Tag: John Slinger

  • John Slinger – 2026 Speech on Getting Britain Working Again

    John Slinger – 2026 Speech on Getting Britain Working Again

    The speech made by John Slinger, the Labour MP for Rugby, in the House of Commons on 14 May 2026.

    I do not know if colleagues noticed, but a lot of rhetoric and rumours have been flying around Westminster recently. MPs have been huddled in the Tea Room and the corridors, whispering feverishly—tensions are high. After all the anticipation and the angst, today was the day. Rumour became reality.

    Members will have guessed it: today it was announced that, for the start of 2026, we had the fastest GDP per capita growth in four years. In Q1, the UK’s growth was the fastest of six G7 nations for which we have data. Reports of the economy being in demise under the stewardship of my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer have been greatly exaggerated, as have reports of the political demise of my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister. Today’s good economic news matters for my constituents in Rugby. Economic growth matters for jobs and public services, for tackling the cost of living and much more.

    The Labour party is aptly named: labour, work. It is a party founded to represent working people in this House of Commons. We want people to work, and we are doing much to help people find work, to help people who face challenges of all kinds to get into work, to ensure that all have dignity when they are in work, to help them navigate a rapidly changing world of work and to ensure compassion and support for those who cannot work but who can still contribute and lead fulfilling lives. Because we are Labour we believe in an active state, not in the laissez-faire approach of the Conservatives or the money-from-who-knows-where approach of Reform UK. We believe in work.

    It is easy for people in here and for people outside to assume things about someone’s professional and work background. Even I have made that mistake. After reading the Reform UK leaflets that came through my door about the local elections, emblazoned with the face of the hon. Member for Clacton (Nigel Farage), I made the schoolboy error of thinking that, given his mythical status as a man of the people, his work background was varied, perhaps even working class. It turns out that this tribune of the people was a commodities trader in the City of London—nothing wrong with that.

    I would not want hon. Members to assume anything about my professional background. To misquote President Reagen in 1984, I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponents’ inexperience in blue collar jobs. My career has been varied. I did a paper round, I have been a gardener, I have done farmwork, I worked in a cinema, and I share with the Leader of the Opposition the fact that I worked in a McDonald’s restaurant for several years, although not the same one as her. I have been a waiter and a bartender, I was a hospital porter for two years, and I even worked here 20 years ago for Labour MPs. However, I have spent most of my career in the private sector in strategic communications consultancy.

    I say that because all jobs are important. All add value—public or private, blue or white collar, full time or part time. From our teenage years, they teach us that our labour is valuable and that we can benefit not only ourselves but the wider community. Members across the House will know that I have spoken many times about engaging young people and ensuring they have the best start in life. That has been a core tenet of my philosophy as an MP, and I am pleased to see it reflected in the King’s Speech, with policies that give young people more freedom, more opportunity and more hope, because building the foundations of a young life through work helps us strengthen the foundations of our country.

    In the Prime Minister’s much analysed speech on Monday, he described a vision to relentlessly pursue opportunities for our young people, promising a closer relationship with Europe, where young people can benefit from the Erasmus+ scheme and a new youth experience programme, which I strongly commend. He placed an even greater emphasis on young people: we will invest in apprenticeships, technical excellence colleges and a guaranteed offer of a job, training or work placement for every young person. Those measures will be brought forward in Bills announced in the King’s Speech.

    I welcome this Government’s laser focus on getting Britain working because, sadly, the latest official statistics make for depressing reading. They show that nearly 1 million 16 to 24-year-olds are not in education, employment or training. I want to see that figure come down, as I am sure all Members do. Not only does this situation rob young people of opportunity; it also risks condemning them to a life of inactivity, reliant on the state for their needs. That is unfair both to them and to the rest of the tax-paying population. The costs are borne by the individual, too. Analysis suggests that someone who is long-term unemployed loses around £1 million in lifetime earnings, which is absolutely shocking.

    Make no mistake, Madam Deputy Speaker: the scale of the problem is a direct consequence of 14 years of Tory rule. Under their watch, the number of 16 to 24-year-olds who are not in education, employment or training rose from 673,000 to 921,000. Shamefully, young people were written off, while the enormous benefits bill continued to grow. The Green party attracts those who are disillusioned with the status quo, but it offers no concrete pathways into work or training. I cannot see Reform offering anything substantial either, apart from Orwellian, un-British slogans about “remoralising” our youth. Young people do not need their morals recalibrated by that party or any other.

