Keir Starmer will demand 10 years in Downing Street today as he gives potentially his last Labour conference speech before an election.
Sir Keir is calling for a ‘decade of national renewal’ to ‘heal’ the country, as he tries to seal the deal with voters – and outlines controversial plans to reclassify the green belt.
But he will warn activists at the gathering in Liverpool against complacency, despite the latest poll showing the party in an 16 point lead.
Worryingly for the Tories, their standing has actually gone backwards since Rishi Sunak wrapped up their conference last week.
The address at 2pm is expected to be an ’emotional appeal’ to the country, rather than laden with new policies – as Labour is still keeping its powder dry until closer to an election.
Sir Keir will put a ‘big build’ at the heart of his pitch, vowing to reclassify ‘low quality’ green belt land.
Labour wants to construct thousands of new homes, and even new towns, by streamlining planning and removing obstacles.
He will also try to quell fears that taxes will spike again if he gets into No10, stressing that government should ‘tread lightly on people’s lives’. But Sir Keir will repeat shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves‘ hints that there will be pain for wealthier Brits.
Keir Starmer will demand 10 years in Downing Street today as he gives potentially his last Labour conference speech before an election
Worryingly for the Tories , their standing has actually gone backwards since Rishi Sunak wrapped up their conference last week
Sir Keir’s comments suggest he believes he is now on course to hold power until the mid-2030s.
Shadow international development minister Lisa Nandy yesterday hinted at the plan, telling activists at a Labour fringe meeting: ‘We’re going for more than two terms.
Labour frontbencher Pat McFadden tried to play down the suggestion this morning, insisting Sir Keir is just levelling with the public about the challenge.
He told BBC Breakfast: ‘What he’s doing is he’s setting out realistically that after 13 years of the Conservatives it’s going to take time to turn things round.
‘He is levelling with the public here. He’s saying we can’t solve everything overnight but what we can do is turn the page and begin a process of national renewal.
‘He’s assuming nothing. He’s being honest with the people about the time it’s going to take to face up to the challenges the country is facing right now.’
Insiders said Sir Keir would reveal ‘little if any’ new policy in today’s speech, fuelling concern that Labour is hiding its agenda for fear of public scrutiny.
A senior Labour source yesterday said that even the party’s election manifesto next year would be only a ‘slim volume’, setting out Sir Keir’s five missions for government, with relatively little in the way of detailed policy.
In his speech today, Sir Keir will accuse the Government of breaking Britain during 13 years of ‘Tory decline’.
But he will say that ‘what is broken can be repaired, what is ruined can be rebuilt’.
He will add: ‘People are looking to us because they want our wounds to heal and we are the healers. People are looking to us because these challenges require a modern state and we are the modernisers.
‘People are looking to us because they want us to build a new Britain and we are the builders.’
Sir Keir will insist that Labour has been transformed since the days of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, saying he now leads ‘a changed Labour Party, no longer in thrall to gesture politics, no longer a party of protest… Those days are done. We will never go back.’
Instead, he will claim that Labour is now ‘a party of service… country first, party second’.
Sir Keir is expected to echo shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves in hinting that any Labour tax rises will be levied on business and the better off rather than ‘working people’.
Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves, UK shadow chancellor of the exchequer during day two of the Labour Party conference on Monday
In light of the cost of living crisis, he will say: ‘We should never forget that politics should tread lightly on peoples’ lives, that our job is to shoulder the burden for working people – carry the load, not add to it.’
The Labour leader will double down on pledges to tear up Britain’s planning system to ‘get Britain building’.
He will suggest that a new Labour government would oversee a ‘big build’. But previous pledges to build 100,000 new council houses a year have not been repeated this week.
Michael Gove yesterday said that Labour’s proposals to reform the planning system for infrastructure projects appeared to recycle initiatives the government has already made.
The Levelling Up Secretary said: ‘I hope everyone covering today’s non-announcements from Labour notes that they have literally no idea what to do on infrastructure.’
Sir Keir yesterday said he was ready for an election as early as May next year – and predicted the Conservatives would fight a dirty contest.
Addressing business chiefs, he said he expected Rishi Sunak to ‘go low’ in the fight to cling to power, and warned that the campaign was likely to ‘descend into a place which isn’t about big politics’.