Starmer voWS Labour will deliver 'Britain built to last' as he eyes poll win

SIR Keir Starmer set his sights on becoming one of Labour’s great reforming prime ministers today as he sought to supplant the Tories as the party of aspiration, home ownership and growth.

- Nicholas Cecil, Jitendra Joshi, Rachael Burford

In a speech brimming with hope, determination and ambition, he told delegates at Labour’s annual rally in Liverpool that the party must deliver a “new era of growth” to create a “Britain built to last”.

Recalling the governments of Tony Blair, Harold Wilson and Clement Attlee, he was due to say: “If you think our job in 1997 was to rebuild a crumbling public realm.

“That in 1964 it was to modernise an economy left behind by the pace of technology.

“In 1945 to build a new Britain out of the trauma of collective sacrifice. Then in 2024 it will have to be all three.”

Sir Keir did not announce any eye-catching new policies but his speech was charged with emotive rhetoric and interspersed with more personal sections as he sought to present himself as a future PM to lead the nation in recovery from the “age of insecurity” to “get our future back”.

Tearing into 13 years of Tory rule dogged by political turmoil, the cost-of living crisis and pandemic, he was due to say: “Today we turn the page. Answer the question ‘Why Labour?’ with a plan for a Britain built to last.” He planted Labour as a “party of service” not protest, firmly in the centre ground of British politics just four years after Jeremy Corbyn led the party to election disaster.

Economy

Sir Keir put economic growth at the heart of Labour's election strategy with the aim of a "decade of renewal".