Tag: Keir Starmer

The speech made by Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, on 16 January 2021.

Good morning.

I think this is the fifth time that I’ve spoken at your New Year Conference. A lot has happened in that time. Two General Elections, a referendum, and a couple of Labour leadership elections too!

In fact, this time last year I was rushing back to speak to you after the first leadership hustings in Liverpool. It seems another lifetime ago.

Of course I wish we could all be here in person today…but I want to thank everyone at the Fabian Society for making this happen – virtually – today.

There’s no getting away from it: 2020 was an awful year. And 2021 hasn’t started any better. We’re in the darkest moments of the pandemic – 1,000 people are dying every day. Businesses are closed. Our high streets are empty. People can’t see their families or their loved ones.

This wasn’t inevitable. And it isn’t bad luck

What we’re seeing now is the consequences of the PM’s decisions during those crucial days in December. When he ignored the science and was so slow to act.

It’s a national tragedy. And we need a national effort now to get through this.

But amid all the darkness there are two reasons to be optimistic:

First, the vaccine. Second, in four days’ time, Trump will no longer be President.

And it’s the second of those I want to talk about today. Because, this isn’t a normal transition of power from one President to another. The pictures on our TVs in the last few weeks make that clear. The outgoing President is in the middle of being impeached: charged with incitement to violence, no less. And the US is more divided than at any time I can remember.

Amid all that, this is a moment of huge optimism. Of hope winning out over hate.

And it can also be a turning point. Not just in America but also for Britain’s relationship with the US, and for global politics

Last week I set out Labour’s immediate policy priorities for this year. And I’m going to be saying much more in the coming weeks about Britain’s role in the world. I also want to thank Lisa Nandy – who’s speaking here this afternoon – for all the work she’s doing on this.

Today, I want to set out the principles that will drive us.

First, Labour’s foreign policy will always be rooted in our values. We’re proudly patriotic. And we’re proudly internationalist too. I believe that after a decade of global retreat Britain needs to be a far stronger and more confident voice on the international stage.

Because even before the pandemic we faced huge global challenges from the rise of authoritarianism whether in Russia or China; from nationalist, xenophobic populism whether in Europe, South America and the US as well as global terrorism, rising poverty, inequality and human rights abuse, plus, of course, the single biggest foreign policy challenge of our time: the climate emergency.

Faced with that, I don’t believe Britain should step back from our international responsibilities, pull up the drawbridge, retreat. Or to break our promises to the world’s poorest and most vulnerable.

It’s why I’m so angry – and why Britain should be so ashamed – that Boris Johnson has broken his manifesto promise to keep the 0.7% target for international aid.

That decision will harm Britain’s standing, reduce our global reach and of course it betrays our commitment to the world’s poorest. Instead, I believe Britain can – and must – be a moral force for good in the world. Self-confident, outward-looking and optimistic. Building global coalitions for social, economic and climate justice. Protecting global human rights. Championing international development. Trading with the world. And leading the fight against climate change.

That’s the vision I have of global Britain – a country that keeps our word and defends international law.

But of course, we can only achieve that if we work with our global partners, if we strengthen international institutions – NATO, the UN, the WHO, and if we’re clear and confident about our values.

I care passionately about this. I was a human rights lawyer for 20 years and I worked in many countries around the world so defending human rights and international law will always be incredibly important to me. It’s also clear to me that all the major problems we face, including of course a global vaccine programme, can only be solved if countries work together.

Britain hosts the G7 this year. That’s a huge opportunity to shape the recovery, to bring countries together, in order to secure and rebuild our economy and to repair our climate.

Britain needs to seize this chance to lead in the world again. Just as Blair and Brown did over global poverty and the financial crisis, that’s what Britain can achieve. #

But Boris Johnson has spent the last few years cosying up to people who don’t have Britain’s interests at heart – thumbing his nose at our friends, breaking international law and courting the idea that he’s “Britain’s Trump”.

As a result he’s on the wrong side of the times and he’s out of step with Britain’s interests. And just when Britain needs to be leading the global recovery Johnson has left us isolated from those we have stood shoulder to shoulder with over the past century.

Our job now is to repair that breach and to rebuild alliances. So you can see why I’m counting down the days to a new President in the White House. In particular, one who is also internationalist, multilateralist and wants to work together on tackling issues such as the climate emergency.

In short, a President who is everything that we haven’t seen for the last four years.

Our relationship with the US matters to me enormously. I’m anti-Trump but I’m pro-American. And I’m incredibly optimistic about the new relationship we can build with President Biden.

America is our most important security ally, we have a shared history, we face shared challenges and so many of our citizens have families on both sides of the Atlantic.

