Starmer: milestones are ‘an almighty challenge’
Starmer acknowledged the six milestones were an “almighty challenge”.
He said:
We face an almighty challenge to hit these milestones by the end of this parliament. Like I say we are starting from ground zero: waiting lists over 7 million, housing starts and permission the lowest for a decade, one in three children not ready for school at the age of five.”
Yes, they are risky for us. Country first party second, because that is something we have totally lost sight of in British politics and to be honest across Whitehall as well.
In language that reflected a phrase used by Donald Trump, Starmer went on:
I don’t think there is a swamp to be drained here but I do think that too many people in Whitehall are comfortable in the tepid bath of managed decline, have forgotten to paraphrase JFK that you choose change not because it is easy, but because it is hard.
Key events
Just to sum up Starmer set out a series of “milestones” he pledged to achieve over the course of this Parliament, including higher living standards, clean power by 20230, and cutting NHS waiting lists.
Building 1.5 million homes, putting “more police on the beat”, and giving every child the “best start in life”, were also listed as milestones.
Our preview is here.
And that’s it for today. Starmer has ended his speech.
The Labour party has posted this video trumpeting the six ‘missions’:
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch is not impressed with the speech.
Posting on X, she said:
The prime minister’s emergency reset confirms that Labour had 14 years in opposition and still weren’t ready for government:
Nothing concrete on immigration – because Labour have no plan to control numbers.
Fastest growth in the G7 in this parliament dropped – because of the hit to the economy from the budget.
Costly plans for energy decarbonisation watered-down – while poor pensioners lose their winter fuel payments.
And fewer than a third of Labour’s 13,000 neighbourhood police are actually new police officers.
This relaunch can’t hide the reality of a government that doesn’t know what it is doing.
Starmer insisted his milestones were not a reset of his priorities or confusing for the public to understand.
He told reporters: “I announced the missions two years ago as our five national missions to give a sense of purpose-driven Government, and like all of the strategies I have set down since I became Labour leader… we have had a strategy, we have had a plan and we have stuck to it.
“So those missions went down two years ago, we have stuck to them, I have just reiterated them now.”
He added: “We set out the milestones so that people can measure are we making proper progress on our missions, back to what we said two years ago and what will it feel like for me? Will I have more money in my pocket? Will I be able to get an appointment at the NHS if I need it?”
He went on: “These are, if you like, something for the public to use to hold us to account on what we say we can achieve on the missions in the first five years.
“And I will be absolutely straight about it, it is also designed to push and drive the reform that we are going to need if we are going to ensure that we bring about the change that is so desperately needed.”
Starmer is asked about Scotland’s plan to scrap the two-child benefit cap. He says he “will absolutely tackle child poverty”.
There is no “silver bullet” but that there will many reforms the government will make to tackle the issue.
Earlier Starmer insisted both legal and illegal migration would fall as he faced repeated questions from journalists about why the issue did not feature in the milestones he had set out.
Starmer told reporters: “We are going to drive down migration, both legal and illegal. That will only be done with a serious plan.
“We had a gimmick for a number of years called Rwanda. What happened? The numbers went up. We wasted a lot of money – £700 million – removing four volunteers to Rwanda. It didn’t work.
“The only way to make it work is to smash the gangs that are running the vile trade and that’s why we’ve invested so much in setting up the command that is needed to do that.”
He added the British public wanted “a serious plan to ensure we’ve got control of our borders, not arbitrary caps, not gimmicks”.
Starmer had earlier described the most recent migration figures as “shocking” and claimed the issue it did not feature in his milestones as reducing migration was one of the “foundational things that a government must do”.
Starmer pushed on his green energy pledges. Says his mission has not change. The party are sticking to the mission they unveiled two years ago.
He said: “clean energy pledge is exactly what is was in the election”.
“That has always been central to our mission,” he says, maintaining that there has been “no watering down”.
Starmer suggested that successful delivery of the government’s plans could counter the rise of populist politics.
Everyone can see there’s a growing impatience with traditional politics. Everyone can see how people are tired with those who fail to get the job done.
Now, populism isn’t the answer to Britain’s challenges. Easy answers won’t make our country strong.
