Jeremy Corbyn arrived at his first Labour Party conference as leader with a promise of “more hope and more optimism”.
The Labour leader was met by a small but enthusiastic crowd as he arrived at the gathering in Brighton, posing for selfies with supporters while they chanted his campaign slogan “Jez we can”.
Despite a difficult first few weeks as leader, with rifts between him and his shadow Cabinet aired publicly, Mr Corbyn insisted there was more that united the Labour Party than divided it.
“Look at the unity out here, look at the hope people have got for a decent society where there is decent housing, decent education, a decent health service and hope for young people,”he said.
“That is what unites this party.”
Mr Corbyn’s arrival in Brighton, ahead of the formal start of the conference tomorrow, came as Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell sought to reassure voters that Labour is not a “deficit denier”, while also offering a different approach to balancing the budget from the Conservatives.
Mr McDonnell revealed the Opposition will support George Osborne’s fiscal charter designed to guarantee “budget responsibility”.
But he insisted they will seek to protect low and middle-earners and oppose the tax cuts proposed by the Conservatives while looking at measures to tackle tax evasion and avoidance.
Mr McDonnell noted the Chancellor’s plans for an overall surplus were “economic illiteracy”.
We will tackle the deficit but the dividing line between us and the Tories is how we tackle it
The anti-austerity stance which helped propel Mr Corbyn to the leadership of the party has led to critics – including the Conservatives – to claim Labour cannot be trusted with running the economy.
Voter concerns over the party’s economic record have also been cited as a reason for their general election defeat in May.
But Mr McDonnell, in an interview with The Guardian, has sought to counter the criticism by announcing his desire to see Labour MPs support the chancellor’s new fiscal charter.
Mr Osborne’s proposal, revealed in July’s Budget, commits the government to keep debt falling as a share of GDP each year and achieve a budget surplus by 2019-20.
After this, governments will be required to ensure there is a surplus in “normal times”, which includes when there is not a recession.
Speaking to The Guardian, Mr McDonnell said: “We accept we are going to have to live within our means and we always will do – full stop.
“We are not deficit deniers.”
The shadow chancellor also told the newspaper: “We will support the charter. We will support the charter on the basis we are going to want to balance the books, we do want to live within our means and we will tackle the deficit.”
On Labour’s approach to reducing the deficit, he said: “We will tackle the deficit but the dividing line between us and the Tories is how we tackle it.
“Our basic line is we are not allowing either middle or low-earners or those on benefit to have to pay for the crisis. It is as simple as that.”
Mr McDonnell also said Labour had to “respect dissent” over policy among its members as it moved to a more democratic decision-making process.
He told the BBC: “There’ll be proper debate, much more time given to delegates from the constituency Labour parties or from the trade unions, to actually have a voice, less time of Shadow Cabinet members and others in the past who’ve talked down to members.
“What we’re trying to do is get the policy-making process as inclusive as possible... some people will dissent from individual policies. We’ve got to respect people’s views. We’ve got to respect dissent in the party.”