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Labour leadership hustings - as they happened

Live coverage as all five candidates hoping to become the next Labour leader go head-to-head at the TUC conference

5.21pm:

The first day of the TUC congress in Manchester has been vibrant, with unions making clear their intention to do what it takes to push the government to rethink its public spending cuts, and a Tory minister, Francis Maude, saying that the government was willing to listen to unions in recognition of their "legitimate" voice in the debate.

And it isn't over yet. Two hundred of the 700 delegates have found time to put in questions ahead of tonight's Labour leadership hustings, where attendance will be on a first come first served basis. The event has been organised by TULO (the Trade Union & Labour Party Liaison Organisation), which is the body representing unions affiliated to the Labour party.

The latest on the Labour leadership is that David Miliband, until now seen as the frontrunner, is rattled after a poll put him two points behind his younger brother, Ed.

It's technically the penultimate hustings, since all five contenders are scheduled to appear on the BBC Question Time programme on Thursday night. But it will be interesting to gauge the mood among an audience fed up with anti-trade union laws that stubbornly stayed in place under 13 years of Labour rule, as well as deep cuts under coalition rule. Will it get heated? We're going along to watch and blog, so stay with us. The event is being chaired by our very own Allegra Stratton.

5.44pm:

I'm in the Charter house suite, along with about 300 other people. All 250 seats are taken, with standing room only.

The five Labour leadership contenders have just had their photo taken with TULO chair Ton Woodley.

The seating arrangement from left to right (don't read anything into that) is: Andy Burnham, shadow health secretary, with Ed Balls, shadow education secretary next to him, and backbencher Diane Abbott flanking Woodley, who is joint general secretary of Unite, who is centre.

Allegra Stratton is next, followed by Ed Miliband, shadow climate change secretary, and his big brother, David, at the end. The two Milibands have taken their suit jackets off. Balls and Burnham are in dark blue and grey suits respectively, with different shades of red ties. Abbott has a stunning red outfit.

5.48pm:

Woodley is introducing tonight's event. He's doing a little run on the union's role in the Labour party's fortunes, their role in canvassing at elections, and the need for any Labour leader to appeal to the grassroots. We need a man or a woman to lead us through the difficult period, where cuts appear to be the only name of the game - a point unions hotly dispute.

5.56pm:

Questions have been grouped into subjects. First theme is cuts. Len McCluskey, assistant general secretary of Unite, raises the human costs of cuts, citing a few early examples.

What action will potential leaders take to protect services? It's hard to put a cigarette paper between their responses, since all five say it's important to challenge the government rationale for the cuts, the claim that it's all Labour's fault, that there is no other option.

Balls rightly pointed out that his views on an alternative economic strategy have even got Boris Johnson thinking, which is true if his Daily Telegraph column is to be believed. Abbott gets the biggest round of applause for making references to ideological attacks, and the fact that "we need to win this together". Straight out of the main conference centre, but it went down a treat with the audience.

6.07pm:

Allegra asks how the potential leaders intend to work with public and private sector unions.
All appear to veer off into talking more about how they would handle Labour opposition to the spending cuts agenda. David Miliband does suggest he wants to tap into the rich seam that affiliated trade unionists and Labour supporting members more generally can do to help the party at the grassroots to ensure the party wrest Lib Dem seats at the next election. He's up for marching, he's up for campaigning, (though he stays clear of striking), but it has to be twinned with political mobilisation for the party.

Ed Miliband makes clear he's not in favour of civil disobedience, as suggested by RMT leader Bob Crow. But he says he's in favour of lawful action (that obviously includes strikes). Abbott criticises David Miliband for suggesting that there is the public and unions to draw on for the political campaign. They're one and the same, says Abbott to spontaneous applause. She seems to be pretty popular with this crowd, or maybe those who rate her most are just more vocal. Tough to tell.

6.10pm:

A footnote. Abbott again got the loudest applause so they're liking the woman in red.

6.14pm:

Balls – he's rehearsing his argument – that economic recovery requires growth and jobs, not cuts. "I don't want to cut," he says, "I want to spend." You need to invest, he adds. A bit of heat now, as Burnham disagrees with Balls, saying the party needs to have credibility.

Ed Miliband is asked what would have happened if Labour had won the election. Miliband, who wrote the Labour manifesto, concedes there would have been some job losses (remember there was a commitment to halve the deficit within four years). But he hotly refutes the suggestion that the coalition is merely doing what Labour was going to do. It's simply not the same, says Miliband intensely.

