Pro-Palestine protesters disrupted Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s keynote speech at the Labour Party’s annual conference on Monday morning.
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 23: A pro-Palestinian protestor heckles Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves as she delivers her keynote speech during the Labour Party Conference 2024 at ACC Liverpool on September 23, 2024 in Liverpool, England. This is Labour's first conference since they were returned as the governing party of The UK and Northern Ireland by voters in the July election, ending 14 years of Conservative rule. They won with a landslide majority of 172 seats, and 412 in total. (Footage by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
One of the demonstrators was heard saying “we are still selling arms to Israel, I thought people voted for change, Rachel” before being removed from the conference hall by security to chants of “shame” from Labour delegates.
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 23: A security guard confronts a pro-Palestinian protestor disturbing the speech of Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves during the Labour Party Conference 2024 at ACC Liverpool on September 23, 2024 in Liverpool, England. This is Labour's first conference since they were returned as the governing party of The UK and Northern Ireland by voters in the July election, ending 14 years of Conservative rule. They won with a landslide majority of 172 seats, and 412 in total. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)
Another was heard chanting “stop arming Israel” and “stop funding war”.
The Chancellor hit back at the hecklers, saying: “This is a changed Labour Party, a party that represents working people, not a party of protest” an implied dig at former party leader Jeremy Corbyn, to a long standing ovation from the packed conference auditorium in Liverpool.
“We are in government today because we changed our Labour Party and we now have the chance to change our country for the better”, she said, adding: “We’ve had years of protest, and we’ve had years of division and decline that left working people worse off”.
Earlier in the speech, Reeves paid tribute to the work of party activists who helped reclaim seats lost in Labour’s traditional heartlands at the 2019 general election, and win in new seats at the 2024 general election.
“Labour is back in communities we never should have lost”, she said. “Let me pay tribute to those who stayed and fought, those who came back to our party under Keir’s leadership and those who joined us for the very first time, you helped change our party”.
Reeves also celebrated the fact she is the first woman chancellor: “for 800 years the position of Chancellor of the Exchequer has existed. Every one a man. On July 5 we made history. Every woman watching this will know, no matter how high you climb, how hard you work, how qualified you are, there will always be moments you are reminded, some people do not believe that a woman can get the job done.”
She paid tributes to Labour grandees like Barbara Castle and Harriet Harman who she said paved the way for her and told conference: “I’m here because of thousands of women, many of you in the hall today, who broke down barriers and defeated low expectations to pave the way for the rest of us.
“I am a Labour Chancellor because of that collective endeavour.
“I am the first woman Chancellor because of that collective endeavour.”
