UK opposition leader Keir Starmer will put the private sector at the heart of his vision for a “decade of national renewal,” warning that a Labour government “won’t be able to spend our way out of this mess.”
(Bloomberg) — UK opposition leader Keir Starmer will put the private sector at the heart of his vision for a “decade of national renewal,” warning that a Labour government “won’t be able to spend our way out of this mess.”
In a new year address in London on Thursday, Starmer will set out Labour’s case for deep-rooted reform in British society, saying there is “no substitute for a robust private sector, creating wealth in every community,” according to a statement from his office.
He will vow to end an era of what he calls “sticking-plaster politics,” pointing to multiple crises — including strikes and pressure on the National Health Service — as evidence that Westminster’s “short-term mindset” is failing the UK.
Starmer will make his keynote speech just one day after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak set out his own priorities. Sunak pledged to repair and grow Britain’s economy, to tackle immigration and to improve health care. His Conservative Party trails Labour by more than 20 points in recent polling and faces an uphill battle to win over voters ahead of a general election due by Jan. 2025 at the latest.
In office for less than three months, Sunak is struggling to prove he has a strategy to deal with ongoing industrial action 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 is attempting to capitalize on voter frustration with the Conservatives, who have been in government for 12 years. Like Sunak, he will focus on a positive message after months of gloomy headlines: “We can give people a sense of possibility again, show light at the end of the tunnel,” Starmer will say, according to excerpts of his remarks released in advance.
But the Labour leader will warn 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 will promise 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.”
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