UK
SIR KEIR PROMISES TO BE A BETTER TORY THAN THE TORIES
Starmer pledges 'take back control' Bill
Sir Keir Starmer is now making a policy announcement on devolution.
He says a Labour government would pass a "take back control" bill to give communities more local powers.
The Labour leader says he wants to embrace the "take back control" slogan of the 2016 Brexit referendum "and turn it into a solution".
He says that although he voted to remain in the EU, he understood the desire of Leave voters to "take back control and it's not an unreasonable demand".
"It's not unreasonable for us to recognise the desire of communities to stand on their own feet" he says.
"So we will embrace the take back control message - turn it from slogan into solution, from catchphrase into change - devolve new powers over employment, transport, energy, housing, culture and how councils run their finances.
"All this will be in a new take back control bill, a centrepiece of our first King's Speech".
Labour’s Starmer Promises to End ‘Sticking-Plaster Politics’
Emily Ashton
Thu, January 5, 2023
(Bloomberg) -- UK opposition leader Keir Starmer vowed to end an era of “sticking-plaster politics,” pointing to ongoing industrial action and pressure on the National Health Service as evidence that Westminster’s “short-term mindset” is failing the UK.
In a keynote speech in London on Thursday, the Labour Party leader pledged a “decade of national renewal” if he wins power in the next general election, and repurposed the language of Brexit with a promise of a “Take Back Control Bill” to revive local communities. He also insisted that Labour would repeal any new anti-strike legislation passed by the current government.
https://t.co/AsQWoq9POp pic.twitter.com/rkaFU7Ored
— Bloomberg UK (@BloombergUK) January 5, 2023
But Starmer warned that a Labour government “won’t be able to spend our way out of this mess,” saying there was “no substitute for a robust private sector, creating wealth in every community.”
Starmer’s new year address comes just one day after Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak set out his own priorities, pledging to repair and grow Britain’s economy, tackle immigration and improve health care. Both men are eager to hit the reset button on their leadership as they gear up for an election expected next year - and by Jan. 2025 at the latest.
The Tories will by then have been in power for 14 years and Starmer hopes to lead Labour back to victory. He is buoyed by polling that in recent months putting Labour ahead of the Conservatives by more than 20 points.
https://t.co/UrsCCOoLhH pic.twitter.com/iO3ayfoAJZ
— Bloomberg UK (@BloombergUK) January 5, 2023
Starmer is attempting to capitalize on voter frustration with the Tory government. In office for less than three months, Sunak is struggling to prove he has a strategy to deal with strikes affecting the NHS and rail services, while also wrestling with a record cost-of-living squeeze and an economy that may already be in recession.
Starmer reiterated a previous pledge to hand more powers to local communities if Labour takes charge, reviving a famous Vote Leave slogan from the 2016 Brexit referendum. “The control people want is control over their lives and their community,” he said. “It’s what ‘take back control’ meant.”
He was also clear in his opposition to proposed Conservative anti-strike legislation, which will be announced in the coming days and could allow employers in essential sectors to fire striking employees. “If it’s further restrictions, then we will repeal it,” Starmer said. “I don’t think the legislation is going to work.”
Focusing on a positive message after months of gloomy headlines, he said Labour wanted to “give people a sense of possibility again, light at the end of the tunnel.”
But he warned that the need for reform should not “be taken as code for Labour getting its big government checkbook out again.” The investment required to revitalize the UK must instead come from a vibrant private sector and a “completely new way of governing,” Starmer will say.
His comments — which echo Sunak’s call for a focus on innovation in his Wednesday speech — are the latest effort by Labour to portray itself as pro-business and lure back supporters who abandoned the party under the left-wing leadership of Starmer’s predecessor Jeremy Corbyn.
Starmer promised to set out more detail on specific policy areas in the coming weeks, vowing a more “relaxed” approach to “bringing in the expertise of public and private, business and union, town and city.”
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
Emily Ashton
Thu, January 5, 2023
(Bloomberg) -- UK opposition leader Keir Starmer vowed to end an era of “sticking-plaster politics,” pointing to ongoing industrial action and pressure on the National Health Service as evidence that Westminster’s “short-term mindset” is failing the UK.
In a keynote speech in London on Thursday, the Labour Party leader pledged a “decade of national renewal” if he wins power in the next general election, and repurposed the language of Brexit with a promise of a “Take Back Control Bill” to revive local communities. He also insisted that Labour would repeal any new anti-strike legislation passed by the current government.
https://t.co/AsQWoq9POp pic.twitter.com/rkaFU7Ored
— Bloomberg UK (@BloombergUK) January 5, 2023
But Starmer warned that a Labour government “won’t be able to spend our way out of this mess,” saying there was “no substitute for a robust private sector, creating wealth in every community.”