    Young people already have the initiative and the talent; they just need to be encouraged and helped. The Bills and measures announced in the King’s Speech will do just that and go beyond what this Government have already achieved to tackle the national scandal of young people being written off: the youth guarantee, backed by £820 million of new funding; hundreds of thousands of new training and work experience placements; and a new jobs guarantee that fully subsidises six months of paid employment for 18 to 21-year-olds who are long-term unemployed and on universal credit. Alan Milburn’s review seeks to dig deeper into this issue, and I have been in touch with him to contribute to the much-needed work he is conducting with the Secretary of State.

    I have previously spoken in Parliament about driving job creation for young people. I have visited Rugby College in my constituency and met with Intec Business Colleges, and I am campaigning for a youth hub that will offer employment advice and wellbeing support. I recently supported Jobcentre Plus and the DWP in organising a well-attended jobs fair in Rugby. I want to do all I can to help everyone right across my constituency into work.

    However, young people need more attention, resources and empowerment. They and their needs must be elevated in the decision-making process and the lawmaking process, as we govern more widely, and among other stakeholders in society. To co-ordinate that, I hope the Government will consider going further by appointing a youth commissioner, or even better, a dedicated Cabinet Minister for young people and the future generations. Such a role would scrutinise the work of Government, so that the benefits and trade-offs are assessed against the needs of young people and the future generations, ensuring that every decision takes their future into account. Their demographic is too often overlooked, but the legislation set out in the King’s Speech offers the Government an opportunity to give young people a genuine voice.

    Since January last year, I have been making the case for what I call a youth triple lock—a commitment to protecting and expanding the opportunities for young people in the same way that we protect pensioners. That idea is also supported by my hon. Friend the Member for York Outer (Mr Charters). It could include free bus travel, increasing maintenance loans above inflation or a voucher scheme for constructive activities—answers on a postcard.

    Before I draw my remarks to a conclusion, I want to pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Jarrow and Gateshead East (Kate Osborne) for her moving words about her autism diagnosis. I am sure it is a difficult thing to speak publicly about.

    The Government should take this moment, and be bold in their approach. The Prime Minister set out on Monday that we can no longer continue with the status quo, or go back to the status quo ante, and that we must bring urgency to everything we do. I am glad we have a Chancellor, a Prime Minister, a Government and a parliamentary Labour party committed to ensuring that young people are empowered to become the architects and owners of the future, not merely tenants of one built by others. This is work in progress. This King’s Speech shows that Labour is the party of work, and we are making progress.

  • John Slinger – 2026 Comments about Keir Starmer’s Leadership

    John Slinger – 2026 Comments about Keir Starmer’s Leadership

    The comments made by John Slinger, the Labour MP for Rugby, on 11 May 2026.

    I haven’t ever equivocated or hedged my bets about whether Keir Starmer should remain Prime Minister.

    I’ve always been clear: he must stay.

    Here’s why.

    Keir was the right person to lead Labour after Jeremy Corbyn, the right leader to change the Labour Party and make us electable again, and definitely the right leader in government.

    I’ve not supported the Prime Minister for personal gain, nor because I’ve been told to, and certainly not to make myself popular either within the Labour Party or with the public. I’ve done so, and continue to do so, because I believe, sincerely, that Keir is the right person to lead our country.

    I completely understand that some colleagues in the Parliamentary Labour Party, the wider party and many members of the public don’t share my view. I respect their views, but I want people to understand why I support Keir Starmer. As a party, and as a country, we need to learn to disagree agreeably. We must set a good example at this difficult time.

    What the Prime Minister’s speech told us

    Over the last few days, following the local election results, and before the PM’s speech today, I set out my thinking in LabourList and on my Substack. Keir’s speech today has only reinforced my belief that he should stay as Prime Minister.

    In the Prime Minister’s speech we saw more of the person, a man from a working class background, who has committed himself to public service. We saw passion, someone who knows that this isn’t just the fight of his political life, but one far more important than that. He said he will “never stop fighting for the decent, respectful, diverse country that I love, I will never give up on the hope we can unlock in this country.” He has accepted responsibility as a leader, but rightly acknowledges that taking responsibility must include responsibility for taking action to resolve things. And finally, the plan: whether on the vital need for us as a country not to go back to the status quo ante after this recent Iran war-related crisis, but to make the long term changes we need to make, or closer ties to Europe, or much more support for our younger and future generations, with far more to come on Wednesday.

