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Sir Keir Starmer has warned the Labour conference that he is ready to take “unpopular” decisions to repair Britain, but insisted the pain would be shared fairly and urged his party to trust him.
The prime minister said he was “unashamed to partner with the private sector” and celebrated wealth creation, but his core message to his party was that he would take tough decisions “in a Labour way”.
Starmer has been hit by criticism of the early decision to axe winter fuel payments from all but the poorest pensioners, with some union leaders accusing him of adopting “cruel” Tory-style policies.
He tried to tackle those criticisms with a personal speech in Liverpool intended to remind Labour MPs and activists that he was on their side and would “fix the foundations” of the UK in the “interests of working people”.
His first speech to a Labour conference as prime minister comes after a week dominated by revelations of clothing donations to senior ministers and a leak about his chief of staff’s pay. Although he did not mention the incidents by name, Starmer vowed not to be “distracted” in his mission.
He also addressed criticism that he had been too gloomy about Britain’s prospects in his three months in office.
He said that he knew that people wanted “respite and relief” but urged his party to stick to his reform plan: “Then that light at the end of the tunnel, that Britain that belongs to you — we’ll get there much more quickly.”
He vowed to address a fiscal “black hole” and restore order to the public finances, address climate change and reform the planning system to deliver more housing.
“I understand many of the decisions we must take will be unpopular,” he said. “If they were popular they would be easy. But the cost of filling that black hole in our public finances will be shared fairly.”
He added: “There will be no return to Tory austerity. We will rebuild our public finances, protect working people and do this in a Labour way. That is a promise.”
His comments herald what are expected to be tax rises in next month’s Budget targeting the wealthy, but Starmer insisted he wanted to work with the private sector to generate growth.
Starmer’s speech included a reminder to his party and the country that all parts of society would have to accept the consequences of his reforms, whether living near new prisons or accepting that new houses and pylons would soon be appearing across the countryside.
The prime minister acknowledged that confidence in the country was “brittle and fragile” but said that it was no longer possible for politicians to duck tough decisions.
“Look at our country,” he said. “Do you see a Britain where people feel, with the certainty they deserve, that the future will be better for their children?”
He insisted that the government would intervene to fix broken markets, saying: “We can’t afford any more polluted rivers, we can’t afford any more Covid contracts, we can’t afford any more Grenfell Towers.
“Don’t get me wrong: markets are dynamic. Competition is a vital life force in our economy . . . but markets don’t give you control — that is almost literally their point.”
He said a Labour government would “take back control” — a deliberate echo of the slogan used in the Brexit referendum — to intervene in areas such as migration, climate change and workers’ rights to put the state at the service of working people.
There were few policy announcements in the speech, although he promised to provide housing for all veterans in need.
He said the government would give businesses more flexibility to adapt to the skills needs of employers through new “foundation apprenticeships” to give young people a way into work, aiming to “eliminate inactivity and unemployment among our young people once and for all”.
The strongest section of Starmer’s speech related to this summer’s riots, when he said that people who were legitimately concerned about high net migration were not the “violent, racist thugs” who had terrorised streets.
The Labour conference has often felt subdued and is far from the celebratory rally one might have expected as the party gathered after its landslide election victory on July 4.
Disquiet over the winter fuel policy and internal divisions at the heart of Starmer’s government have unsettled party members, while business leaders in Liverpool have complained about the downbeat economic message.
But Starmer, who headed for the UN General Assembly in New York shortly after his speech, left the stage to cheers after listing what his version of Britain might look like.
“An NHS facing the future, more security and dignity at work, town centres thriving, streets safe, borders controlled at last, clean energy harnessed for industrial renewal, new homes, new towns, new hospitals, roads and schools,” he said to a crescendo of applause.
But Starmer’s speech was also a reminder to the party that the voters will take time to see these benefits coming through and that public and party opinion is already showing signs of frustration.
Before he took the stage in Liverpool a Savanta poll showed that Starmer’s net favourability had dropped by 28 points among Labour voters since July — while many of the most “painful” decisions lie ahead.
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