Starmer’s new year address comes just one day after Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak set out his own priorities, pledging to repair and grow Britain’s economy, tackle immigration and improve health care. Both men are eager to hit the reset button on their leadership as they gear up for an election expected next year - and by Jan. 2025 at the latest.
The Tories will by then have been in power for 14 years and Starmer hopes to lead Labour back to victory. He is buoyed by polling that in recent months putting Labour ahead of the Conservatives by more than 20 points.
https://t.co/UrsCCOoLhH pic.twitter.com/iO3ayfoAJZ
— Bloomberg UK (@BloombergUK) January 5, 2023
Starmer is attempting to capitalize on voter frustration with the Tory government. In office for less than three months, Sunak is struggling to prove he has a strategy to deal with strikes affecting the NHS and rail services, while also wrestling with a record cost-of-living squeeze and an economy that may already be in recession.
Starmer reiterated a previous pledge to hand more powers to local communities if Labour takes charge, reviving a famous Vote Leave slogan from the 2016 Brexit referendum. “The control people want is control over their lives and their community,” he said. “It’s what ‘take back control’ meant.”
He was also clear in his opposition to proposed Conservative anti-strike legislation, which will be announced in the coming days and could allow employers in essential sectors to fire striking employees. “If it’s further restrictions, then we will repeal it,” Starmer said. “I don’t think the legislation is going to work.”
Focusing on a positive message after months of gloomy headlines, he said Labour wanted to “give people a sense of possibility again, light at the end of the tunnel.”
But he warned that the need for reform should not “be taken as code for Labour getting its big government checkbook out again.” The investment required to revitalize the UK must instead come from a vibrant private sector and a “completely new way of governing,” Starmer will say.
His comments — which echo Sunak’s call for a focus on innovation in his Wednesday speech — are the latest effort by Labour to portray itself as pro-business and lure back supporters who abandoned the party under the left-wing leadership of Starmer’s predecessor Jeremy Corbyn.
Starmer promised to set out more detail on specific policy areas in the coming weeks, vowing a more “relaxed” approach to “bringing in the expertise of public and private, business and union, town and city.”
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
Starmer says Labour’s vision for government will not lead to big spending
By PA News Agency
A future Labour government will not “spend our way out” of the “mess” inherited from the Conservatives, Sir Keir Starmer will pledge.
The Labour leader is set to follow Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s vision-setting for the country by outlining his own blueprint for Britain in a new year speech in east London.
Sir Keir and his shadow cabinet have been keen to pour cold water on Conservative accusations that the party cannot be trusted with the economy.
He is expected to tell an audience in Stratford that his fresh pledges “should not be “taken as code for Labour getting its big government chequebook out again”.
We won’t be able to spend our way out of their mess – it’s not as easy as thatLabour leader Sir Keir Starmer
He is expected to say: “Of course, investment is required – I can see the damage the Tories have done to our public services as plainly as anyone.
“But we won’t be able to spend our way out of their mess – it’s not as easy as that.
“There is no substitute for a robust, private sector, creating wealth in every community.”
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves echoed that sentiment during an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme in which she said Labour would have to use both investment and reforms to sort Britain’s current woes.
“We know we can’t make all the changes we want to see overnight,” she said.
“The neglect of our health service and the failure to grow our economy these last 13 years means an incoming Labour government is going to face a tough inheritance.
“But, with Labour, the cavalry is coming.”
By PA News Agency
A future Labour government will not “spend our way out” of the “mess” inherited from the Conservatives, Sir Keir Starmer will pledge.
The Labour leader is set to follow Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s vision-setting for the country by outlining his own blueprint for Britain in a new year speech in east London.
Sir Keir and his shadow cabinet have been keen to pour cold water on Conservative accusations that the party cannot be trusted with the economy.
He is expected to tell an audience in Stratford that his fresh pledges “should not be “taken as code for Labour getting its big government chequebook out again”.
We won’t be able to spend our way out of their mess – it’s not as easy as thatLabour leader Sir Keir Starmer
He is expected to say: “Of course, investment is required – I can see the damage the Tories have done to our public services as plainly as anyone.
“But we won’t be able to spend our way out of their mess – it’s not as easy as that.
“There is no substitute for a robust, private sector, creating wealth in every community.”
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves echoed that sentiment during an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme in which she said Labour would have to use both investment and reforms to sort Britain’s current woes.
“We know we can’t make all the changes we want to see overnight,” she said.
“The neglect of our health service and the failure to grow our economy these last 13 years means an incoming Labour government is going to face a tough inheritance.
“But, with Labour, the cavalry is coming.”
