Sir Keir Starmer said there will be difficult decisions ahead but he insisted there is light at the end of the tunnel in a conference speech aimed at injecting some hope into his warnings over Labour’s economic inheritance.
It was an attempt by the Prime Minister to balance the messaging of the past few weeks with a note of optimism amid criticism that repeated warnings of tough choices to come in the Budget and a £22 billion “fiscal black hole” have been too gloomy.
Over the course of a wide-ranging speech, the key moments were:
– Sir Keir insisted “staying the course” and “keeping a cool head” during challenging times will be better for the country in the long term than “easy answers.” He attempted to lay out why short-term pain is necessary in order to reap long-term benefits and, following concerns over how long Britain will suffer for before the picture brightens, said “change has begun” already.
– But he again signalled further difficult decisions to come in the autumn Budget, insisting people must “face the storm” in order to make a “Britain built to last” – though he repeated his election promise that VAT, national insurance and income tax will not be hiked.
– The PM dedicated a significant section of his speech to condemning the rioting over the summer, drawing some of his loudest applause from the conference hall when he said the UK “rejects” those involved in violent thuggery and calling out “vile” racism.
– He announced that GB Energy, the Government’s publicly-owned green power company, will be headquartered in Aberdeen. This was listed among other action he said the Labour administration is taking to usher in a decade of “national renewal”, including planning reforms, ending the doctors’ strike and a plan to nationalise the railways.
– In a message with emotional significance in Liverpool, he confirmed the Government will bring forward a Hillsborough Law by the time of the next anniversary of the 1989 football stadium disaster in April.
– A heckler who interrupted his speech was met with a prepared joke about the Jeremy Corbyn era from the Prime Minister, following an incident at last year’s annual conference when he was sprayed with glitter by a protester during his speech, with Sir Keir responding on Tuesday: “This guy’s obviously got a pass to the 2019 conference.”
– But a renewed appeal for the release of hostages in Gaza was delivered less smoothly, with the Prime Minister instead calling for the release of the “sausages” in remarks that were swiftly clipped up on social media by the Tories.
– Sir Keir joined Chancellor Rachel Reeves in doubling down on the Government’s decision to means-test the winter fuel payment, insisting “every pensioner will be better off with Labour”, but adding that he understands people’s concerns.
– His keynote address lasted 54 minutes, slightly shorter than his 56-minute speech delivered at Labour’s 2023 conference. Compared with recent party conference speeches by newly elected prime ministers, Sir Keir spoke for a shorter time than Rishi Sunak (an hour and four minutes in 2023) and Theresa May (58 minutes in 2016), but for longer than Liz Truss in 2022 (35 minutes), Boris Johnson in 2019 (40 minutes) and David Cameron in 2010 (52 minutes).
