Keir Starmer says ‘I will prove my doubters wrong’ as he tries to avert leadership challenge – UK politics live
Key events
Starmer says government will ban far-right agitators from travelling to UK for march planned for Saturday
Starmer ended his speech by saying the government would ban “far-right agitators from travelling to Britain” for a march planned for this Saturday by the far right.
Starmer said his third example of how policy would change things was about opportunities for children and communities.
He said:
We will go much further on our investment in apprenticeships, in technical excellence, colleges in special educational needs. We will make sure that every young person struggling to find a job will get a guaranteed offer of a job training or work placement.
And he said the government would go much further with its Pride in Place programme.
Starmer says he will set ‘new direction for Britain’ at next summit with EU
Starmer says he will offer a new direction on Europe.
At the next EU summit, I will set a new direction for Britain.
The last government was defined by breaking our relationship with Europe. This Labour government will be defined by rebuilding our relationship with Europe, by putting Britain at the heart of Europe.
So we are stronger on the economy, stronger on trade, stronger on defence.
Because standing shoulder to shoulder with the countries that most share our interests, our values and our enemies, that is the right choice for Britain. That is the Labour choice.
And for our young people also something more, because Brexit snatched away their ability to work, to study and to live easily in Europe.
That’s why I’m proud we restored the Erasmus scheme.
But I want to go further. I want to make a better offer for our young people, restore that hope, that freedom, that sense of possibility.
And so I want an ambitious youth experience scheme to be at the heart of our new arrangement with the EU, so that our young people can work and study and live in Europe, a symbol of a stronger relationship and a fairer future with our closest allies. That is the Labour choice.
Starmer attacks Farage’s record on Brexit, saying he is ‘not just a grifter, he’s a chancer’
Starmer turns to Europe. But he says he needs to start with a detour.
I need to take a bit of a detour on this because I want to remind you what Nigel Farage said about Brexit.
He said it would make us richer. Wrong. It made us poorer.
He said it would reduce migration. Wrong. Migration went through the roof.
He said it would make us more secure. Wrong again. It made us weaker.
He took Britain for a ride and, unlike the Tories [who] actually at least have to face up to it, he just fled the scene and now he’ll talk about almost anything other than the consequences of the one policy he actually delivered.
Because he’s not just a grifter, he is a chancer.
Starmer says government will bring forward legislation this week to nationalise British Steel
Starmer says there must be a complete break from the status quo.
And he says he will give examples of what that means.
He starts with steel nationalisation.
Steel is the ultimate sovereign capability. Strong nations in a world like this need to make steel. That’s why we’re backing steel in Port Talbot and across the UK.
But in Scunthorpe we’ve been negotiating with the current owner and a commercial sale has not been possible. And now a public interest test could be met.
So I can announce that legislation will be brought forward this week to give the government powers, subject to that public interest test, to take full national ownership of British Steel. Public ownership in the public interest.
Starmer says he needs to talk more about how Labour is acting on behalf of working people
But, Starmer says, he accepts that a return to the status quo would not be enough for people.
That is because the status quo does not work for them, he says.
He goes on to talk about his own working class background, making a point he often makes in speeches.
Truth be told, I’m not sure that [people] believe that we care. I’m not sure they believe that we see their lives.
That’s tough to say when you come from a working class background like me.
It’s hard to hear that because I do know what it’s like to struggle and to strive.
But what I take from it is that I spent too much time talking about what I am doing for working people, and not enough time talking about why or who I stand for.
Because I can see how hard life has been during these decades of crisis. I can see that very clearly.
My late brother Nick spent all his adult life going from one job to the next. The status quo did not work for him.
My sister is a carer, working long hours on low pay year after year after year. She didn’t even get sick pay in the pandemic. The status quo did not work for her.
For too long we’ve ignored people like that and there are millions of people in that boat, millions of people who don’t get the dignity, the respect, the chance that they deserve to go as far as their talent and effort should take them.
Starmer is talking about Labour’s achievements. He says Labour has invested in public services.
NHS waiting lists are coming down. Child poverty is coming down, immigration is coming down and we are rebuilding from the ground up.
They were the right calls and most of all we stabilised the economy.
The fundamentals are sound and that matters because it puts us in a much better place to come out of the conflict in Iran, stronger and fairer, and for living standards to improve.
Starmer says neither Nigel Farage nor Zack Polanski offer” the serious, progressive leadership that these times demand”.
He says Labour has made mistakes.
But other parties would have dragged the UK into war with Iran, he says.
Starmer says ‘stories beat spreadsheets’ and ‘people need hope’
Starmer says he knows people feel frustrated with him.
I know I have my doubters and I know I need to prove them wrong, and I will do so.
He goes on:
Let me start on a personal note. Like every prime minister, I’ve learned a lot in the first two years in the job in terms of the policy challenges that our country faces.
Incremental change won’t cut it.
On growth, defence, Europe, energy, we need a bigger response than we anticipated in 2024 because these are not ordinary times, and this is a political challenge just as much as it’s a policy challenge. Delivery is of course essential, but it’s not sufficient on its own to address the frustration that voters feel.
We’re battling Reform and the Greens.
But at a deeper level, we’re battling the despair on which they [play on], despair that they exploit and amplify. And so analysis matters. Argument matters.
But so too does emotion. Stories beat spreadsheets. People need hope.
Starmer says Labour will never be forgiven if it gets this wrong.
He is implicitly talking about the prospect of Reform UK taking power, although he does not say that out loud.
UPDATE: Starmer said:
I take responsibility for not walking away, not plunging our country into chaos, as the Tories did time and again, chaos that did lasting damage to this country.
A Labour government would never be forgiven for inflicting that on our country again.
Starmer says UK will go ‘down very dark path’ if Labour does not recover and get things right
Keir Starmer is on stage now.
He thanks Botterill for her “powerful words”.
The election results were tough, he says.
That hurts, and it should hurt, he says.
He says he gets it, and takes responsibility.
But that is not just about taking responsibility for the results; it is about taking responsibility for how Labour must do better.
If Labour does not get this right, “our country will go down a very dark path”.
