Keir Starmer’s first speech in full as he addresses nation after evening of chaos
Battered Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke to a very dower looking audience of local Labour members at the Kingsdown Methodist Church in Ealing, west London this morning
It’s been a rough night
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has spoken for the first time since a bruising early set of local election results. With Reform UK running away with most of the council seats so far, calls for Keir Starmer to resign – or at least own up to the horrific results – have been ramping up.
And now just hours after a tough first set of local council election results have come through, he has given a speech . . . at a local church hall. He spoke to a very dower looking audience of local Labour members at the Kingsdown Methodist Church in Ealing, west London.
His speech, in full is: “The results are tough, they are very tough, and there’s no sugarcoating it. We have lost brilliant Labour representatives across the country, these are people who put so much into their communities, so much into our party. And that hurts, and it should hurt, and I take responsibility.
“We’ve made some big calls, to stabilise our public finances, to invest in our public services, not to get dragged into a war in Iran.
“But we’ve also made unnecessary mistakes, one of which was that although we were right to level with the public about the scale and depth of the challenges we face, we didn’t do enough to convince them that things will get better, that things will improve, the hope.
“And that is why in the coming days I’m going to set out the steps that we will take to deliver the change that they want and that they deserve. These are tough results but tough days like this, they don’t weaken my resolve to deliver the change that I promised at the general election, they strengthen my resolve to do so.”
“When voters send a message like this we must reflect and we must respond. I think the vast majority of people do understand that we face huge challenges as a country.
“We’ve had a series of economic shocks in recent years and there’s a very difficult international situation at present, they know that.
“But they still want their lives to improve, they still want to see the change that we promised, they know the status quo is letting them down and they’re frustrated, they don’t feel the changes.”
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