Keir Starmer claimed keeping winter fuel payments in place could have sparked a Liz Truss-style meltdownon markets today as he launched a bid to reboot his fledgling premiership.
The PM acknowledged fury at the decision to strip the benefit from 10million pensioners – but said he could not ‘risk’ showing the world ‘as the Tories did that this country does not fund its policies properly’.
Watched by wife Victoria at Labour conference in Liverpool, he appealed for Brits to be ‘patient’ and stick with his ‘painful choices’ rather than go down the ‘road to nowhere’.
Striking a notably more positive tone after criticism of doom-laden pronouncements, Sir Keir told the gathering in Liverpool the country can find the ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ if the right course is set now.
But he warned there were no ‘easy answers’, he would not get ‘everything right’, and the task would be ‘hard’ – pointing the finger at the Tories for ‘serving themselves’ and pleading with restive Labour supporters to take ‘pride’ in what they were achieving.
‘This is a long-term project, I’ve never pretended otherwise. But conference make no mistake, the work of change has begun,’ he said. ‘We’re only just getting started.’
Ahead of a showdown vote on winter fuel with unions tomorrow, Sir Keir told the hall that there would be ‘no return to Tory austerity’ and he would ‘protect working people’.
‘If you can’t take that on faith, perhaps because you’re concerned about the winter fuel allowance, then I get that,’ he said. ‘But the risk of showing to the world – as the Tories did, that this country does not fund its policies properly… that is a risk we can never take again.’
He argued that ‘every pensioner will be better off with Labour’ after the triple lock increase to the state pension.
In a nod to voters’ priorities, Sir Keir also highlighted his commitments to tackling high immigration and crack down on benefits fraud – although he again slammed the Rwanda plan and hinted that Britain will have to take more asylum seekers.
At one point Sir Keir was heckled from the audience – as happened to Rachel Reeves yesterday – quipping that the culprit ‘had a pass to the 2019 conference’.
The speech follows a torrid spell for Labour that saw any feelgood factor from the July election landslide abruptly disappear.
The party has spent weeks fielding difficult questions about the thousands of pounds of gifts received by Sir Keir and senior figures such as Rachel Reeves and Angela Rayner.
And unions and MPs are furious about the scrapping of winter fuel payments for 10million pensioners, with a vote at conference potentially happening tomorrow. Sir Keir will not be present – as he is dashing off to New York straight after the speech to attend the UN general assembly.
A new Savanta poll has found the premier’s personal ratings have plummeted 26 points since the summer, from a net plus 15 to minus 11.
Announcements in the speech include:
Before Sir Keir appeared activists were pumped up with a Star Wars-style display on the big screens of the list of constituencies Labour won on July 4.
The PM was then teed up with a video showing the events of election night, and his victory comments.
Striding on stage he compared the conference having the highest attendance in history to his first speech – to just a cameraman under Covid rule. ‘Do you remember? Most people don’t,’ he joked.
Sir Keir said he was aiming to ‘build a new Britain’, telling conference: ‘Built from that age-old spirit of creativity and enterprise. The pride and ambition of working people.
‘That when matched by a government of service, a decisive government, a government prepared to use its power for justice, opportunity and equal respect, can deliver a Britain that belongs to you.’
In his speech to the Labour faithful today in Liverpool, Sir Keir:
The PM said the Government has ‘clear, measurable targets’, adding: ‘Progress displayed publicly. So every single person in this country can judge our performance on actions not words.’
Sir Keir said there was also a need to protect from the ‘whims of Westminster, making sure we don’t get blown off course’.
He said ‘true service’ must ‘listen to people far beyond the walls of the state and empower them to make our country better’, adding: ‘Because trust me, that is without question the quickest way to clear away the Tory rot and build that Britain which belongs to you.’
Sir Keir acknowledged that many voters are ‘fed up’ with politics, adding: ‘I know this country is exhausted by and with politics.
‘I know that the cost-of-living crisis drew a veil over the joy and wonder in our lives and that people want respite and relief, and may even have voted Labour for that reason.’
The premier said: ‘First, we stabilise our economy, second we fix the foundations and third we build with pride and determination a Britain that belongs to you.
‘But it will be hard. That’s not rhetoric, it’s reality. It’s not just the financial black hole, the £22billion of unfunded spending commitments concealed from our country by the Tories.
‘It’s not just the societal black hole. Our public services decimated, communities held together with little more than goodwill.
‘It’s also the political black hole, because the politics of national renewal, they are collective.
‘They involve a shared struggle, a project that says to everyone: this will be tough in the short term, but in the long term is the right thing for our country and we all benefit from that.
‘To coin a phrase, we’re all in it together.’
But Sir Keir will not offer an apology for accepting more than £100,000-worth of freebies, with officials branding it a ‘vision’ speech.
Ministers have been shaken by a fall in business confidence following gloomy rhetoric about the state of the economy.
But the PM will say: ‘The truth is that if we take tough long-term decisions now, if we stick to the driving purpose behind everything we do: higher economic growth – so living standards rise in every community; our NHS facing the future – waiting lists at your hospital down; safer streets in your community; stronger borders; more opportunities for your children; clean British energy powering your home; making our country more secure… then that light at the end of this tunnel, that Britain that belongs to you, we get there much more quickly.’
Delivering her speech to Labour’s conference yesterday, the Chancellor also tried to sound more positive, claiming her ‘optimism for Britain burns brighter than ever’ and her ‘ambition knows no limits’.
Sir Keir will commit to ‘reduce both net migration and our economic dependency on it’, arguing: ‘I have never thought we should be relaxed about some sectors importing labour when there are millions of young people, ambitious and highly talented, who are desperate to work and contribute.’
The Prime Minister will also promise a new Fraud, Error and Debt Bill to modernise the Department for Work and Pensions, allowing it to recover money lost to fraud while protecting vulnerable claimants from mounting debts.
And he will honour a commitment to the people of Liverpool by promising that a Hillsborough Law will be introduced before the next anniversary of the April 1989 football stadium disaster which claimed the lives of 97 fans.
The law will introduce a legal duty of candour on public bodies, with the potential for criminal sanctions for officials or organisations which mislead or obstruct investigations.
Sir Keir will say: ‘A law for Liverpool. A law for the 97. A law that people should never have needed to fight so hard to get.’