Keir Starmer today kickstarts his general election campaign by telling the Mirror how he will change Britain.
The Labour leader is unveiling the six first steps he will take to transform the lives of families if he becomes PM. In a letter to Mirror readers, he writes: “With your support, I’m ready to step up and change Britain.”
The key promises – which will appear on an election pledge card – include sorting the economy, cutting NHS waiting times and securing the border. Mr Starmer also is vowing to set up publicly-owned Great British Energy, tackle anti-social behaviour and recruit 6,500 new teachers for our schools.
At a rally in Essex today, he will tell voters they face a “stark” choice when the election finally comes. “A Tory Party that gets nothing done and can’t deliver” or “a Labour Party, sleeves rolled up, fixing problems with a long-term plan for change,” he will say.
He will be joined at the event by people including an NHS patient and a victim of crime who will share their personal stories – and how a Labour government could make a difference.
Mr Starmer will set out how each of his promises has been fully costed and funded. “People want someone to get a grip – get things done and start to get Britain back on its feet. That is what our first steps are about,” he will say.
At a meeting of his Shadow Cabinet yesterday afternoon, Mr Starmer told his top team they need to “work tirelessly to give people back a belief in change, by showing the real difference a Labour government will make to their lives”. He stressed that the first of the steps would be “economic stability” as that would be the biggest change the party could offer the country after five prime ministers in seven years that have brought misery to people’s lives.
Labour’s plan to revive the economy includes building 1.5million homes and introducing a new deal for working people to ensure staff are treated properly. It says that turning around the country’s fortunes will allow it to keep taxes, inflation and mortgages as low as possible. Mr Starmer is pledging to cut NHS waiting times by providing an extra 40,000 appointments each week during evenings and weekends.
A Border Security Command, which will include MI5 officers, will be used to smash the criminal gangs that are sending desperate people on dangerous boats across the Channel. In a bid to give families cheaper bills and create high-paid jobs, a new company Great British Energy will boost the number of clean power sources including building wind farms.
More neighbourhood police officers will be put on the streets to tackle anti-social behaviour with tough new penalties for offenders. And 6,500 new teachers will be recruited in key subjects, which will be paid for by ending tax breaks for private schools.
Separate events will be held in the coming weeks in Scotland and Wales where Mr Starmer will set out specific promises for voters outside England.
Mr Sunak is still refusing to say when he will give voters a say on whether he should stay in No10. A general election must be held by January next year at the latest. In his article for the Mirror, Mr Starmer today says he is ready to “do the hard graft and deliver a decade of renewal for Britain. He added: “We need that election now. The country is crying out for change – now.”
More than 212,000 people have now signed the Mirror’s General Election Now petition on the 38 Degrees website.
‘We need an election now, the country is crying out for change’
Dear Mirror reader
A woman stopped me at Knutsford service station last weekend, as I travelled up to Old Trafford to watch Arsenal play Man Utd. She was visibly in pain. Her eye was swollen – an in-growing eyelid. She’d waited 18 months for an operation to fix it. “Now I’ve been told I’ve got to wait another 12 months”, she said. “I can’t bear it. Keir, you’ve got to get in and fix the NHS.”
As too many Mirror readers know, her story is not unusual. With the NHS waiting list at almost 8 million, it feels like everyone is either on a waiting list or knows someone who is. It’s one of many symptoms of 14 years of broken, sticking plaster politics. Of a Tory Party who crashed the economy. And a Prime Minister who flies above Britain’s problems in his jet, always ‘relaunching’, always acting for the short-term.
It’s why nothing seems to work properly in Tory Britain. No stability, no vision, no leadership. That is why today I launch Labour’s first steps to change Britain. These are our key priorities. Six first steps to make Britain work again for working people. A ‘down payment’ on change.
To start getting our NHS back on its feet, we’ll pay doctors and nurses more to work evenings and weekends, busting the waiting backlog with 40,000 more appointments and treatments every week.
But we know working people face a hard time too with the cost of living. That is why everything we do will be underpinned by economic stability. Tough spending rules to keep inflation, mortgages, taxes as low as possible. So that we grow the economy in all parts of the country. Create more jobs. Make people better off.
We will launch Great British Energy, a new publicly-owned clean power company. To cut bills for good. To create jobs. And to give Britain independence from dictators like Putin.
When people go out, they should feel safe. That’s not the case today. Too many high streets are plagued by anti-social behaviour, fly tipping, gangs, drugs. That is why we will introduce tough new penalties for offenders, more neighbourhood police and a new network of youth hubs to prevent those at risk of getting into crime.
We need secure borders as well as safe streets. The Tories have not stopped the boats. They are still coming – in record numbers. Labour will replace Tory gimmicks with tough action. We will create an elite Border Security Command with counter terrorist powers to smash the vile people smuggling gangs.
All of this will provide the security on which we can build new opportunities for the British people. Education matters for our future. We will recruit 6,500 more teachers in key subjects, ending the teacher shortage and preparing young people for the jobs of the future.
All of these first steps are fully costed, fully funded and ready to go. This will be the choice at the coming election: serious change, not hopeless gimmick. Grip, not drift. And in the face of Tory decline, a changed Labour Party that will roll up our sleeves, do the hard graft and deliver a decade of renewal for Britain.
We need that election, now. The country is crying out for change, now. With your support, I’m ready to step up and change Britain.
Keir Starmer