6.16pm:

David M wonders why the coalition government changed the plan that Labour had in place before the election, with a "masochism" plan. The pace set by Alistair Darling was working, he argues. He points out that the disagreements on the panel which pale with the chasm between them and the Tory/Lib Dem coalition. He's well received by the audience on this one.

6.24pm:

Funding of political parties next. The trade union link and the party process at the Labour conference regarding the sense by grassroots delegates who feel the part has lost its way over years, with less democratic debate and decision-making as a result of a number of rule changes.

Ed Miliband says it has to be more than balloons and standing ovations, but about proper policy debate. Balls agrees that the party needs a forum where people can express views, however difficult for the leader to hear. He acknowledges the sense people have that conference pays lip service to influencing and shaping policy.

Burnham says people need to feel they have a stake in politics. He criticised the London style of politics - ie the capital being where it all happens, where it is all decided, prompting spontaneous applause. Abbott makes a dig about young guys in smart suits (who could she mean?), says she was against the Hayden Philips reforms on party funding and wants an end to long speeches by ministers at conference.

She cites the Gillian Duffy moment of the general election, which was widely seen as Gordon Brown's downfall. Abbott says what Duffy objected to was being called "that woman". She's got the point about the 'them' and 'us' within the party, to loud applause.

David Miliband just had a very robust clap but I'm afraid I missed what he said.

6.35pm:

David Miliband says debate, dialogue, listening, is the only way to sustain a movement.
Otherwise you lose the best ideas. Andy Burnham has been put on the backfoot re a media interview he gave this morning. He complained about the rules of the labour leadership contest. He doesn't think it's right that a Labour MP has more clout in their vote than grassroots members in the three way electoral college, and also the funding arrangements for the race denies those without large donors the right to compete for the leadership. This is what he was saying today.

Balls points out that this exclusion extends to standing for parliament, where you require a £10,000 deposit to stand. David Miliband, who has raised the most, says the party needs a leader who can raise money from donors because when they fight the Tories at the next election, they will have to fight a party with big backers. Miliband seeks to play up the small donations he has received, along with the much larger ones. Abbott quips at Burnham that it's a bit odd to stand in the race and then complain the rules are unfair. Abbott points out that she has far less campaign funding than anyone. I recall she recently gave an interview in which she complained about the unlevel playing field this created in the race, as it happens.

7.45pm:

Oh dear, dear readers, this has not been an IT success story. Apologies for the long silence since my last post - a technical misunderstanding took place, during which time, the leadership contenders were pitching full throttle for the union vote.

We pick up at the summing up phase, and Burnham has just sat down to loud applause after a passionate delivery. Before him, Abbott said it had been a pleasure to take part and, before you thought she was conceding defeat in that comment, piped up that she had more life experience, ie as a single mother for eighteen years. As for not looking like a leader, she said she hoped that in the 21st century, she looked precisely like a leader.

Balls says he's the heart and mind candidate and took head on someone saying that he was unpopular with the Daily Mail. Earlier, he had complained that Labour had lost its way by being too fussed about what the right-wing press said about their policies, rather than standing firm. Balls made a very funny joke about once being mistaken for Ed Miliband on the platform. Someone said it could have been worse, they could have confused you for his brother. He said that he retorted it could have been worse than that, he could have been mistaken for Abbott.

Ed Miliband does his turn, saying that he wants profound change for the party, including its relationship with unions. Not just with the leaders but in the constituencies. Miliband, who netted the support of the three largest unions, quips that he is not the choice of New Labour (his brother is, he doesn't say).

David Miliband says he's best placed to lead the party against the Tories. He's for the redistribution of power (it's true he did unsuccessfully push 'double devolution' to give communities more power). I wish I had a clap-o-meter, but I don't, so judging by my ears, the applause for each candidate was pretty consistent. During the course of the hustings, they all received their share of loud applause, though David Miliband perhaps a bit less than the rest, and Abbott somewhat more.

GMB leader Paul Kenny comes on the stage to wrap things up, praises the hustings, agrees with Balls that the party should be true to its beliefs and ignore the critical press, and agrees with David Miliband that the party should hail its achievements in office. But he doesn't fight shy of saying that there were some grim bits, such as learning that Labour ministers were lobbying Tories in Europe to vote against legislation that would have improved legislation for workers and unions. Tell us more, Mr Kenny. You get the impression he was referring to someone on the panel, but maybe not. Kenny ends by saying it's time to look forward for Labour. But who will spearhead that future. Only two weeks until we find out.

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