Conference news in brief – Tuesday

Morning all – it’s leader’s speech today of course, but Mark will be covering that in a separate post later this morning. Here’s a round up of the other news that’s getting attention at conference today:

Poll blow for Miliband – Ahead of his speech, ComRes has the Labour lead down to three. However YouGov have Labour’s lead expanding. Only one of them can be right of course. Crucially though, the ComRes poll also found that “only two out of 10 people believe that Ed Miliband has what it takes to be a good Prime Minister”.

Alastair Campbell MP? – It could happen. He says “I do think about it and I am thinking about it”. Burnley would be one option – it’s a seat Labour lost to the Lib Dems in 2010 but should win back. And of course there should be selections for the two seats in Camden, North London, where Campbell lives.

Unions hit back at Balls – Although his speech was well received in the hall yesterday – it was notable that he didn’t explicitly refer to backing a public sector pay freeze. There has been plenty of briefing though, which has received a backlash from the unions – with Unison’s Dave Prentis saying Balls is “wrong morally and wrong economically”.

Labour 4 Big Society? – Jon Cruddas embraced the idea of a Labour version of the Big Society yesterday an an IPPR fringe. Of course, those of you here in Manchester will have a chance to ask Jon for his views on this tomorrow, when we do our Q&A.

And finally, some Olympic stardust – Lord Coe is here today. The Tory peer and Olympic supremo will take the opportunity to thank Labour figures – notably, Blair, Jowell, Livingstone and Caborn – for bringing the Olympics to London. That’s the Olympic spirit.