Keir Starmer promises 'decade of renewal' at Labour conference

The Labour leader delivered his speech in his shirt sleeves after a protester leapt on the stage and sprinkled his jacket with glitter, shortly after he started speaking.

Starmer promised voters ‘a decade of national renewal’ and appealed to Tory voters, offering them a vision of how a Labour government would do things differently.

He described meeting a single mum in a café in Worthing, shortly after returning from a holiday with his family in the Lake District, who talked about how she was living in ‘survival mode’ and the impact of the cost of living crisis.

‘She was a single Mum, two kids. And she said to me: “It’s survival mode. I can’t think ‘oh let’s do something nice’. There’s no long-term planning. No thinking about the future.”

'I could see the hurt in her eyes as she told me. That’s what this cost-of-living crisis does. It intrudes on the little things we love. Whittles away at our joy. 

‘Days out, meals out, holidays the first things people cut back on. Picking up a treat in the supermarket just to put it back on the shelf.’

‘Conference, we have to be a government that takes care of the big questions so working people have the freedom to enjoy what they love. More time, more energy, more possibility, more life. 

‘It could be football. Could be fishing. Or just quiet time with your family. 

‘But we all need that, conference. We all need the ability to look forward – to move forward – free from anxiety. That’s what getting our future back really means.’

Starmer also spoke about how his sister, a care worker worked 14-hour shifts during the pandemic just to make ends meet.

Referring to the Government’s failure at ‘levelling up’, he said, ‘You know, I never thought I would hear a modern Conservative Prime Minister say that 50 per cent of our children going to university was a “false dream”. My Dad felt the disrespect of vocational skills all his life. But the solution is not and never will be levelling-down the working class aspiration to go to university.’

Labour would 'scrap zero hours contracts' and 'end fire and rehire', he said. 'We make work pay with a real living wage and say unambiguously this is good for growth.'

He urged disaffected Conservative voters to consider voting Labour ‘if you look in horror at the descent of your party into the murky waters of populism and conspiracy, with no argument for economic change. If you feel our country needs a party that conserves. That fights for our union. Our environment. The rule of law. Family life. The careful bond between this generation and the next. Then let me tell you: Britain already has one. And you can join it. It’s this Labour Party.’ 

Although the speech did not include many specific new policies, Starmer also pledged to build 1.5 million new homes across the country and create new towns.

He also said that unlike Rishi Sunak he would ‘speed ahead’ with plans to tackle climate change with setting up a new publicly owned clean energy company in Scotland.

• Nursery World would like to hear how early years and childcare workers are coping with the cost of living crisis with the findings featuring in a future article.  The survey will also give you the chance to leave your details to share your story, anonymously if you wish, about the impact rising costs are having on your daily life.
• Take part in the cost of living survey here