Liverpool: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer promised to protect public services and ruled out austerity measures as Labour’s annual conference kicked off on Sunday, its first in 15 years as a government party.
The four-day gathering in Liverpool, northwest England, comes three months after Labour secured a runway general election victory over the Conservatives.
Under pressure on several fronts, Starmer will have to strike a balance between celebrating Labour’s long-awaited victory, defending his record, and not letting up on reminders of “difficult decisions” to come.
“If you look at the list of what we have already done in 11 weeks, then I would argue strongly that we’ve done far more than the last government did probably in the last 11 years,” Starmer told the Observer newspaper on Sunday.
After months of doom and gloom about Britain’s economy and public health service, the conference could strike a more optimistic note.
Starmer told the Sunday Mirror that while he had given the public a “raw and honest assessment” of the state of the country, he wanted to make clear the benefits voters could expect: “The hope, the changed Britain.”
He also clarified that despite tempering expectations ahead of the budget due at the end of October, the government would not go “down the road of austerity”.
Promising to protect public services, Starmer told the Observer he would “make sure that our public services are functioning properly”, and vowed to shield working people from tax rises.
“People have had a lot of tax rises and there’s not much more room for tax rises. That’s why I made the commitment in relation to working people,” Starmer added.
Echoing his mantra of doing the “tough things first”, Starmer said “in years to come, people will look back and say: ‘That Labour government in 2024 really got to grips with it.’”
Union pressure
However, an Opinium poll for the Observer ahead of the conference showed that Starmer’s approval rating had suffered a huge drop since July, with only 24 percent approving of the job he was doing.
The conference comes after a week dominated by negative headlines over Starmer receiving more than 100,000 pounds ($132,000) in declared gifts and hospitality since December 2019 - the most of any MP.
While the gifts were declared and did not breach parliamentary rules, the row broke as his government was pushing Britons to accept short-term “pain for long-term good” to help fill the 22-billion pound “black hole” in public finances that he says the Tories left behind.
Criticism by the media and opposition also followed a hugely unpopular move by the government to means-test winter fuel payments that slashed benefits for 10 million pensioners.
The fallout from the cuts has also increased pressure on Labour from unions, with a turnaround on the policy a “priority” for Unite trade union secretary general Sharon Graham.
“It’s a cruel policy. I’d like him to say that he’s made a misstep and to reverse that policy,” Graham told Sky News on Sunday.
Unite also unveiled a series of billboards across Liverpool calling to “defend the winter fuel payment”.
There might be other similar cuts to come as well. “It’s going to be tough”, Starmer told the Observer of the budget due at the end of October.
Labour MPs gathered in Liverpool a day after the hard-right, anti-immigration Reform party - which won 14 percent of the vote in a UK-first - hosted a jubilant conference in Birmingham.
The Conservatives will have their meet-up next week amid divisive battles for leadership and the direction of the party.