But nobody can deny that this kind of politics feeds off real concerns
What people want from their politics, that hasn’t changed.
They want a stable economy, they want their country to be safe, their borders secure, more cash in their pockets, safer streets in their town, opportunities for their children, secure British energy in their home and an NHS that is fit for the future.
That is why we’ve set these missions. Missions to make our country strong, missions to make working people better off, missions this government will deliver.
Earlier, Starmer said bureaucratic “nonsense” hampered efforts to build major projects.
He said:
We haven’t built a reservoir for over 30 years, and even the projects we do approve are fought tooth and nail, nail and tooth, until you end up with the absurd spectacle of a £100 million bat tunnel holding up the country’s single biggest infrastructure project, driving up taxes and the cost of living beyond belief.
I’ll tell you now: this government will not accept this nonsense any more.
He set out a target of 150 major infrastructure projects to go along with the 1.5 million new homes promised in this Parliament.
That would “send a very clear message to the nimbies, the regulators, the blockers, the bureaucrats, the alliance of naysayers, the people who say ‘no, Britain can’t do this, we can’t get things done in our country’. We say to them: ‘You no longer have the upper hand, Britain says yes’. Because whether you like it or not, we are building a future for working people, making our country strong with stability, investment and reform,” he added.
Davey accuses government of ‘moving the goalposts’
Commenting after Starmer’s speech, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said:
After years of Conservative chaos, the people want real change instead of a government simply moving the goalposts.
The Liberal Democrats will hold this government’s feet to the fire on keeping its promises, most of all on fixing the NHS and care.
It was worrying to see no clear plan in these targets to make sure people can see a GP when they need to. Pledging to bring down waiting lists while neglecting GP services is like robbing Peter to pay Paul.
Millions are struggling to get through to their GP or having to wait weeks for an appointment, which just piles more pressure on our hospitals while people go without the care they need.
Starmer is asked whether Labour is rowing back on its green energy pledge but he bats this back.
There is no “watering down” but that it will be delivered.
Starmer has been asked if his plan is “confused” and there is suggestion his government does not know what it is doing- that this is yet of another plan of many other plans.
But Starmer maintains that the government will deliver and will bring back the change that is desperately needed.
Starmer everything will be prioritised and admits his plans are ambitious, especially the housing plans. “They talk, the talk but they do not walk, the walk,” referring to past governments and how they did not manage to make any change.
Starmer says will not employ gimmicks to deal with immigration but that they have a proper plan.
Starmer: milestones are ‘an almighty challenge’
Starmer acknowledged the six milestones were an “almighty challenge”.
He said:
We face an almighty challenge to hit these milestones by the end of this parliament. Like I say we are starting from ground zero: waiting lists over 7 million, housing starts and permission the lowest for a decade, one in three children not ready for school at the age of five.”
Yes, they are risky for us. Country first party second, because that is something we have totally lost sight of in British politics and to be honest across Whitehall as well.
In language that reflected a phrase used by Donald Trump, Starmer went on:
I don’t think there is a swamp to be drained here but I do think that too many people in Whitehall are comfortable in the tepid bath of managed decline, have forgotten to paraphrase JFK that you choose change not because it is easy, but because it is hard.
Downing Street has now shared a link to the six “missions” set out by the PM and you can read that here.
No 10 says these are:
Ambitious – but achievable – milestones we aim to reach by the end of this parliament.
Beth Rigby from Sky presses Starmer on the point of immigration saying that that he has not delivered.
But Starmer maintains that he will bring down illegal immigration. Says there are basics in government” and “one of them is security and security of our borders”.
“So immigration and control of immigration must be delivered,” he says.
“That is a foundational principle that any government must do. The job is absolutely integral to our plan.”
Now taking questions from journalists. First up Chris Mason from the BBC who asks about immigration.
Starmer says control of immigration must be delivered. He says the missions are integral to the plan and vows to bring immigration down.
I take that as the basic security that any government must deliver … The missions then sit on top of that.
Starmer says change and reform are coming, that’s what this plan means and confirms a target of 150 major infrastructure projects in the UK – and 1.5 million homes.
