Sir Keir Starmer has set out the six ‘milestones’ he aims to reach by the next election in his biggest speech since becoming prime minister.
At an event in Pinewood Film Studios in Buckinghamshire this morning, Sir Keir explained he expects to be held to account on his progress over next five years.
The targets cover living standards, housing, the NHS, policing, education and energy.
While they are reminiscent of the five pledges made by Rishi Sunak shortly after he took over as PM, the content is very different.
In front of an audience of charity workers, MPs and members of the public, Sir Keir said: ‘Mark my words: with this plan for change, we will stick to it. Country first, party second.’
It includes:
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- Raising living standards across the UK
- Hiring 13,000 new police officers, police community support officers and special constables in England and Wales
- Building 1.5 million new homes in England
- Ensuring 92% of NHS patients in England wait no longer than 18 weeks for treatment
- Putting the country on track for 95% clean power by 2030
- Ensuring 75% of five-year-olds are ready to learn by the time they start school
Several of those targets had previously been announced ahead of today’s speech, including in Labour’s election manifesto.
In a Q&A afterwards, journalists asked why there was no milestone for migration – an absence that prompted Tory leader Kemi Badenoch to claim Labour has ‘no plan to control numbers’.
The PM said the Conservatives’ ‘arbitrary’ cap on numbers had not worked, and border security was a ‘foundational principle’ for his government.
Sir Keir also faced questions over whether his decarbonation commitment had been watered down, with the manifesto promising ‘zero-carbon electricity by 2030’ rather than 95%.
The government said the aim was consistent with when it had first been announced two years ago.
Sir Keir said the plan commits civil servants to the ‘mission-led’ vision he has for government.
The list of targets would ‘land on the desks of Whitehall with the heavy thud of a gauntlet being thrown down’, he added.
It adds to a series of policy and priority lists released by Labour since before the election, including three ‘foundations’, five ‘missions’ and six ‘first steps’.
He denied this was confusing in a Q&A with the media after the speech, saying the new milestones were ‘something for the public to use to hold us to account’ on the missions set out ahead of the July 4 vote.
In the chilly film studio where his stage was set up, Sir Keir struggled to generate much heat from the crowd.
There were relatively few applause breaks for such a monumental speech, and several awkward coughs in the room.
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Two members of the public had the opportunity to speak from the podium ahead of the PM and his deputy Angela Rayner, a move similar to some of Labour’s pre-election events.
In an early sign that the audience was less than enthusiastic, Rayner received only a pained groan when she followed up a reference to the filming of Superman at Pinewood by saying: ‘Cleaning up the mess we’ve inherited feels like a job for a superhero.’
Government officials ahead of the event said it should not be considered a reset for the prime minister’s premiership amid nosediving approval ratings.
Asked about a new poll that found more than half of voters were disappointed in his government, Sir Keir said: ‘I’ll be measured, when we get to the next general election, by whether I’ve delivered on what I’ve said I’ll do for the British public.’
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