Category Archives: Keir Starmer

Party conference will be last before Labour governs, says Andy Burnham

Posted on by

Greater Manchester mayor predicts regaining lost ‘red wall’ seats in Q&A with Guardian editor-in-chief

Andy Burnham has said Labour is on the brink of government, predicting the party will win back all of the “red wall” seats it lost in 2019.

The Greater Manchester mayor also doubled down on calls for Labour to reinstate the 20p tax rate after planned cuts by Liz Truss, saying the money should be directed to public sector pay, and reiterated calls for nationalisation of the railways, calling it a “no-brainer”.

Continue reading...

Keir Starmer defies call for changes to first past the post voting system

Posted on by

The Labour leader said electoral reform was not a priority and refused to make it one of the party’s election manifesto pledges

Keir Starmer has ruled out including any support for a change in the voting system in Labour’s election manifesto, as senior figures from across the party joined calls to back proportional representation (PR).

Labour’s annual conference, under way in Liverpool, is expected to back a motion calling for the party to drop its historical support for the first past the post system amid concerns that it has locked Labour out of power.

Continue reading...

Keir Starmer unveils green growth plan to counter Liz Truss’s tax cuts

Posted on by

Labour pledges a revolution in green energy to ‘boost jobs and slash emissions’

Keir Starmer will pledge to deliver a new era of economic growth and permanently lower energy bills by turning the UK into an independent green “superpower” before 2030, through a massive expansion of wind and solar energy.

Announcing details of the plan exclusively to the Observer, the Labour leader says he will double the amount of onshore wind, triple solar and more than quadruple offshore wind power, “re-industrialising” the country to create a zero carbon, self-sufficient electricity system, by the end of this decade.

Continue reading...

Tories gambling with the finances of British people, says Starmer

Posted on by

Labour leader attacks ‘casino economics’ in wake of £45bn package of tax cuts announced by chancellor

Sir Keir Starmer has accused the government of “gambling the mortgages and finances” of the British people with its “casino economics”.

Speaking before his party’s conference in Liverpool, the Labour leader tweeted: “Tory casino economics is gambling the mortgages and finances of every family in the country. Labour will secure growth for working people, that benefits all communities. My government will deliver a fairer, greener future.”

Continue reading...

Starmer must not ‘sit back’ if Labour is to win next election, Mandelson says

Posted on by

Former cabinet minister urges Labour leader to be ‘restless for change’ and challenge ‘post-truth’ campaign by Truss government

Liz Truss will mount a “post-truth” campaign presenting the Conservatives as the party of change at the next election, Peter Mandelson has warned, as he called on Keir Starmer not to “sit back” and assume automatic victory.

While Labour has held a steady lead in the opinion polls for nine months, Starmer was urged by the former cabinet minister to “do a better job” of showing voters how the party has evolved under his leadership to cement its chances of entering government.

Continue reading...

Keir Starmer: protesters should respect those mourning Queen

Posted on by

Labour leader defends right to protest but says it should not ruin people’s chance to express their private thanks

People who wish to protest against the monarchy should respect those mourning the Queen and not ruin their opportunity to express their private thanks, Keir Starmer has said.

Amid controversy over a small number of protesters being removed by police or arrested, the Labour leader told BBC Breakfast the right to protest and disagree was a British tradition, but he called for it to be done “in the spirit of respect”.

Continue reading...

Liz Truss holds first cabinet meeting as Thérèse Coffey denies claim PM put loyalty before competence – UK politics live

Posted on by

Health secretary says Truss did not focus too much on rewarding friends as new ministers attend first cabinet meeting

According to a report by Jason Groves in the Daily Mail, Liz Truss may announce an end to the ban on fracking this week. During the leadership campaign she said she wanted to allow fracking, but only in areas where there was a clear public consensus in favour.

On the Today programme this morning Lord Deben, the Tory peer who chairs the Committee for Climate Change, said fracking was not a solution to the UK’s energy problems. He explained:

The price of gas is not affected by the relatively small amount that we can get, in addition to the North Sea or indeed from fracking.

