Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg at Labour conference: the polls, Reform, asylum, digital ID, VAT and his leadership

Well, Prime Minister, welcome to the program. How much trouble are you in?

That's a different thing than you admitting that you are in quite a bit of political trouble. The very latest opinion poll suggests if there were an election right now, Labor would have fewer than a hundred seats. So, how much trouble are you in?

How much trouble are you in right now?

I'm asking you about the situation right now because there are a lot of people in your own party coming here to Liverpool who really worry about what's been going on. Do you accept that you are in political trouble, Laura?

There aren't always polls that put the governing party so far behind.

And you've mentioned that already. So, let's let's talk about what else you're going to be talking about in the next few days. You've already admitted many people in the public are impatient and they're angry. Your answer is to call reform the enemy and promise patriotic renewal. What does that mean in brass tax?

But for many people there has been concern about what's going on in this country because of immigration. And you yourself said on Friday that the left got it wrong on illegal immigration. When did you realize you'd got it wrong?

when did you realize that?

What did you do about it then?

Have you ever been to see an asylum hotel?

Do you think when you went there when you went to which community? Can you tell us?

But will you commit to bringing that forward?

But what about what's happening right now? Because you have been in power now for 14 months. This is not you haven't just walked through the door of number 10. Is it fair for asylum seekers to have taxis paid for them by the taxpayer to go to doctor's appointments sometimes hundreds of miles away? Is that fair?

Will you stop it immediately?

Is it fair for asylum seekers to be allowed to appeal more than once? Of course, the right of appeal is part of our justice system, but as things stand, assigned speakers can appeal more than once if they are told they have to leave the country.

Um one of our viewers got in touch and wanted us to ask this question. Russ Brown wanted us to ask you if you really believe that those profiting from human trafficking will think oh dear I have to check your digital ID now I can't carry on paying you1 pound50 an hour to work in my sweat shop.

bosses who are prepared to hire people illegally are not asking them for their national insurance card. So what's the evidence? What makes you think they're suddenly going to ask them for a digital ID?

Why do you think that them having a digital ID, having to have a digital ID would stop that problem when right now people are meant to have a national insurance number and card and if they're not asked for that a boss is willing already to break the rules? What's the difference going to be?

And you're presenting all of this in a a a sort of ideology, I suppose, an ideological point that you're making now that we are in a new battle and that your party is up against an extreme party. You're sort of representing the mainstream as the extreme. You mentioned your grave concern about the reform policy potentially to deport people who already live here. Do you think that's an immoral policy?

You said that proposal is immoral to deport people who are already here if they don't pass more stringent rules. Do you think it's a racist policy?

And do you think that Reform UK is trying to appeal to racists?

for 14 months if for 14 months prime minister they've heard politicians and people in your government promise things and then they see so little change they are looking for somewhere else and if we look for one of the things that you are announcing at this conference your proposal to build new towns for example you're promising to build a dozen new towns but when you look in detail at the policy the number of new towns you're saying there will be by 2029, 5 years after you won the election, it's three. And even those three places might still not get built because they have to go through all sorts of checks. So people look at that and hear that and think you're not getting anything done. It's too timid. There's no urgency.

You didn't You did say it would take time, but what you in your party did not expect was this precipitous fall off a cliff in terms of your popularity. Leaders can be popular in hard times, and you're admitting there are hard times still, but your popularity has taken such a knock. And the country's finances are incredibly tight. There's huge pressure on public money, a budget coming up. Will you rule out raising VAT?

dozens and dozens and dozens of occasions you ruled out raising VAT. It's in the solemn document of your party's manifesto. You're the prime minister of this country. Can you rule out raising VAT?

well well you can it's a different thing saying the manifesto stands right now or you saying actually it will stand in perpetuity. You're not going to unpick those promises.

Well, hang on. Can you be crystal clear there because you're saying the manifesto stands right now, but I'm not going to talk about budget. This is something you've ruled out dozens and dozens and dozens of times. You're ruling it out clearly right now.

There's another issue that many people are worried about, which is special needs education for children because the government's reviewing how it's provided. The system has had many problems over the years. So, we don't need to outline the problems over the years. But would you rule out scrapping the legal right for children who need help with special needs at school?

so you might scrap that legal right.

I know many parents and charities will be listening to the details of your answer very closely there. And before we move on, I just want to clarify something for the record. There's more detail in reporting for the from the Sunday Times today about a piece of land you bought for your parents many years ago. Did you put it into a trust?

and that's now on the record. You did not put it in trust and that's not been on the record before and that is now on the record. What's Sandy Barnham up to?

the first to say but not the only person to say that there are issues with your leadership. His colleague in London Sadi Khan said he'd been raising legitimate concerns and the point about this is that although I know it's awkward for you to talk about leadership if you don't have the 100% confidence of your party you can't get the things done that you want to do.

Think about what's happened in parliament. You've had to ditch some of your big plans because you couldn't carry your party with you. Think about why some people in your party are desperately worried about what's going on because you have been miles behind in the polls for month after month after month. I've spoken to a lot of people in the Labor Party in the last few months about this and there is wide and deep concern about the way in which you're doing your job. Is it wise to stick your fingers in and say pa leadership's just what happens?

But prime minister, if people in your party and the public, which we can see through the polls, look at that list and look at you and think we don't have much faith in that. We don't have that much faith in what this man is doing on our behalf. What if, Prime Minister, the problem is you?

One of your Labor predecessors when he was having a bit of bother, Harold Wilson, when asked what was going on with his leadership, he said, "I tell you what's going on. This government's going on and I'm going on." And John Major said to his critics, "Put up or shut up." What's Kier Star saying? Give me time. Give me space.