Keir Starmer unveils ‘plan to vary Britain’ from NHS to colleges and police

Keir Starmer has unveiled his “plan to change Britain” as he vowed to improve the lives of families.

Launching the Labour election manifesto in Manchester, he promised to “build a future which genuinely will be better for our children”. Mr Starmer said he would fire up the economy – creating jobs and extra money to invest in the NHS and schools.

At the election on July 4, he said voters have the chance to “turn the page decisively” on 14 years of “Conservative chaos” “If you want change, you have to vote for change and that means voting Labour,” he declared.

Mr Starmer warned there was no “magic wand” and the problems a Labour government would inherit will not “disappear overnight”. “It will not be easy… because there is no quick fix to the mess the Conservatives have made,” he acknowledged, but he added: “We must rebuild our country.”

Asked if it was a “Captain Caution” manifesto, he said: “It is a serious plan for the future of our country. It’s not about rabbits out of a hat. It’s not about pantomime. We’ve had that. I’m running as a candidate to be Prime Minister, not a candidate to run the circus.”

The speech was briefly disrupted by a protester, but he won loud applause as he told her: “We gave up on being a party of protest five years ago, we want to be a party in power.”

Ahead of Mr Starmer’s speech, three voters told why they want change. Dad-of-two Daniel, from London, said he and his partner are stuck in a one-bedroom flat with their son and daughter, aged 13 and seven. Describing the cost of living crisis as “overwhelming” he said: “For the past 14 years, we’ve struggled with turmoil and uncertainty. Labour is the only party offering something different.”

Terminally-ill cancer patient Nathaniel Dye said he’d waited over 100 days for a diagnosis. The music teacher, 38, said: “I represent the human cost of an NHS neglected over the past 14 years and I invite anyone who stands by that dismal record in government to look me in the eye and say that it is good enough.”

And first-time voter Holly, 18, said young people are “often forgotten and left behind” saying Labour symbolises a “better future and greater equality”.

The manifesto includes pledges to build 1.5million homes, get rid of hereditary peers and ban energy drinks being bought by children. Labour will recruit 6,500 extra teachers and boost childcare by creating 3,300 nurseries in primary schools. In a bid to make the streets safe, 13,000 police officers and community support officers will be hired.

Over 40,000 extra hospital appointments a week will be put on to bring down waiting lists. Great British Energy will be set up in a bid to lower household bills, as Great British Railways will take over the running of the trains.

Labour’s plans will be paid for by raising £7billion in taxes from closing loopholes for the rich, cracking down on tax avoidance and ending tax breaks for private schools. But Mr Starmer made a promise to working people not to raise the rates of income tax, National Insurance or VAT.

He accused Rishi Sunak of repeating the mistakes of Liz Truss by throwing out policies without explaining how they will be paid for. “You can see what Conservatives are doing, every day they are desperately putting a new policy, a new gimmick, on the table which is unfunded,” Mr Starmer said. “If there’s one lesson from Liz Truss and what happened to the economy, is if you make unfunded tax cuts then it damages the economy and working people pay the price.”

He added: “Rishi Sunak, if there’s one thing that he was supposed to do, it was to provide the stability after Liz Truss, and here he is repeating it.”

Mr Starmer dismissed Tory claims that Labour is heading for a “super-majority”. “All they want to do in a General Election is to suppress the vote,” he said. “I know that not a single vote has been cast in this election. Polls don’t predict the future.”