This is an international price and we would be paying the same price we got out of the fracked gas as we are for the gas we’re using now.

Continue reading...

‘Wise and kind’ Labour peer Giles Radice dies at 85

Posted on by

Keir Starmer praises an ‘unrivalled social democratic thinker’ who was vital to party regaining power in 1997

Keir Starmer has paid tribute to former Labour politician Giles Radice, after reports he has died aged 85.

The party leader praised the peer and former MP as a “wise and kind man” and “unrivalled social democratic thinker”.

Continue reading...

Sacked Labour MP Sam Tarry faces reselection battle before party conference

Posted on by

Supporters of former shadow transport minister who joined RMT picket lines says process fast-tracked out of ‘revenge’

The Labour MP Sam Tarry is facing an imminent reselection battle before the party conference, with his supporters accusing figures close to the leadership of fast-tracking the process out of “revenge”.

The Ilford South MP was sacked as a shadow transport minister in July after attending a picket line in support of RMT workers, but Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, later said the reason he was removed from his role was for making up policy “on the hoof” in television interviews.

Continue reading...

Liz Truss’s arrival in No 10 ‘could deliver Tories a big bounce in polls’

Posted on by

Exclusive: leaked Labour analysis says foreign secretary could revive party’s fortunes – but effect may be short-lived

Tory leadership frontrunner Liz Truss could give the government a double-figure bounce in the polls once she is installed in No 10, according to internal Labour analysis.

A memo drawn up by Keir Starmer’s director of strategy, Deborah Mattinson, claimed the foreign secretary could dramatically improve Conservative fortunes.

Continue reading...

Labour to push energy price cap policy in campaign blitz

Posted on by

Party aims to get out message on plan to tackle cost of living before new Conservative PM enters No 10

Labour is planning a campaigning blitz in order to take ownership of its new energy price cap policy in case the next Tory leader bows to pressure and cancels the 80% rise expected in October.

Keir Starmer has vowed that his party “wouldn’t let people pay a penny more” on their gas and electricity bills this winter, proposing freezing the price cap at current levels and preventing the average household bill from reaching £3,600.

Continue reading...

Labour announces plan to freeze energy price cap with reinforced windfall tax

Posted on by

Keir Starmer says people won’t pay ‘a penny more’ and that plan would reduce inflation

Keir Starmer has put a beefed-up £8bn windfall tax on energy company profits at the heart of a new plan to stop people having to pay “a penny more” on fuel bills this winter.

The Labour leader confirmed that under his plan the energy price cap would be frozen at the current level, meaning that an expected 80% rise in October – taking an average household bill to about £3,600 – would not go ahead.

Continue reading...

With Keir Starmer on holiday, Labour treads water on cost of living

Posted on by

Analysis: Gordon Brown, Martin Lewis and Ed Davey are the voices being heard, as the opposition is left with the same policy as Sunak

Gordon Brown has thrown down the gauntlet with his plan to halt a winter energy crisis – but not just to the Tory leadership candidates. The call to revoke the energy price cap and consider nationalising energy firms will attract a lot of attention but fundamentally it is also a chance for Labour to choose to be radical. It is likely to compound calls from activists for the party to find a new sense of urgency.

In the middle of August, politicians can often afford to take long breaks away from Westminster to recharge – and sometimes get a valuable dose of perspective. But the extent to which politicians – including those in the Labour party – have gone missing this summer is particularly striking.

Continue reading...

Keir Starmer found to have breached MPs’ code of conduct over register of interests

Posted on by

Labour leader was late in declaring eight interests but watchdog called breaches ‘minor and/or inadvertent’

Keir Starmer has been found to have breached the MPs’ code of conduct by failing to register on time eight interests, including gifts from football teams and the sale of a plot of land.

An inquiry into the Labour leader was opened in June by the parliamentary standards commissioner, Kathryn Stone, relating to claims about late declaration of earnings and gifts, benefits or hospitality from UK sources.

Continue reading...

