Britain’s public services are “broken, but not beyond repair”, Sir Keir Starmer insisted on Thursday as he set out his government’s “plan for change”.
Speaking five months to the day since he took to office, the PM set out six “milestones” he hopes to achieve by the end of Parliament, acknowledging it will be “an almighty challenge” to hit the targets and will require “trade-offs”.
The targets focus on raising living standards, rebuilding Britain, ending hospital backlogs, putting more police on the beat, giving children the best start in life and securing home-grown energy.
But ahead of his speech, Starmer faced criticism for failing to include migration in these crucial plans.
Others have been left scratching their heads as to why he is setting out these “six milestones” – several of which had already been announced – and several months into the job.
The speech also comes after the public already heard his six “first steps” for change in the summer and his five “missions” early last year.
Starmer sets out the six ‘milestones’ his government plans to hit before the next election
Conservative Leader Kemi Badenoch claimed the speech is an “emergency reset” after a challenging five months in office for Labour.
Speaking from Pinewood Studios, where Star Wars was filmed, Starmer said: “Some will say we’ve heard these missions before. Where’s the rabbit out the hat? In Westminster they always say that.
“But I make no apologies for sticking to our plan.”
The first milestone to reach before the next general election is “higher living standards in every region of the country”, with Starmer adding that the UK was aiming for the “highest sustained growth in the G7, so working people have more money in their pocket”.
The second is to build 1.5 million new homes, and the third to put “more police on the beat, stamping out anti-social behaviour in every community”.
Sir Keir’s fourth milestone is to give every child the “best start in life” with a record number of five-year-olds entering school “ready to learn”.
His fifth milestone is clean power by 2030, “so never again can a tyrant like Putin attack the living standards of working people”.
And his sixth and final milestone was to cut NHS waiting lists to 18 weeks between referral and treatment.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper earlier insisted the government is “dedicated to commitments to making sure we can bring legal and illegal migration down” but defended the decision to not place a figure on it.
She said: “We have seen the net migration figures quadrupled under the Conservatives particularly the big increase in overseas recruitment, while training at home was being cut, and it’s clear we’ve got this real persistent problem with criminal gangs that have been allowed to take hold along the Channel…
“We’re determined to go after the criminal gangs and that’s also part of the plan for change today.”
Labour has already pledged to put in place 13,000 police officers, PCSOs and special constables by the next election, which would bring the total police workforce to a level above its 2010 peak.
Police numbers fell following the 2010 election, before rising again after 2019 as the previous government pledged to recruit 20,000 police officers.
While the number of officers reached record levels, the number of PCSOs and special constables continued to decline.
The additional £100 million next year would pay for the recruitment of around 1,200 police officers, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said.
But the Conservatives said only a third of the 13,000 new recruits would be full police officers, while the £100 million would not cover what was needed to pay for them, leading to cuts elsewhere.
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