Keir Starmer says Labour must show it can be ‘bold, reforming government’ in major speech – UK politics live
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Here are the main points from Keir Starmer’s speech and Q&A.
We will spread control out of Westminster. Devolve new powers over employment support, transport, energy, climate change, housing, culture, childcare provision and how councils run their finances.
And we’ll give communities a new right to request powers which go beyond this.
All this will be in a new “take back control” bill – a centrepiece of our first king’s speech. A bill that will deliver on the demand for a new Britain. A new approach to politics and democracy. A new approach to growth and our economy.
He also confirmed that he was deliberately adopting the “take back control” Brexit slogan because the desire for more local control was one aspect of the leave campaign in 2016, and of the yes campaign for Scottish independence in 2014, that he felt was justified. He explained:
I go back to Brexit. Yes, a whole host of issues were on that ballot paper. But as I went around the country, campaigning for Remain, I couldn’t disagree with the basic case so many Leave voters made to me.
People who wanted public services they could rely on. High streets they could be proud of. Opportunities for the next generation. And all of this in their town or city.
It was the same in the Scottish referendum in 2014 – many of those who voted ‘yes’ did so for similar reasons. And it’s not an unreasonable demand.
It’s not unreasonable for us to recognise the desire for communities to stand on their own feet. It’s what Take Back Control meant. The control people want is control over their lives and their community.
Starmer made this “take back control” argument last month, when he published a report setting out more details of Labour’s plans to decentralise power out of Westminster. But he did not announce then that there would be legislation for this in the first king’s speech, and media coverage of the December announced focused on his plans to abolish the House of Lords.
None of this should be taken as code for Labour getting its big government chequebook out. Of course investment is required – I can see the damage the Tories have done to our public services as plainly as anyone else.
But we won’t be able to spend our way out of their mess – it’s not as simple as that.
As the BBC’s Chris Mason reports, Starmer omitted a word included in the text released overnight in this passage that implied he thought previous Labour government’s spent too much. See 11.12am.
Starmer refused to confirm that he remains committed to abolishing tuition fees. In its 2019 manifesto Labour said it was committed to abolishing tuition fees, and Starmer said he supported this when he stood for the Labour leadership. But asked if he would implement this policy, he replied:
University tuition fees are not working well, they burden young people going forward. Obviously we have got a number of propositions in relation to those fees that we will put forward as we go into the election.
But I have to be honest about it; the damage that has been done to our economy means that we are going to have to, and we know we will, cost everything as we go into that election, and we will do that with disciple, as we have done so far.
I am not going to spell out our manifesto in advance … but I can say that every commitment we make will be absolutely fully funded. That is a cast-iron guarantee as we go into that election.
Frankly, the government is all over the show on this. Every day there is a different briefing as to whether there is going to be legislation, what it is going to be and when it is going to come.
I think there is a reason for that and that is because I don’t think this legislation is going to work. I am pretty sure they have had an assessment that tells them that it is likely to make a bad situation worse.
Obviously we will look at what they bring forward, but if it is further restrictions then we would repeal it and the reason for that is I do not think that legislation is the way that you bring an end to industrial disputes.
I thought his promises were weak and low ambition. Inflation is the biggest example of that. So you get inflation down to a rate lower than is already predicted, it is not a big promise to the British public.
The idea that after 13 years of failure you can come along in the 13th year and say ‘I have got five new promises please give us one more chance’, I just feel is so far removed from reality.
Yes, there are good people of course – many MPs share my determination to tackle Britain’s problems quickly. But as a system – it doesn’t work.
You know, sometimes I hear talk about a “huge day in Westminster”, but all that’s happened is someone has passionately described a problem, and then that’s it.
Nothing has changed, but the circus moves on. Rinse and repeat. Honestly – you can’t overstate how much a short-term mindset dominates Westminster. And from there, how it infects all the institutions which try and fail to run Britain from the centre.
I call it ‘sticking plaster politics’. And in a kind of last minute frenzy, it sometimes delivers relief. But the long-term cure – that always eludes us. And it’s at the heart of all the problems we see across our country right now.
I came to politics late in my career. I’ve run large organisations, institutions that had to serve our country, and I’ve changed them all – including the Labour party. That’s why I came into politics eight years ago. A new way to serve. A new way to get things done. More opportunities to change our country for the better.
