Keir Starmer says Tories have seen ‘unforgivable’ drop in residing requirements

Keir Starmer has hit out at the Tories for overseeing an “absolutely unforgivable” drop in living standards as he urged voters to “turn the page”.

The Labour leader pitched the General Election in July as a vote between “two different countries, two different futures” for Britain in a stump speech. It came as he kicked off the party’s campaign in Gillingham & Rainham – a seat the Tories last won in 2019 with a massive majority of over 15,000.

Addressing activists, Mr Starmer said: “For a Government to leave after 14 years our country with living standards worse than when they started is absolutely unforgivable. What is Rishi Sunak’s plan? £46billion of unfunded tax cuts. If they get five more years they will carry on in the same way. Nothing will change.”

Research from the Resolution Foundation earlier this year warned that between 2019 and 2025 real disposable income is set to fall by 0.9%. The think-tank said it would be the “first Parliament in modern history to see a fall in living standards”.

Mr Starmer told supporters gathered at Gillingham Football Club: “You do not have to put up with this. The power of the vote is that you can vote Labour to turn the page, to make the change that this country so desperately, desperately needs. All we ask now, humbly, is the opportunity to change our country and put it back in the service of working people.”

Standing alongside Mr Starmer, Deputy Labour Leader Angela Rayner added: “We need to turn the page. We’ve had 14 years of chaos and decline, excuses, and people just feeling like their area is not getting the support they need.”

Blasting crumbling public services, she said: “Whatever service people try and access these days they find it is like wading through treacle. People are absolutely fed up and they are crying out for change. We are a changed Labour Party. We are here for the service of this country.”

Sheltering under umbrellas with colleagues on the campaign trail in Edinburgh today, the Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar also joked he could not change the weather but could instead “change the government”.

But he stressed there was “no route” to a Labour Government at Westminster without the party making “significant gains” north of the border at the General Election. At the 2019 general election Labour lost six seats in Scotland leaving the party with just one MP – Ian Murray, who now serves as Mr Starmer’s Shadow Scottish Secretary.

Mr Sarwar said: “We have to make significant gains here in Scotland. I recognise on paper that there is a mountain to climb. But I think we have done a huge amount of work over the last three years to get ourselves in a fighting fit position.”

But last year the party secured a stunning victory at the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election with a massive swing of 20.4% from the SNP to Labour. And earlier this week a poll showed Labour with a commanding ten-point lead over the SNP. Pollster YouGov said it was Labour’s highest vote share since the 2014 independence vote.

But as the General Election campaign ramps up, some Labour MPs have had to face difficult decisions. Three MPs – Holly Lynch, Yvonne Fovargue, and Kevan Jones – have announced they will stand down next week when Parliament is dissolved. The North Durham MP Mr Jones said it would be “impossible” for him to fight the campaign as he is undergoing surgery and treatment in early June for “an ongoing condition”.

He described his decision not to stand as “difficult”, adding: “I am sad to be leaving the House of Commons but would like to thank the people of North Durham and my supporters who gave me the opportunity to serve them.”