Labour party is ‘sticking two fingers up’ at working people, says Unite boss

Posted on by

Head of party’s biggest union donor warns members feel ‘crushed’ and may vote not to pay millions to Starmer

Labour is becoming “irrelevant to workers” and it is now hard to justify handing the party millions in funding, the head of the party’s biggest union donor has warned.

In an interview with the Observer, Sharon Graham, the general secretary of Unite, said she felt Labour’s leadership was, in effect, “sticking two fingers up” at workers with its response to strike action and its abandonment of pledges to renationalise public utilities.

Continue reading...

Keir Starmer urged not to abandon pledge to abolish House of Lords

Posted on by

Exclusive: Gordon Brown warns plans to flood upper chamber with dozens of Tory peers proves urgent need for reform

Keir Starmer has been urged not to abandon a key leadership pledge of abolishing the House of Lords, with Gordon Brown warning that plans to “gerrymander” parliament’s upper chamber by flooding it with dozens of Tory peers proved the need for drastic reform.

Alarm was raised by the former Labour prime minister over a proposal drawn up by a political lobbying group for Boris Johnson to appoint up to 50 new Conservatives to ram contentious legislation through given a series of embarrassing defeats by peers.

Continue reading...

Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss facing Tory members in Leeds for first official leadership hustings – UK politics live

Posted on by

Leadership rivals bid to win members’ support in foreign secretary’s home town

Drug-related deaths in Scotland fell by nine in 2021, according to the latest figures released by National Records of Scotland, the first decrease since 2013 but falling well short of the significant reduction that campaigners are calling for.

The latest figure of 1,330 is still the second highest annual total on record, and Scotland continues to have by far the highest drug death rate recorded by any country in Europe and five times the rate in England.

We’ve had a raft of reports, policies and strategies that say what needs to change, and families are more likely to be included round the table, but it’s much harder to track their influence on the ground. We don’t understand what’s getting in the way of good words becoming good deeds.

1,330 of our fellow Scots have died entirely preventable deaths and we should not be celebrating this as an achievement ... The solutions are no secret. We need action, not reports with recommendations that are never implemented.

Continue reading...

Up to 70 Labour MPs may join pickets as Starmer faces test of party unity

Posted on by

Union source claims MPs will join BT staff on Friday despite Labour leader’s call for frontbenchers to stay away

Up to 70 Labour MPs could join union picket lines on Friday as Keir Starmer faces a renewed battle to maintain party unity over support for striking workers.

One shadow minister was believed to be considering joining a Communication Workers Union (CWU) picket line as thousands of BT staff began two days of strikes over pay, which would set up a fresh potential conflict with the Labour leader’s office.

Continue reading...

Labour would fix ‘broken’ water and energy markets through regulation not nationalisation, says Starmer – UK politics live

Posted on by

Labour would, however, stick to plans to nationalise the railways if it won the next election, Starmer says

Polling from YouGov suggests that Liz Truss was perceived by Tory members to have outperformed Sunak on every issue covered in last night’s debate.

In particular, she led on Ukraine, cost of living and levelling up, although her lead was weaker on Brexit, the environment and taxation.

There are some lines on PA from Robert Buckland, the Wales secretary who is supporting Rishi Sunak for the Tory leadership, defending last night’s fierce TV showdown as “robust debate”.

There’s this balance to be struck between having a vigorous debate and being sort of almost too polite to each other.

I think it’s inevitable that you’re going to have candidates disagreeing, and frankly, we need to hear what the arguments are.

Continue reading...

Labour pledges to fast-track rape and domestic violence cases through courts

Posted on by

Boris Johnson’s ‘appalling’ attitude to women to blame for lack of progress on gender-based violence, suggests Keir Starmer

Rape and domestic violence cases will be fast-tracked through the courts under a Labour government so that no victim has to wait more than a year for justice, Keir Starmer has pledged.

In an interview with the Guardian, the Labour leader said Boris Johnson had made no progress tackling gender-based violence during his premiership because of his “appalling” attitude towards women.

Continue reading...