Keir Starmer guarantees to supply extra ‘hope’ after bruising election outcomes
The PM was speaking after a bruising series of election results, which saw Labour lose thousands of councillors, control in Wales, and failed to oust the SNP in Scotland
The PM has brought Gordon Brown in to advise on global finance(Image: International Pool/PA Wire)
Keir Starmer has repeated his pledge not to quit and promised to offer more “hope” from his Government.
The PM was speaking after a bruising series of election results, which saw Labour lose thousands of councillors, control in Wales, and fail to oust the SNP in Scotland. Labour lost councils to the Greens and Reform, with Nigel Farage’s party the big winners of the local elections.
Speaking after more than 30 MPs called for him to quit, Mr Starmer admitted he’d made mistakes, but would do more to set out his values going forward.
He said: “I’m not going to walk away from this, that would plunge the country into chaos. But that doesn’t mean we don’t need to respond. It doesn’t mean we don’t need to rebuild. It doesn’t mean that we don’t need to set out the path ahead. That’s what I’m going to do in the coming days.”
Speaking to broadcasters in south London, he said one of the “unnecessary mistakes” made by the Government was telling the public the scale of the damage to the economy caused by the Tories, but not explaining how Labour would turn things around.
He said: “The hope wasn’t there enough in the first two years of this government. That’s why it’s important for me now to set out where hope resides. It resides in our young people having the future to go as far as their talent or ability will take them – to genuinely have that because if you’ve grown up in poverty, you don’t get that chance.”
In a promise to change, the PM said he would be setting out Labour’s arguments about hope and the future, as well as the values and convictions that drive me” in the coming days. He explained: “We did make a number of really important calls in the last couple of years about stabilising the economy, investing in our public services, not getting drawn into the war in Iran.
“We need to couple to that to the arguments we’re making about hope and the future, about young people, about place, and so I will be setting out those arguments, but more than anything setting out with clarity the values and convictions that drive me.”
It came as the PM brought back Labour veterans Baroness Harriet Harman and Gordon Brown into advisory roles, in what he described as a “future-looking” move. Mr Brown has been appointed as a special envoy on global finance and Lady Harman has been made an adviser on women and girls.
The PM said: “I want women to have the opportunities that they deserve. I want to be able to tackle misogyny, I’ve made commitments on this and Harriet working with the team is the absolutely right person to do that.
“So, it’s very future-looking, because this is about making sure that every woman has the opportunities that she deserves. And so Harriet will lead on that work, working with the Cabinet, working with the team. For Gordon, obviously, one of the big challenges we face is global finance. The war in Iran is causing real problems, economic impact.
“We need more spending on defence and security, that needs to come together around international mechanisms, and Gordon’s got a track record on that, and so that is building the strong economy of the future. So, on both fronts, they are very future-looking roles. They are vital to how we strengthen our country and take it forward, and provide the opportunities that give people that hope for a better future.”