    A complete break with the past

    In moving beyond the status quo, in his speech today, the PM set out that we need a “complete break” with the past. He set out that we need to build a stronger and fairer country. He mentioned renationalising British Steel, he spoke of strengthening ever further our vital relationship with the European Union, and he spoke movingly about the need to offer a brighter future for our young people, in which every young person can realise their potential.

    This last point has been one of my priorities since becoming an MP. As long ago as January 2025 I called for a Youth Triple Lock and for more resources and attention to be directed towards young people. I’ve been calling for this repeatedly since then, as well as for a Cabinet level Minister for the Younger and Future Generations.

    Action this day

    We’ll hear more from the Prime Minister and the government on Wednesday with the King’s Speech, which will set out our legislative programme for the next session of Parliament. The Prime Minister was clear in his speech that we must bring the same urgency with which the government acted over the Scunthorpe steelworks to “everything now”. This is something I wholeheartedly agree with, and I myself called for an “action this day” approach to government that takes a wartime mentality, much like the one that Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister Darren Jones spoke about recently when he said we need the Covid vaccine taskforce model to be applied across Whitehall.

    The mainstream parties such as Labour must be able to demonstrate clearly to the public that democratic government should, can and will change their lives for the better, and that impediments to this will be overcome.

    Why I oppose calls for the Prime Minister to resign

    In addition to what I’ve already written about the Labour leadership, here’s why I support Keir Starmer as Prime Minister and oppose calls for him to resign, or to set out a timetable to resign.

    Despite being hugely talented, and potentially being leadership material, none of the alternative leaders mentioned have set out their stall effectively enough on how to resolve the deep-set problems facing our country. What is at stake is the political leadership of the fifth largest economy in the world. The public expect us to treat this accordingly. We seem to be talking about the leadership of the Labour Party as if it’s something that can just be given to people relatively casually, rather like the presidency of a debating society.

    Keir Starmer is not an accidental leader. He won a leadership election, reformed the Labour Party to ensure it was electable again, led us through opposition into an election campaign, won a huge majority and has led the country through a difficult period.

    Why I wouldn’t support a challenge, even if there were credible alternatives
    Even if there were a phalanx of alternatives, of “big beasts”, each capable of being Prime Minister and having set out their strategic vision, I would still not support a leadership challenge. Why?

    Firstly, Keir Starmer has been a good leader, a good Prime Minister, who has begun the mammoth task of rebuilding a country reeling from years of underinvestment, deep-set structural problems and a deeply unstable international environment. He’s led a government that has stabilised and grown the economy, invested in public services, begun to carry out the long-term strategic reforms of our health system and our infrastructure, brought down NHS waiting lists, increased workers’ rights and the minimum and national living wage, and much more.

    Secondly, the public would not forgive us for plunging the country back into the chaos that beset the last Conservative government, when they thought that replacing Prime Ministers would solve the country’s problems. We need stability and we need a grown-up approach to governing, and also to levelling with the public about the challenges that we face and what will be necessary to resolve them.

    Another reason is how this must make us look internationally at a time of great peril overseas. Leaders and populations of foreign countries must be looking on aghast as some of my colleagues consider defenestrating a leader who won a major majority pretty much at the first sign of trouble, less than two years after he won big.

    The political moment demands seriousness

    We mustn’t replicate in politics, when the stakes are so high, some of the worst elements of the modern age: doomscrolling on social media, doom-headlining in the media, unrealistic demands for simple solutions to complex problems, looking to blame others rather than accept our own responsibility, a lack of decorum in political debate, or allowing frustration to turn into destructive anger and recrimination rather than into resolve to tackle challenges and unlock opportunities.

    Pinning all our current problems as a government or as a country on the Prime Minister is unreasonable. It’s about all of us in the Parliamentary Labour Party, and in the wider labour movement, pulling together and accepting our responsibility. The Prime Minister has a responsibility, but so do cabinet ministers, ministers and MPs to set out the vision of this Labour government and to persuade the public about what we are doing. More widely, all of us in the party should now pull together, rally behind this Labour Prime Minister, and this Labour government, which is already delivering huge change in our country.

    That is what I will be focused on, in supporting the Prime Minister in doing.