We want to improve living standards ‘straight away’, says Starmer

The Prime Minister has said wants to see living standards rise “straight away” as he attempts to sell his “plan for change” on Friday morning.

Sir Keir Starmer made improving living standards a key target as he outlined the “next phase” of his Government on Thursday, saying he wanted to see real household disposable income rise across the country by the next election.

But in an interview with BBC Breakfast, Sir Keir said he wanted to see improvements sooner than that, denying that things would get worse before they got better.

He said: “I want people to feel better off straight away – feel better off in the sense of more money in their pocket, feel better off because they’ve got a secure job that they know is guaranteed to give them the money they need.”

Minimum wage

Adding that the Government had already given a pay rise to three million of the lowest-paid workers by increasing the minimum wage, Sir Keir said: “I want others to feel the difference as quickly as possible.”

Living standards flatlined over the course of the last Parliament, with real household disposable income rising by a record-low 0.3% per year – something Labour regards as a key factor behind the collapse in support for the Conservatives and a potential source of support for populist parties.

But although Sir Keir described his targets as “ambitious” on Thursday, the Resolution Foundation think tank pointed out the figures used to measure living standards – real household disposable income and GDP per capita – had risen in almost every Parliament since 1955.

Ambition

Mike Brewer, the think tank’s interim chief executive, said: “These new milestones are not very stretching. The Government will need to absolutely smash them if they are to truly end stagnation across Britain.”

Elsewhere on Friday, the Prime Minister said his six “milestones” would “inject ambition back into Britain”.

Writing in The Times, the Prime Minister vowed to face down “nimbys” to achieve one of this other targets – building 1.5 million homes and making 150 planning decisions on major infrastructure projects.

Promising “a new golden era of building”, he wrote: “I know some councils have come out this week to challenge our plans for housing reform. I always knew there would be resistance to our planning reform.

“Let me say this — I won’t shy from this argument. In fact, I welcome it.

“Where there are blockers putting the brakes on, it’s a sign you are delivering real change.”