Keir Starmer says he’ll ‘root out rot’ in speech at web site of Tory lockdown disgrace

Keir Starmer will vow to “root out 14 years of rot” in a crunch speech at the spot where a lockdown-breaking party was held under the Tories.

The PM is set to speak to inspirational people he met on the campaign trail in the Rose Garden behind No10. He will say: “A garden and a building that were once used for lockdown breaking parties are now back in your service.”

More than 100 Downing Street staff were invited to a “bring your own booze” shindig in the garden in May 2020 when Boris Johnson was PM. It was also where former No10 aide Dominic Cummings made a grovelling apology for breaking lockdown rules by travelling to Durham. Mr Starmer will vow to draw a line under the previous regime and say “things are being done differently now”.

He is expected to accuse Rishi Sunak and the Tories of “limping out of No10” leaving an array of problems to clear up. He will pledge to push forward a raft of legislation promised in the King’s Speech last month, including laws to improve public transport, protect workers’ rights and secure the UK’s borders. But Mr Starmer will warn that change won’t happen overnight and things will get worse before they get better.

Mr Starmer will say: “Next week, Parliament will return. The business of politics will resume, but it will not be business as usual. Because we can’t go on like this anymore.

“No more politics of performance, papering over the cracks, or division and distraction. Things are being done differently now.” He will add: “We will do the hard work needed to root out 14 years of rot and reverse a decade of decline.”

Among those watching will be medics from Alder Hey hospital in Liverpool, Middlesborough headteacher Sandra Marsden and 18-year-old Holly Kalns, who introduced Mr Starmer ahead of Labour’s manifesto launch. He’ll say they’d been invited “to show that the decent, hard-working people who make up the backbone of this country belong here and that this Government is for you”.

Before the General Election he pledged a “decade of national renewal” under Labour and warned it would take time to undo the damage. But he will point to the response of communities to sickening violence by far-right mobs over the summer. Mr Starmer is expected to say: “The riots didn’t just betray the sickness, they revealed the cure, found not in the cynical conflict of populism but in the coming together of a country the morning after and cleared up their community.

“Because that is who we are, that is what we stand for.” Mr Starmer will say the Tories left an “economic black hole” and a “societal black hole”, promising to be honest about how tough things will be.

Ministers will face a string of challenges when MPs return next week. The PM will have to confront growing unease over the decision to cut back Winter Fuel Payments around 10 million pensioners.

This was blamed on a £22billion “black hole” left by the Tories. Mr Starmer will also face questions on the early release of prisoners, the crisis in the Middle East and the desperate need to reform the social care system.

He is set to say: “Frankly – things will get worse before we get better. I didn’t want to release prisoners early. I was Chief Prosecutor for five years, it goes against the grain of everything I’ve ever done. But to be blunt, if we hadn’t taken that difficult decision immediately, we wouldn’t have been able to respond to the riots as we did.”

Labour frontbencher Sir Chris Bryant hit out at Tories griping at the new Government, accusing them of “confected outrage”. He said: “The Tories don’t seem to have learnt anything. The leadership candidates have adopted a very shrill tone, full of confected outrage, as if they thought we could sort out their 14 years in seven weeks.

“Yes change is going to take time. The national coffers are depleted.” The data protection and tourism minister continued: “I know from my departments how many uncosted promises the Tories made. But I’m confident we can and will make the lasting change we need, with social justice at the heart of everything.”