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said reforms would have to help drive changes as well as spending (James Manning/PA)
Asked whether Labour would get close to the £70 billion extra that the Health Foundation charity has estimated will be required by the NHS by 2030, Ms Reeves pointed to the financial chaos that ensued during the short tenure of former prime minister Liz Truss.
“So much that we want to do requires money, but so much also requires reform of our public services,” she said.
Such reforms could involve increasing the amount of spare private health sector capacity the NHS currently uses, Ms Reeves confirmed.
Put to her that some within the Labour Party might consider such a stance to be “privatisation by the back door”, Ms Reeves added: “It is absolutely not.
“It is not fair that, if you don’t have the money and resources, you are waiting for months and months, sometimes years, to get hospital operations. I won’t allow that.”
Sir Keir’s first speech of 2023 comes a day after the Prime Minister delivered his own address, promising to halve inflation, deal with NHS waiting lists, and tackle small boats crossing the English Channel
Asked whether Labour would get close to the £70 billion extra that the Health Foundation charity has estimated will be required by the NHS by 2030, Ms Reeves pointed to the financial chaos that ensued during the short tenure of former prime minister Liz Truss.
“So much that we want to do requires money, but so much also requires reform of our public services,” she said.
Such reforms could involve increasing the amount of spare private health sector capacity the NHS currently uses, Ms Reeves confirmed.
Put to her that some within the Labour Party might consider such a stance to be “privatisation by the back door”, Ms Reeves added: “It is absolutely not.
“It is not fair that, if you don’t have the money and resources, you are waiting for months and months, sometimes years, to get hospital operations. I won’t allow that.”
Sir Keir’s first speech of 2023 comes a day after the Prime Minister delivered his own address, promising to halve inflation, deal with NHS waiting lists, and tackle small boats crossing the English Channel
.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak gave his first major domestic speech of 2023 at Plexal, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in east London (Stefan Rousseau/PA)
The Opposition leader is expected to pledge to create the “sort of hope you can build your future around”.
Speaking about the future of the country, Sir Keir is set to say: “This new year, let us imagine what we could achieve if we match the ambition of the British people, unlock their pride and their purpose, give them an economy and a politics they deserve.
“That’s why I say Britain needs a completely new way of governing.
“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.”
On the NHS, the Labour leader will talk about how the crises affecting the country have each been “an iceberg on the horizon”.
The new approach to governing will be driven by “national missions”, which Labour is expected to set out in the coming weeks, and which the Opposition will use to build its next election manifesto.
Conservative Party chairman Nadhim Zahawi said the speech will be “yet another desperate relaunch attempt”.
“Every week he changes his position depending on what he thinks is popular – from supporting free movement to supporting the unions, he’ll say anything if the politics suits him,” he said.
“He should stop giving cliche-laden speeches and, instead, finally unveil a plan for people’s priorities.”
The Opposition leader is expected to pledge to create the “sort of hope you can build your future around”.
Speaking about the future of the country, Sir Keir is set to say: “This new year, let us imagine what we could achieve if we match the ambition of the British people, unlock their pride and their purpose, give them an economy and a politics they deserve.
“That’s why I say Britain needs a completely new way of governing.
“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.”
On the NHS, the Labour leader will talk about how the crises affecting the country have each been “an iceberg on the horizon”.
The new approach to governing will be driven by “national missions”, which Labour is expected to set out in the coming weeks, and which the Opposition will use to build its next election manifesto.
Conservative Party chairman Nadhim Zahawi said the speech will be “yet another desperate relaunch attempt”.
“Every week he changes his position depending on what he thinks is popular – from supporting free movement to supporting the unions, he’ll say anything if the politics suits him,” he said.
“He should stop giving cliche-laden speeches and, instead, finally unveil a plan for people’s priorities.”
Labour will not open ‘big government chequebook’, Starmer to say
Party leader’s new year speech to promise ‘national renewal’ if elected but stress role of private sector too
The words echo the message from his shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, who has suggested using private health providers to bring down NHS waiting lists. But that idea has not proved popular with all the party’s MPs – on Wednesday, the shadow health minister Rosena Allin-Khan repeatedly refused to back the increased use of the private sector in the health service.
On Wednesday, Sunak set out five pledges against which he urged voters to judge him. Starmer has been more cautious about setting out specific promises, but on Thursday he will promise a Labour government would be “driven by clear, measurable objectives”.
He will add: “We will announce these missions in the coming weeks – our manifesto will be built around them. And they will be the driving force of the next Labour government.”
