Keir Starmer begins once more: PM pleads with Brits to evaluate him on increased dwelling requirements, decrease NHS waits and extra police in ‘reset’ speech… however NO goal on slicing immigration and has he watered down Net Zero vow?

Keir Starmer attempted to ‘reset’ his struggling government today as he bombarded Brits with another array of targets.

The PM used a speech at Pinewood studios in Buckinghamshire to unveil six ‘milestones’ that Labour should have achieved by the time of the next election in 2029.

He warned that the ‘gauntlet was being thrown down’ to civil servants. In an apparent reference to Donald Trump‘s slogan in the US, Sir Keir said: ‘I don’t think there is a swamp to be drained here… But I do think that too many people in Whitehall are comfortable in the tepid bath of managed decline.’

Sir Keir is committing to raising living standards, lowering NHS waits, building 1.5million new homes, and putting more bobbies on the beat as part of the critical intervention. Each neighbourhood will be able to contact a named local officer, under the proposals.

Ensuring children are prepared to start school and decarbonisation of energy are also on his list, intended to make it easier to judge progress on his five ‘missions’. Confusingly there are also three ‘foundations’ for the government. 

However, Sir Keir is not setting any targets for reducing immigration or a timetable for increasing defence spending. 

He has also been accused of sidelining Labour’s flagship manifesto pledge to deliver the fastest growing economy in the G7 – which looks doomed to failure as the US and Canada are surging ahead.

And he appears to have watered down a key commitment to make the power grid net zero by 2030, instead suggesting it will be ’95 per cent clean power’.

The milestones are:  

• Higher living standards in every part of the United Kingdom by the end of the Parliament. The government says that will be measured on Real Household Disposable Income per person and GDP per capita. ‘We also believe that growth must be felt by everyone, everywhere, so we will track GDP per head at both a regional and national level’.
• Building 1.5million homes in England and fast-track planning decisions on at least 150 major economic infrastructure projects – more than the last 14 years combined.
• Ending hospital backlogs to meet the NHS standard of 92 per cent of patients in England waiting no longer than 18 weeks for elective treatment.
• Putting police back on the beat with a named officer for every neighbourhood, and 13,000 additional officers, PCSOs and special constables in neighbourhood roles in England and Wales.
• Giving children the best start in life, with 75 per cent of five-year-olds in England ready to learn when they start school.
• Putting the UK on track for ‘at least 95 per cent Clean Power by 2030, while accelerating the UK to net zero’.

The premier was introduced by his deputy Angela Rayner, who said she was ‘proud’ that ‘change has already begun’. 

Sir Keir kicked off his speech by joking that if he kept coming to Pinewood he could be the next James Bond.

He acknowledged that people would say ‘we’ve heard these before’ and ask ‘where’s the rabbit out of the hat’, but stressed the milestones are ‘measurable’.

‘One thing the British people know in their bones is that this is a great nation,’ he said. 

‘This plan will land on desks across Whitehall with the heavy thud of a gauntlet being thrown down.’ 

In a document published alongside describes the milestones, including delivering higher living standards by the next election, saying growth must be ‘felt by everyone, everywhere’.

It insisted the long-term ‘aim’ was to make the UK the fastest-growing G7 economy.

That seems to be a slight backtrack from his firmer commitment at the election. 

Sir Keir denied that the Net Zero target had been eased, saying: ‘The clean energy pledge is today exactly what it was in the election; that has always been central to our mission.’

He added: ‘The mission hasn’t changed from the day I launched it nearly two years ago. In terms of where we need to get to on clean energy by 2030, it’s exactly the same as it always was.

‘There’s always going to be a mix but that is the pledge that we made two years ago. That is the mission and we’ve not changed it today. ‘

Writing in the foreword to his ‘plan for change’, Sir Keir promised ‘a relentless focus on the priorities of working people’, backed by ‘a new approach to wealth creation’.

He said there must be honesty about the ‘trade-offs’ required to achieve his aims.

He wrote: ‘We know, after the sacrifices people made during the past 14 years, that it will be hard for working people to hear politicians ask them to come together for their country again.

‘But the need for change is urgent. And it must be met.’

Alongside his ‘milestone’ on living standards, measured by real disposable income and GDP per head, Sir Keir’s plan promises to ensure that 92 per cent of patients wait no longer than 18 months for NHS treatment, there is a named police officer for every neighbourhood, 75 per cent of children start school with a good level of development, and to put the country on track to achieve at least 95 per cent low-carbon power generation by 2030.

There is no goal on immigration – either legal or illegal – but the document said: ‘We will restore order to the immigration system, reducing net migration from the record high levels seen in recent years by reforming our approach to the labour market, addressing skills shortages here in the UK, and clamping down on employers who exploit the visa system.’

Asked about the absence of a target on migration, Sir Keir said a ‘serious plan’ rather than ‘gimmicks’. ‘We are going to drive down migration both legal and illegal.’

On Channel boats, he insisted the ‘only way to make it work is to smash the gangs’. 

Polling suggests public enthusiasm for Labour has nosedived since his landslide in July. 

Ipsos found 53 per cent of voters have been ‘disappointed’ with the Government’s performance while just 19 per cent are ‘pleased’. 

Disaffection is even greater among older voters, millions of whom have been stripped of winter fuel payment, with 74 per cent of over-55s saying the Government has made a poor start.

Touring broadcast studios this morning, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper was grilled on why Sir Keir needed what the Tories have branded an ’emergency relaunch’ after just five months in office.

‘The Prime Minister is setting out today the plan for change and these really major milestones, that they capture the priorities for people across the country, the things that we’re determined need to change over the next few years,’ she said.

She told BBC Breakfast: ‘Before the election, we set out the big missions for the country.

‘In my area, that was around making the streets safer, around reducing serious violence and also restoring confidence in policing.

‘But now what we’re doing, after the Budget and the spending review, is setting out ‘what does that mean in terms of the real major milestones, the difference that we want people to see in their own communities, in their own towns’?.

Sir Keir will give further details on how Labour will meet its pledge to recruit 13,000 new neighbourhood officers, including police community support officers and special constables.

Ms Cooper told Sky News: ‘We’re putting forward, next year, an additional £100 million for police forces. Also we have a major programme around policing efficiency and collaboration across forces that will also generate further savings.

‘But this is the plan over the course of this Parliament, the 13,000 over the course of this Parliament. That £100 million is sufficient to fund recruitment of around 1,200 new police officers.

‘But we’ll be working with police forces on how they actually make the most of that and get the impact of that, drawing in additional officers to get them back on to the beat because I think the reality of most people’s experience is very often in the town centres, they just don’t see the police anymore.

‘And we want to make that focus getting the police back on the beat, working in communities, restoring neighbourhood policing, which is something really important and precious for Britain, which we’ve lost for too many years.’

The PM said in his speech: ‘Hard-working Brits … reasonably want a stable economy, their country to be safe, their borders secure, more cash in their pocket, safer streets in their town, opportunities for their children, secure British energy in their home, and an NHS that is there when they need it.

‘My mission-led Government will deliver.’

Alongside boosting growth, Labour’s missions were: making Britain a ‘clean energy superpower’; rebuilding the NHS; tackling crime and ‘taking back our streets’; and breaking down barriers to opportunity.

Sir Keir is expected to put some flesh on the bones today, including a ‘neighbourhood policing guarantee’ which will introduce a named, contactable police officer for every community in Britain.