Overview

• Shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride used the Manchester conference to outline £47 billion in annual savings drawn from welfare changes, cuts to overseas aid and a major reduction in Civil Service numbers.
• Personal Independence Payment rules would be tightened by removing eligibility for less severe mental health conditions and requiring medical diagnoses, with options to replace some cash awards with treatment or equipment.
• Non‑UK citizens would be barred from most benefits and social housing, with EU settled‑status exempt; Conservatives say roughly 470,000 current Universal Credit recipients would be affected under today’s rolls.
• The package includes reducing aid to 0.1% of GDP (about £7 billion), targeting a roughly 25% cut to the Civil Service (around £8 billion in savings) and rolling back green subsidies such as heat‑pump and EV grants.
• Stride coupled the plan with attacks on Reform UK as “marching to the left” with unfunded pledges, while separate reports highlighted sparse conference attendance and polling that shows weak public confidence in the Conservatives; he also trailed a £5,000 NI rebate for first‑time full‑time workers and scrapping business rates for shops and pubs.