So it’s crucial that we also have a strong future together on everything from global security, climate change, aid and trade.

I believe that Britain’s national interest lies in once again being the bridge between the US and the rest of Europe. I believe we’re at our strongest when we link our two closest partners together, when we are confident in our shared values and when we work as one to achieve our common goals:

Strengthening the global economy

Delivering social justice and

Fighting climate change

I know that Labour can do that, to be pro-American, pro-European and internationalist. Looking out to the world, defending our values and building strong alliances.

But after ten years of Conservative government, after Trump, and after Brexit, it’s clear that both parts of that bridge need urgent repairs.

First, this Government’s relationship with the incoming administration won’t be helped by how close Boris Johnson and his Cabinet were to President Trump.

Remember in May 2018 when Boris Johnson said that Trump should be candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize? He wasn’t a backbencher then or a columnist. He was Foreign Secretary.

Of course, Michael Gove went to Trump Towers to do a fawning interview and the Defence Secretary – Ben Wallace – gave an interview just a few weeks ago saying how he would “miss” President Trump.

Personally, I don’t think that’s how you show how pro-American are you, stand up for our national interest or defend British values. And it is certainly isn’t my idea of how to build alliances.

And then there’s the second part of the bridge we need to rebuild: with the rest of Europe.

I’ve spent the last three conferences here talking about Brexit so I’m not sure you want to hear too much about it again! But I do want to say this:

We have left the EU – that issue is now settled – but we will always be European and I, and the Labour Party, will always be an internationalist party. We can now write a new chapter with our European friends and partners and build on the deal that’s been agreed.

I want that to be a close economic relationship rooted in our values, based on high standards and with protections for businesses, for working people and the environment.

Of course, Boris Johnson will never do that. He wants something completely different from Brexit. To deregulate, to lower standards, to slash rights.

And we’re already seeing that workers’ rights are at risk. The 48-hour week and the Working Time Directive could be ripped up. Of course that would break clear and repeated promises by Boris Johnson and Michael Gove. But when has that stopped them?

Labour and the trade union movement will fight this tooth and nail. We’ll always stand up for workers’ rights and environmental protections. And we’ll make the case that a strong, close relationship with Europe is still possible. Not as members, but as partners and that Labour would build that in government.

Breaking down barriers to trade for our businesses and protecting rights for working people.

These are incredibly turbulent times in British and global politics. But there is cause for optimism. And I know that Labour can set a new path for this country – patriotic, internationalist and rooted in our values.

Boris Johnson has left us isolated and alienated from our allies but I know Labour can rebuild both parts of that bridge:

Working closely with a new US President

Building a strong relationship with Europe

And making Britain – once again – a moral force for good in the world.

The comments made by Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, on 14 January 2021.

I would like to thank Richard for his service to our party and his unwavering commitment to the values he believes in.

Richard has led Scottish Labour through one of the most challenging and difficult periods in our country’s history, including a general election and the pandemic.

Even from opposition he has achieved a considerable amount for which he should be very proud. This includes securing a commitment for the creation of a national care service, securing action on a Jobs Guarantee Scheme to deal with youth unemployment, securing a human-rights based public inquiry into the treatment of care home residents during the COVID pandemic and securing support for a Fair Rents Bill to give new rights to tenants.

He has done so with dedication to the values of our movement.

I wish Richard the very best for the future as one of our MSPs and know that he will continue to play an important role in Scottish Labour.

The speech made by Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, on 11 January 2021.

Good morning.

This is a critical moment in our battle against Coronavirus.

Yesterday, there were 55,000 new infections.

32,000 people were in hospital with Covid.

And tragically, over the weekend 1,600 people lost their lives to this dreadful virus.

In the months to come I want to set out the better, fairer Britain I know we can build together.

But between us and that better future, stands a huge national effort.

And today I want to focus on that.

The government’s task is clear.

To deliver the vaccine as quickly and as safely as possible.

And to secure the economy, by protecting family incomes and supporting businesses.

As the vaccine is rolled out, we all have a part to play.

We have to stay at home.

We have to follow the guidance.

And we have to protect our amazing NHS.

I appreciate how hard another lockdown will be.

For the millions who are juggling childcare and working at home.

For young people when the school gates are closed.

And for businesses that aren’t allowed to open.

We all want to see our loved ones.

We all want to reclaim our lives.

But we have a job to do first, as a people and as a country.

In the race between the virus and the vaccine, our task is to do everything we can to suppress the virus.

I know the British people will rise to the challenge.

Because this has been a time of national solidarity and heroism.

From our care workers, our delivery drivers, our posties, our shop workers and our life savers in the NHS.

