Published : 3 days ago, on 05/12/2024

By Alistair Smout and Elizabeth Piper

IVER, England (Reuters) -Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged on Thursday to deliver on his priorities to rebuild Britain by offering voters targets for improved living standards and more home building in a speech he hopes will draw a line under a bumpy start to government.

Five months since his Labour Party won a landslide election victory, Starmer set out firm targets, something he hopes will allow voters to measure his government’s success in meeting his so-called missions before Britain’s next vote due in 2029.

His officials deny the “plan for change” is a reset of his new government, but rather a way to make his goals more concrete and understandable to voters more distrustful of politics after years of chaos under the former Conservative administration and Labour’s missteps in its first months in power.

But it is risky, with his and his party’s popularity plunging and the opposition Conservative Party and the right-wing populist Reform Party ready to pounce if his government fails to achieve his goals, particularly on immigration.

Launching his plans at a film studio not far from the capital London, Starmer said: “(This) is my plan for change. The driving purpose of this government and we will stay the course.”

His announcement of six pledges, on living standards and the economy, building more homes, the health service, crime, education and clean energy, were ridiculed by the Conservative Party as a sign of desperation.

“The latest Labour reset … is another sign that the wheels are off and are bouncing down the street,” Conservative Alex Burghart said in a statement.

Labour campaigned before its July 4 election win on five missions – boosting economic growth, accelerating steps towards reaching net zero, reducing waiting times in the state-run health service, tackling crime and improving education.

He then set out six “first steps to change”, prioritising economic stability, cutting waiting times in the health service, controlling Britain’s borders, setting up Great British Energy, cracking down on antisocial behaviour and teacher recruitment.

PLAN FOR CHANGE

His latest “plan for change” promised to raise living standards for every part of Britain and recommitted to an earlier pledge to aim to deliver the “highest sustained growth” in the group of the world’s seven largest advanced economies.

It also reiterated a previous target to build 1.5 million more homes over the next five years – a goal no British government has achieved in decades, and fast-track the planning process for 150 major infrastructure projects.

Starmer’s government says the list of six “milestones” will “allow everyone to track progress”.

But they are also a call to public officials to start reforming how public services are run to try to save money.

“This plan will land on desks across Whitehall (government) with the heavy thud of a gauntlet being thrown down,” Starmer said.

It is a bold bid to set firm targets to be achieved before the end of this parliament in 2029, although some opposition lawmakers said he had failed to set a numerical target for cutting immigration, one of voters’ greatest concerns.

But Starmer hopes the new announcement will turn the page on criticism of his government on everything from its use of campaign donations to a tax-raising budget which prompted an outcry from businesses and farmers.

Starmer and his Labour government’s approval ratings have plunged. A poll by Opinium at the weekend showed Starmer’s net approval ratings had fallen to -32% from +19% at around the time of the election.

(Reporting by Alistair Smout in Iver, Elizabeth Piper, Andrew MacAskill and Catarina Demony in London; Editing by Alison Williams)