I attended the Labour Party’s annual conference in Brighton and was pleased to meet with a number of charities, trade unions and other organisations. These included the Royal College of Midwives with which I reassured them of my support, backing of a fair pay rise and better working conditions.

When meeting Royal Mail, I heard about their trials of new electric delivery vehicles which could reduce the number of larger vans deployed in residential areas and therefore reduce toxic emissions.

I also met with Ambassadors from the EU, Ireland and Taiwan as well as representatives from the US Embassy. During these discussions we talked about the UK’s role in the world post Brexit and the need to collaborate further on tackling climate change.

More generally, in addition to the climate pledges I mentioned above, I welcomed our wider policy announcements, including on scrapping business rates and replacing them with a new system of business taxation, setting up an independent Office for Value for Money and starting a new Taskforce on Illicit Finance. Sir Keir was able to highlight some of these policies in his closing speech where he also talked about his values and winning back the trust of voters.