This week's political focus sits both on the Conservative Party Conference, which opened in Birmingham on Sunday and runs until 7th October, and on Thursday's Holborn and St Pancras by-election. Parliament is in recess until 12th October, leaving the party conferences to set the political agenda in the final weeks before the Budget later this month.
The Green Party attracted significant attention at its conference in Brighton on Sunday when members voted 1,022 to 813 to define Zionism as racism. Leader Zack Polanski, who is Jewish, did not take part in the vote, having left Brighton to campaign, and most of the party's MPs opposed the motion. In a joint statement, Polanski and the party's MPs said there is no conflict between supporting Palestinian and Jewish rights, and a party spokesperson said the motion has no material impact on disciplinary procedures. The Board of Deputies called the Greens an extremist party. Labour chair Bridget Phillipson and the Conservatives condemned the vote, and Israel barred Polanski from entering the country.
The consequences land on Polanski directly on Thursday, when he contests Holborn and St Pancras against Labour's Camden council leader Sagal Abdi-Wali, in a seat Labour has held since 1983. Some Green insiders fear the motion will damage his support, though the party says his leadership does not depend on the result. A win would give the Greens their first parliamentary seat in London as well as making Polanski a member of Parliament, while a Labour hold would reinforce the "Burnham bounce". The result will also feed speculation about an early general election, which Burnham has denied considering.
Labour's own conference closed on 30th September with Andy Burnham staking his legacy on a National Care Service, partly funded by reforming the pensions triple lock, alongside commissions on electoral reform and Europe. The IFS cautioned that savings would be small in the early years. Over the weekend, the government also scrapped the Starmer-era plan to curb jury trials, with new Justice Secretary Alex Norris limiting judge-only trials to complex fraud and financial cases, a reversal the Conservatives called a "major victory".
The Conservatives arrive in Birmingham on firmer ground than a year ago, with commentators noting a steady poll recovery and a reshuffle that installed Andrew Griffith as shadow chancellor. Kemi Badenoch opened by pitching the party as the "common sense" option, with pledges to tighten welfare, expand prison capacity and end the £100,000 childcare cliff edge at a reported cost of £700m a year. She described cutting inheritance tax as right in principle if affordable, and called the triple lock the right policy without promising never to change it. For the remaining days, the questions are about credibility.
Looking ahead, Parliament returns on 12th October, leaving just over two weeks before Chancellor John Healey's Budget on 28th October, with labour market and inflation data due on 20th and 21st October. The 30-year gilt yield recently topped 6% for the first time since 1998, and analysts estimate Healey's headroom has roughly halved. That sharpens the tension between Burnham's spending ambitions and Conservative tax-cut promises. The SNP gathers in Aberdeen from 15th to 17th October, likely keeping the independence question in focus.
Headlines
- Tories to cut house prices by £50k, shadow chancellor to pledge – Sky News
- UK poll tracker: Labour holds lead over Reform as Burnham sees Brexit boost – The Independent
- Polanski banned from Israel after party's motion declaring 'Zionism is racism' – BBC
Consultations
- Consultation on prohibiting third party betting on Powerball – closes 23rd October
- Consultation on release times for market sensitive economic statistics – closes 30th October
- ZEV Mandate review – closes 23rd October
Statistics
- GDP quarterly national accounts, UK: April to June 2026 – published 30th September
- UK Innovation Survey 2025: Northern Ireland Results – published 2nd October
- Drug Seizures and Arrests Annual Trends 2006/07 to 2025/26 – published 2nd October