With exactly one month to go until the Budget on 28 October, chancellor John Healey used his Labour conference speech to underline fiscal discipline and suggest further welfare reforms are on the way.

Healey opened his speech by paying tribute to former chancellor Rachel Reeves, stating: ‘She brought to this country financial discipline, she delivered two Budgets… After 800 years she will always be recognised as this country’s first ever female chancellor’.

He also praised former chancellor Gordon Brown, whom he described as ‘an inspiration’, who had delivered to him ‘determination, pride, and block cap emails in the middle of the night’.

In fact, Healey took to the stage wearing the same red tie he gave to Brown in 1999 for his conference speech as chancellor, ‘I got it back and he signed it. I’ve never worn it, until today’, he said.

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