We’ve seen extraordinary achievements from British science, British business, research and manufacturing.

And there have been extraordinary acts of kindness and compassion.

We’ve seen the best of the British people in the most difficult times.

If only the British people had a government that was worthy of them.

But I’m afraid the Prime Minister and the Government have been found wanting at every turn.

Even in the best of times, you can’t be indecisive in government.

In the worst of times, indecision can be fatal.

Every time there’s a big decision to make, Boris Johnson gets there too late.

He was too slow to lock down in March of last year.

Too slow to protect our care homes.

Too slow to save jobs and businesses.

And too slow to get protective equipment to the frontline.

In the summer, he ignored the warnings to prepare for a second wave.

In September, he ignored the science and delayed a circuit break, only to introduce a longer lockdown a month later.

In December there was the debacle about household mixing over Christmas.

And then, when he was told by his scientists on 22 December that a national lockdown was needed, he delayed again for nearly two weeks.

The indecision and delays of the Prime Minister cost lives and they cost people’s jobs.

The British people will forgive many things.

They know the pandemic is difficult.

But they also know serial incompetence when they see it – and they know when a Prime Minister simply isn’t up to the job.

The government says it’s trying to balance the health crisis with the economic crisis.

Yet we ended 2020 with one of the worst death tolls in Europe and the deepest recession of any major economy.

That’s not bad luck.

That wasn’t inevitable.

It’s the consequence of the PM’s repeated delay and incompetence.

As we start the new year, we need a new approach.

And a new national contract – the British people stay at home and help to get the virus under control.

In return, the government delivers on their priorities.

By delivering the vaccine and securing the economy to protect family incomes and support business.

The first priority is to get Britain vaccinated.

This is now the only way out of the darkness.

Thanks to our brilliant scientists, we were the first country in the world to get the vaccine.

Let’s be the first in the world to get our country vaccinated.

This must be the focus of all our efforts.

The biggest peacetime project in our history.

We need a round-the-clock vaccine programme, 24-hours a day, 7 days-a-week.

In every village and town, every high street and every GP surgery.

We all need to play our part.

Government, businesses, our armed forces, public services and tens of thousands of volunteers coming together like never before.

The Government says it can deliver 2 million doses a week by the end of the month.

I hope they do. Let’s hold them to that. And let’s help them with that.

But then we must deliver even more and double that target in February.

This isn’t just about Government.

It’s about all of us.

So, lets sign up to volunteer, let’s roll up our sleeves – quite literally – and do everything we can in a truly national effort.

Because every day we’re stuck in this nightmare of lockdowns and closures is another day that we can’t see our families, our friends and our loved ones.

It’s another day that we can’t enjoy everything the world has to offer.

And it’s another day that our economy, and our country is held back.

This pandemic has taken at least 80,000 lives.

It’s cost the NHS £1 billion a week, the UK economy £5.3 billion a week and its seen jobs losses running at 23,000 week.

So the quicker we can get the vaccine rolled out, the quicker we can recover and rebuild.

Until then, the Government must secure the economy to protect family incomes and support businesses.

Family has always been incredibly important to me.

It meant everything to my parents that I was able to get on, to go into law and to lead a public service – the Crown Prosecution Service.

It meant everything to me that the NHS was there to care for my mum when she desperately needed it

And it means everything to me now that I have a loving family of my own.

So when I think of the economy, I think about how it affects families, people worried about paying the bills, covering childcare, or coping with insecure work.

When I think of public services, I think of families relying on our NHS or our schools and when I think of Britain, I think of the hopes and ambitions of millions of families across the country.

So it makes no sense to me at all that when we’re asking so much of the British people, the Government is doing so little to support families.

Working parents have been left once again to juggle childcare and work.

It’s hard on the kids.

It’s hard on the school staff.

And it’s tough on every parent.

For those who can work at home, it’s difficult.

But for those parents who can’t work from home or don’t have a partner to share the load, it can mean the difference between keeping their job or looking after their family.

So the Government should go further to support working parents.

By creating a legal, enforceable and immediate right for parents to request paid flexible furlough and by promoting that to all working parents to help them get through this lockdown.

The Government also need to do far more to protect family incomes.

We’re in the worst recession for 300 years.

Yet the Prime Minister and the Chancellor want to hike council tax – a £1.9bn bombshell that lands a bill of around £90 on every family.

They plan to cut Universal Credit – taking £1,000 a year from millions of families and pulling another 200,000 children into poverty.

And on top of that, they want to freeze pay for millions of key workers who have got us through this crisis – including our armed forces, our care workers, our teachers, our firefighters and police officers.

This shows that the Government isn’t just incompetent but also that it has the wrong priorities.

