Keir Starmer vows to make Britain the fastest-growing economy in G7

Keir Starmer vowed to make Britain the fastest-growing economy in the G7 today as he struggles to show he has a vision for running the country.

The Labour leader said generating a ‘sustained’ boom for UK plc will be among five ‘national missions’ he will lay out in a speech later.

In a round of interviews ahead of the address, Sir Keir insisted he can end the ‘sticking plaster politics’ that means the NHS is in crisis every year and holds back productivity.

With polls consistently showing Labour has a double-digit lead over the Tories, Sir Keir is facing mounting pressure to set out what he would do in government.   

Keir Starmer vowed to make Britain the fastest-growing economy in the G7 today as he struggles to show he has a vision for running the country 

A YouGov voting intention survey released yesterday showed the Tories on just 22 per cent of the vote, down two points from two weeks ago

The ‘five missions’ are intended to counter the five key pledges announced by Rishi Sunak last month and will form the backbone of Labour’s election manifesto. 

The broad themes will be the economy, the NHS, crime, climate change and education. 

But while Mr Sunak vowed to ‘stop the boats’ – with new laws to ban those using the Channel route from claiming asylum – Sir Keir is not expected to make any commitments on immigration.

The issue could become a vital battleground in the looming general election, expected to be towards the end of next year.

Sir Keir told BBC Breakfast he would look to ‘fix the fundamentals’ in Britain to restore ‘pride and purpose’ in the country.

‘The idea behind this 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 ever had for many years now is sticking-plaster politics,’ he said.

‘The classic example of that is the NHS. We have a winter crisis in the NHS every year. We just about fix it, get through to the summer and then go back into the next year’s winter crisis.’

He added: ‘We can’t just go on every year doing the same thing. We need something which is longer term.

‘So this is the big fixing the fundamentals to make sure we can restore, if you like, the pride and purpose to Britain, the great potential that our country has.

‘They are long-term missions, they are a statement of intent to how we intend to govern.’

Yesterday Mr Sunak mocked Sir Keir at Prime Minister’s Questions over the plan. He said: ‘We have heard that tomorrow he’s going to announce five missions.

‘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 for the fifth pledge, Mr Speaker, it’s that he reserves the right to change his mind on the other four.’

And last night Conservative Party chairman Greg Hands said: ‘Keir Starmer will say anything if the politics suit him. He lacks principles and has no new ideas.’

Sir Keir will only outline his five pledges in his speech this morning before fully launching two of them for May’s local elections, with the remainder staggered in the run-up to the general election.

He will urge voters to judge on whether he can deliver growth for every region as part of a ‘decade of national renewal’.

Mr Sunak’s five pledges was to ‘stop the boats’, with new laws to ban those using the Channel route from claiming asylum and deport them swiftly

A grim poll yesterday showed Labour has surged 28 points ahead of the Tories.

The YouGov voting intention survey showed the Tories on just 22 per cent of the vote, down two points from two weeks ago.

Labour was on 50 per cent of the vote, an increase of three percentage points. 

The Lib Dems were on 9 per cent, down one point, the Greens were unchanged on 6 per cent and Reform UK were on 7 per cent, up one point.

Critics said the survey contained many in the 24 to 49-year-old age bracket, who are more likely to vote Labour.

But it followed other polls published in the previous 48 hours that also put Labour well ahead. A Deltapoll survey found Labour had a 22-point lead while a Redfield & Wilton survey put the party on a 27-point lead.