Labour puts growth and planning at heart of promise to 'fix' the UK

Keir Starmer has pledged to "fix the foundations" of the country for the long term by boosting economic growth with reforms to energy and planning, in Labour's first king's speech in a decade and a half.

- Pippa Crerar

• Keir Starmer uses first king's speech to lambast 'snake oil of populism'

• Nationalisation of rail and mandatory building targets among new bills

The prime minister said the government would require "patient work and serious solutions" to restore trust in British politics and rebuild the country, with 40 bills in the new legislative programme.

Starmer, whose new administration is grappling with how to respond to the rise of the populist right, told MPs the plans would help to counter the "snake oil charm of populism". He added that his government would "turn the page on an era of politics as noisy performance and return it to public service and start the work of rebuilding our country".

He said the administration was already "finding new and unexpected marks of chaos - scars of the past 14 years, where politics was put above the national interest, and decline deep in the marrow of our institutions".

At the heart of his plans, he said, were measures to "take the brakes off" Britain and start to grow the economy, which he said were only the starting point for what he promised would be a lasting transformation.

"The challenges we face require determined, patient work and serious solutions, rather than the temptation of the easy answer," he added.

Almost immediately, ministers will publish a bill to nationalise troubled rail companies, bringing franchises back into public ownership as contracts expire, in an attempt to drive up performance and productivity.