Keir Starmer has said that he wants long-term benefit claimants to have to look for work if they can.

In an interview with the Today programme, he said:

I think the basic proposition that you should look for work is right.

Obviously there will be hard cases, but the way I would do it is to say yes, that’s the basic proposition, but we also want to support that so that more people can get into work.

He also said he had studied schemes where firms support people getting back to work after a long-term illness. He said:

Quite often I think what lies behind this is a fear for someone who’s been on long-term sickness, that can they get back into the workplace? Are they going to be able to cope? Is it all going to go hopelessly wrong?

Yes they need to be back in the workplace where they can, but I do think that if we can put the right support in place, which I’ve seen pilots of, they work pretty well, and we want to see more of those across the country.

Keir Starmer has said he wants to meet Kamala Harris and Donald Trump before the US election. As Rowena Mason reports, Starmer also refused to back Angela Eagle, the Home Office minister who said Trump’s rhetoric was fuelling outright racism when he spoke to journalists travelling with him to New York. Here is Rowena’s story.

Good morning. Keir Starmer is in New York, where he will be addressing the United Nations general assembly later, but the Labour party conference still has half a day to go in Liverpool. Starmer gave a series of media interviews before he left and they are playing out this morning. Speaking to Susanna Reid for ITV’s Good Morning Britain, he refused four time to apologise to pensioners for the cut in winter fuel payments. Delegates will debate the decision at the conference this morning, and they are expected to support a motion championed by the Unite union condemning the decision.

On ITV Starmer was asked if he would apologise to a pensioner like Chrissy, who has arthritis and who told the programme she was dreading winter because her fuel bills would go up by £40 a month, and she would lose the winter fuel payment. Starmer dodged the question, and instead said:

Well, I am really concerned that we’ve been put in this position. When you inherit an economy with £22bn missing, it is a really difficult set of choices.

But Reid persisted, and by question three and four, Starmer was saying it was the Tories who should apologise. He said:

The people who should be saying sorry are the last government who left a hole of £22bn, and they should be sorry for that and they should apologise for that.

I will post more from Starmer’s interviews soon.

Here is the agenda for the day.

10am: Wes Streeting, the health secretary, is speaking at the Labour conference.

10.45am: Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, is speaking at the conference.

10.55am: Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, delivers her speech.

11.45am: Ellie Reeves, the Cabinet Office minister, wraps up the conference.

5pm (UK time): Keir Starmer is due to speak at the UN security council.

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