MInIster have been talkIng about. So durIng her speech today, we had the Chancellor Attempt today, we had the Chancellor Attempt to Inject some optImIsm, talkIng about the brItaIn that she hoped to buIld for the future. There were some focus on what labour had already done In
Ceefax, a name manufactured from seeing facts. And, before we had laptops and mobiles, we had ceefax. Launched 50 years ago, it told us what we wanted to know. On newsnight at 10. 30pm, well bring you fresh insight on the stories of the day, with big interviews and our regular panel of newsnighters, and of course look at what the papers are saying about tomorrows news. Good evening. Fears of an all out regional conflict in the Middle East are growing tonight, as lebanese officials say nearly 500 people have been killed, including 35 children, and 1600 others injured in israeli strikes on the south of the country. The Israel Defence forces say theyve hit around 1300 positions held by the iranian backed group hezbollah. It says its fired dozens of rockets at israel. The Cross Border strikes have intensified after a series of exploding Device Attacks on hezbollah members were blamed on israel. Well hear from our international editorjeremy bowen, whos injerusalem, our diplomatic correspond
Insists there will be no return to austerity. Welcome back. The Chancellor Rachel reeves was striking a very different Tone Today on that Painful Budget coming up in october. In her address to the Labour Party Conference, she was focusing on the long Term Prize she promises will follow if labour can restore some stability. The much promised change in emphasis follows a Report Week that suggested a Consumer Sentiment had dropped last week that suggested a Consumer Sentiment had dropped Like A Stone through august a number of Business Leaders blaming the governments messaging for that. Today, though, the chancellor said any tax rises she introduces will not affect hard pressed working families. Therell be no return to austerity and she has pledged to continue spending on infrastructure. There will be no return to austerity. Conservative austerity was a destructive choice cheering Conservative Austerity was a destructive choice for our public services and for investment and growth, too. W
Killing at least 20 people. Israel hasn t said whether it was involved. As the fighting intensifies, un chief antonio guterres says he fears lebanon could become another gaza. The lebanese health ministry raised the death toll to 45 in friday s strike by israel targeting hezbollah commanders in southern beirut. Most of those killed were civilians. Authorities say women and children are among the dead. On sunday, israel launched further strikes on towns in southern lebanon killing three people. And the israeli military says it destroyed thousands of hezbollah rocket launcher barrels over the past few days. Israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu had this to say. No country can accept the wanton rocketing of its cities. We cannot accept it either. We will take whatever action is necessary to restore security and to bring our people safe, back to their homes. Meanwhile, in lebanon hundreds attended the funeral of ibrahim aqil, a high ranking hezbollah commander killed in an israeli s
Hezbollah s attack comes after pagers and radio devices held by members of the group detonated across lebanon last week, killing at least 20 people. Israel hasn t said whether it was involved. As the fighting intensifies, un chief antonio guterres says he fears lebanon could become another gaza. The lebanese health ministry raised the death toll to 45 in friday s strike by israel targeting hezbollah commanders in southern beirut. Most of those killed were civilians. Authorities say women and children are among the dead. On sunday, israel launched further strikes on towns in southern lebanon, killing three people. And the israeli military says it destroyed thousands of hezbollah rocket launcher barrels over the past few days. Israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu had this to say. No country can accept the wanton rocketing of its cities. We can t accept it, either. We will take whatever action is necessary to restore security and to bring our people safe back to their homes. Meanwhil