Party leader’s new year speech to promise ‘national renewal’ if elected but stress role of private sector too
Keir Starmer, pictured with the shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, will warn that ‘we won’t be able to spend our way out of [the Tories’] mess’ in his new year speech. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA
Kiran Stacey
Kiran Stacey
Wed 4 Jan 2023
Labour will not open the “big government chequebook” in an attempt to repair Britain’s faltering public services if it wins the next election, Keir Starmer will warn.
In a new year speech in London on Thursday, setting out his principles for government, the Labour leader will promise a “decade of national renewal” if the party returns to government. But he will deny that the country’s problems can be fixed by more spending, even as doctors say the NHS is in crisis and strikes bring a number of public services to their knees.
Starmer will say: “We can give people a sense of possibility again, show light at the end of the tunnel.”
But he will add: “None of this should be taken as code for Labour getting its big government chequebook out again.
“Of course investment is required – I can see the damage the Tories have done to our public services as plainly as anyone. But we won’t be able to spend our way out of their mess – it’s not as easy as that. There is no substitute for a robust private sector, creating wealth in every community.”
Starmer’s speech comes a day after Rishi Sunak set out his own vision for Britain in a sprawling speech that touched on everything from graffiti to inflation to teaching maths in schools.
The prime minister promised to halve inflation this year, as well as to oversee an increase in growth and a decrease in national debt as a proportion of GDP. But he has been criticised for underplaying the problems plaguing the NHS, which doctors say could be causing as many as 500 avoidable deaths each week.
On Wednesday, Sunak admitted waiting lists were too long, but rejected the suggestions that elective surgeries should be cancelled to bring them down.
Starmer will talk about the multiple crises facing the government as an “iceberg on the horizon”, warning that the problems with public services are being exacerbated by short-term solutions from Westminster.
He will hint at plans to decentralise power, saying: “I call it ‘sticking plaster politics’. This year, we’re going to show how real change comes from unlocking the pride and purpose of Britain’s communities.”
“No more Westminster hoarding power, no more holding back this country’s economic potential,” he will add.
Starmer will also risk the anger of some of his MPs by speaking warmly about the idea of public-private partnerships, promising “a new approach to the power of government [that is] more relaxed about bringing in the expertise of public and private, business and union, town and city”.
Labour will not open the “big government chequebook” in an attempt to repair Britain’s faltering public services if it wins the next election, Keir Starmer will warn.
In a new year speech in London on Thursday, setting out his principles for government, the Labour leader will promise a “decade of national renewal” if the party returns to government. But he will deny that the country’s problems can be fixed by more spending, even as doctors say the NHS is in crisis and strikes bring a number of public services to their knees.
Starmer will say: “We can give people a sense of possibility again, show light at the end of the tunnel.”
But he will add: “None of this should be taken as code for Labour getting its big government chequebook out again.
“Of course investment is required – I can see the damage the Tories have done to our public services as plainly as anyone. But we won’t be able to spend our way out of their mess – it’s not as easy as that. There is no substitute for a robust private sector, creating wealth in every community.”
Starmer’s speech comes a day after Rishi Sunak set out his own vision for Britain in a sprawling speech that touched on everything from graffiti to inflation to teaching maths in schools.
The prime minister promised to halve inflation this year, as well as to oversee an increase in growth and a decrease in national debt as a proportion of GDP. But he has been criticised for underplaying the problems plaguing the NHS, which doctors say could be causing as many as 500 avoidable deaths each week.
On Wednesday, Sunak admitted waiting lists were too long, but rejected the suggestions that elective surgeries should be cancelled to bring them down.
Starmer will talk about the multiple crises facing the government as an “iceberg on the horizon”, warning that the problems with public services are being exacerbated by short-term solutions from Westminster.
He will hint at plans to decentralise power, saying: “I call it ‘sticking plaster politics’. This year, we’re going to show how real change comes from unlocking the pride and purpose of Britain’s communities.”
“No more Westminster hoarding power, no more holding back this country’s economic potential,” he will add.
Starmer will also risk the anger of some of his MPs by speaking warmly about the idea of public-private partnerships, promising “a new approach to the power of government [that is] more relaxed about bringing in the expertise of public and private, business and union, town and city”.
The words echo the message from his shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, who has suggested using private health providers to bring down NHS waiting lists. But that idea has not proved popular with all the party’s MPs – on Wednesday, the shadow health minister Rosena Allin-Khan repeatedly refused to back the increased use of the private sector in the health service.
On Wednesday, Sunak set out five pledges against which he urged voters to judge him. Starmer has been more cautious about setting out specific promises, but on Thursday he will promise a Labour government would be “driven by clear, measurable objectives”.
He will add: “We will announce these missions in the coming weeks – our manifesto will be built around them. And they will be the driving force of the next Labour government.”
No comments:
Post a Comment