Labour united in search for new policies – Sir Keir Starmer

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has denied his party is fractured, as he launched a review of its policies aimed at winning the next election.

Sir Keir promised a policy shake-up in the aftermath of poor local election results in May.

Some on the left have warned against abandoning the core values of the party’s 2019 manifesto.

But Sir Keir is also facing calls – from figures like Lord Mandelson – to change direction.

The policy review is being led by party chair Anneliese Dodds who was demoted from her role as shadow chancellor, amid claims voters did not know what the party stood for.

Unveiling the project on a visit to meet apprentices and graduates at Airbus in Bristol, Sir Keir said: “We have got a very united party, we are all working with this policy review together.

“We’ve seen different ways of working, we’ve seen people coming together, this policy project is about harnessing that with ambitious plans for the future, with a better future for everybody” he added.

He said Britain was “too divided” when the pandemic hit, “we weren’t as well prepared as we could have been, so the pandemic hit us harder.

“But the way the British people responded showed we can achieve incredible things when we come together.”

He said “an incredible amount of energy” was going in to the policy review, adding: “the ideas are buzzing – this is a policy review that’s open to the party, to the movement”.

The party has identified six areas for its review: better jobs and better work; a green and digital future; safe and secure communities; public services; a future where families come first; and Britain in the world.

The project will work alongside the party’s formal policy making body – the National Policy Forum – and hold listening events with party members.

Ms Dodds said she will work across the Labour movement, academics and communities to “meet the challenges and opportunities of the coming decade”.

Union leaders have criticised the party’s direction under Sir Keir and threatened to withdrawn crucial funding.

Two of the candidates seeking to replace Len McCluskey in the top job at the Unite union have indicated that Sir Keir Starmer could not be certain of financial support from Unite if they won.

The union donated £3m to Labour in the run up to the 2019 general election.