Keir Starmer today revealed his five ‘missions’ for the government, but has already been forced to admit that he watered down previous commitments.
The Labor leader said he was arguing for “change” and that the UK could be the fastest growing G7 country when he delivered a keynote address.
Sir Keir told an audience of campaigners in Manchester that his government would be ‘mission driven’ and that its targets were ‘laser-focused’. Echoing the five-point plan laid out by Rishi Sunak last month, he said voters would be able to “measure” his success.
But he was also left bragging when challenged to ditch earlier campaign promises from his leadership, including nationalizing energy companies. He insisted that votes have not been ‘all abandoned’ and that he needed to ‘adjust’ after Covid and the Ukraine war.
But Sir Keir refused to honor his commitment to abolish tuition fees, simply saying he would look at what is ‘affordable’.
He has also struck a significantly different tone on ‘jihadist bride’ Shamima Begum, saying the judges were right to reject her appeal against the stripping of British citizenship.
With polls consistently showing Labor holding a double-digit lead over the Conservatives, Sir Keir is facing increasing pressure to establish what he would do in government.
Keir Starmer unveiled his five ‘missions’ for the government today, but has already been forced to admit that he watered down earlier promises.
Sir Keir told an audience of campaigners in Manchester that his government would be “mission driven” and that its targets were “laser-focused.”
A YouGov voting intention poll released yesterday showed the Conservatives garnering just 22 percent of the vote, down two points from two weeks ago.
The ‘five missions’ are meant to counter five key promises announced by Rishi Sunak last month and will form the backbone of Labor’s election platform.
The general themes will be the economy, the NHS, crime, climate change and education.
But while Sunak has promised to “stop the ships”, with new laws to ban those using the Channel route from applying for asylum, Sir Keir is not expected to commit on immigration.
The issue could become a vital battleground in the upcoming general election, which is expected to be late next year.
Sir Keir told BBC Breakfast he would seek to “fix the fundamentals” in Britain to restore “pride and purpose” to the country.
“The thinking behind it is really based on the frustrations, the everyday frustrations that people have that almost nothing seems to be working, everything needs to be fixed, and all we’ve really had for many years now is plaster politics.” he said.
‘The classic example of that is the NHS. We have a winter crisis in the NHS every year. We almost fixed it, move on to summer, and then back to next year’s winter crunch.
He added: ‘We can’t keep doing the same thing every year. We need something that is longer term.
‘So this is the great laying of the foundations to make sure we can restore, if you want, the pride and purpose of Britain, the great potential that our country has.
“They are long-term missions, they are a declaration of intent of how we intend to govern.”
Sir Keir denied abandoning all the promises that won him the party leadership race, but said some of the promises needed to be adapted.
Appearing on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said: “As far as the promises when I ran for leader are important statements of values and principles.
And not all have been abandoned by any stretch of the imagination. But what I have had to do is adapt some of them to the circumstances in which we find ourselves.
“Since I ran for leader, we have had Covid, we have had the conflict in Ukraine, we have had a government that has done great damage to our economy. Everyone recognizes it.
Sir Keir was joined by a host of shadow cabinet colleagues, including deputy leader Angela Rayner (right)
When asked about his pledge to nationalize the leadership, Sir Keir said his team last year found that “we would have to spend a lot of public money on public property, which because energy companies were still buying into the international market, the price wouldn’t go down and we wouldn’t be able to lower people’s bills until autumn’.
He added: “Having done that analysis, I made the political decision that it would be better to freeze the price of energy by paying an extraordinary tax to oil and gas companies that made unexpected profits.”
Yesterday Mr Sunak taunted Sir Keir in the Prime Minister’s questions about the plan. He said: ‘We have heard that you will announce five missions tomorrow.
“But we already know what they are: it’s uncontrolled immigration, it’s reckless spending, it’s higher debt, and it’s softer sentences. And as for the fifth promise, Mr. President, it is that you reserve the right to change your mind about the other four.
And last night Conservative Party Chairman Greg Hands said: ‘Keir Starmer will say anything if the policy suits him. He is unprincipled and has no new ideas.
Sir Keir will only outline his five promises in his speech this morning before launching two of them for local elections in May, with the rest staggered in the run-up to the general election.
He will urge voters to judge whether he can deliver growth for each region as part of a ‘decade of national renewal’.
Mr Sunak’s five promises were to “stop the ships”, with new laws to ban those using the Canal route from applying for asylum and to quickly deport them.
A grim poll yesterday showed Labor up 28 points ahead of the Tories.
YouGov’s voting intention poll showed the Conservatives with just 22 percent of the vote, down two points from two weeks ago.
Labor won 50 percent of the vote, an increase of three percentage points.
The Liberal Democrats were on 9 percent, down one point, the Greens were unchanged at 6 percent and Reform UK were on 7 percent, up one point.
Critics said the poll contained many in the 24-49 age group, who are more likely to vote Labour.
But it followed other polls released in the previous 48 hours that also put Labor well ahead. A Deltapoll poll found Labor leading by 22 points, while a Redfield & Wilton poll put the party leading by 27 points.