This is the Government that gave Dominic Cummings a £40,000 pay rise, but won’t pay our carers a decent wage.

This is the Government that wasted £22bn of taxpayers’ money on a testing system that doesn’t work, but now can’t find the money to support families.

And this is the Government that sprayed money on private contracts that didn’t deliver, but won’t give councils the support they need.

That’s why I’m calling on the Government today to put families first during this lockdown.

By backing local councils to prevent council tax rises; stopping any cut to Universal Credit; extending the ban on evictions and repossessions and giving our key workers the pay rise they deserve.

I know this isn’t everything that’s needed.

And that after so much suffering, we can’t go back to business as usual.

To an economy where over half of our care workers earn less than the living wage.

Where childcare is amongst the most expensive in Europe.

Where our social care system is a national disgrace and where over 4 million children grow up in poverty.

But taking these steps now would make a real difference to millions of people across the country.

And it would put families at the heart of our recovery.

The next major priority over the coming months is supporting businesses.

Businesses are the engine of our economy.

They’re not just a source of good jobs and prosperity but also of pride and dignity.

My dad was a toolmaker, he spent his whole life on the factory floor.

And so I know that when businesses are forced to close, to pull out of high streets or to leave communities they’ve been a part of for years.

It doesn’t just affect profit. It affects people. It affects our communities and it affects our country.

We should all be immensely proud of the role British businesses has played during this pandemic.

From keeping our shelves stacked and producing protective equipment, to helping to develop and distribute the vaccine.

And when we come out of this crisis I want Britain to be the best country to do business in – High-tech, high-skilled, high-paid and looking to the future.

Building in Britain – and trading with the world.

But if we’re to do that, the Government needs to protect British businesses – and to protect people’s jobs now.

That’s why Labour’s calling for the creation of 400,000 good jobs in low carbon sectors – because this recovery has to be a green recovery.

A High Streets Fightback Fund to protect our local shops and retail, because Britain can’t re-open if our towns and our high streets are closed.

And for the government finally to close the huge gaps in support for the self-employed, because if we’re to rebuild our economy, we need the dynamism and creativity of everyone.

To have excluded 3 million self-employed people last March was unfair.

To do it again in the autumn added insult to injury. To continue now into the new lockdown, is totally unforgivable.

The package I’ve set out today shows Labour’s priorities for the new year.

Because in 2021 we need to write a new chapter in our national story.

Britain shouldn’t have one of the highest death tolls in Europe, and the deepest recession

We shouldn’t be facing the slowest recovery and we shouldn’t be suffering the tragedy of so many deaths every day from this virus.

That we are is a mark of the serial failures of this Government, and how badly the British people have been let down.

There will be hard months ahead.

But the seasons will turn.

A dark winter will give way to a brighter spring and when it does, I know that together we can build a better future: a country worthy of the sacrifices of the British people.

Just as we did in 1945 when Attlee’s government built the welfare state from the rubble of war.

We can restore pride and prosperity in every village, every town, every city and every part of our United Kingdom.

We can secure our economy. Protect our NHS. And rebuild Britain.

So that it’s the best country to grow up in and the best country to grow old in.

In the months ahead I’ll be setting out Labour’s vision for that better future. And how we can build it together.

For now, let us come together to walk through the darkness.

Safe in the knowledge that our scientists, our NHS and the power of our solidarity will win out.

Thank you.

The Christmas message from Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, on 24 December 2020.

I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas.

It’s is a time to celebrate and come together with our family and friends.

It’s a time for Christians in Britain and across the world to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.

The values of Christianity of generosity, of kindness and hope, Have shone through this year.

In every village, every town and every city we have seen the very best of Britain.

The key workers who have been our country’s rock.

The servicemen and servicewomen who have stepped up.

And the incredible scientists who have discovered a vaccine.

I know it hasn’t been easy.

I know for many of our key workers they will have to step up again, one more time, this Christmas.

As will our Armed Forces who have deployed here and across the overseas.

To all of you a heartfelt thank you.

Christmas is a time for us to be thankful for what we value most and to care for those who have lost so much.

Too many families have lost loved ones this year.

For many, that is going to mean an empty space around the Christmas table.

And I know how difficult this period will be without them.

To all of those families, to all of you in isolation, my thoughts are with you all.

This year has been like no other.

But there is light at the end of the tunnel.

The vaccine will be distributed.

The spread of the virus will slow.

Businesses will reopen.

And we will recapture the spirit that has got us through the pandemic and rebuild a better future for our country.

So, wherever you are and however you’re celebrating stay safe, have a very merry Christmas and I look forward to seeing you in the New Year.