Starmer promises ‘fairer country’ after long, difficult road to renewal

Sir Keir Starmer will seek to unite a fractious party and a divided country behind him in a battle for the “soul” of the UK.

The Prime Minister will use his leader’s speech at the Labour conference to take aim at Nigel Farage’s Reform UK and the “politics of grievance”, promising instead “a land of dignity and respect”.

But after a turbulent period for his leadership and the prospect of a Budget in November which could see tax hikes and spending squeezes, Sir Keir will warn that further difficult choices will be needed on the path to “national renewal”.

The speech comes at a challenging moment for the Prime Minister following speculation about a challenge to his leadership fuelled by criticism from Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham – although he insisted on Monday he believes Sir Keir is the right man for the job.

Choice

Meanwhile, Mr Farage’s party continues to enjoy a comfortable advantage in the polls, and Labour faces a battle to keep its promises on taxation, spending and immigration.

The Prime Minister will say: “We can all see our country faces a choice, a defining choice.

“Britain stands at a fork in the road. We can choose decency. Or we can choose division.

“Renewal or decline. A country – proud of its values, in control of its future or one that succumbs, against the grain of our history, to the politics of grievance.”

Sir Keir will compare the challenge facing Labour now to Clement Attlee’s administration in 1945 as it rebuilt Britain from the ruins of the Second World War.

Challenge

The Prime Minister will say: “It is a test. A fight for the soul of our country, every bit as big as rebuilding Britain after the war, and we must all rise to this challenge.

“And yet we need to be clear that our path, the path of renewal, it’s long, it’s difficult, it requires decisions that are not cost-free or easy. Decisions that will not always be comfortable for our party.

“Yet at the end of this hard road there will be a new country, a fairer country, a land of dignity and respect.

“Everyone seen, everyone valued, wealth creation in every single community, working people in control of their public services, the mindless bureaucracy that chokes enterprise, removed – so we can build and keep on building.”

Sir Keir believes Britain can “unite around a common good”.

“That’s my ambition, the purpose of this government,” he will say.

“End decline, reform our public services, grow our economy from the grassroots.”