Keir Starmer has said he is already planning his second term in government, as he set out his five “national missions” that will form the building blocks of Labour’s next election manifesto.
The Labour leader said he had his sights set on “a decade of national renewal” and was “not going to shy away” from saying that after 13 years of Conservative rule it would take time to “fix the fundamentals” of the UK.
In a major speech in Manchester on Thursday, Starmer promised a Labour government would deliver the highest sustained growth in the G7 group of wealthy nations by the end of its first term, but there was little detail on how he would do that.
“I’m fighting for every single vote and we’ve got a long, long way to go. But I’m also honest enough to say that some of these issues are not going to be fixed within five years,” he told his audience of Labour MPs and members.
“Some of these issues are longer term, that’s why we’ve said we’re going to have a decade of national renewal. I do know we’ve got a long, long way to go … But at the same time I’m not going to shy away from the fact that after the damage that has been done in the last 13 years, it is going to take time to fix the fundamentals.”
The Labour leader said his party’s approach would “ruffle feathers across Whitehall and beyond, but [is] one that is necessary”. He described his mission to boost growth as “the oxygen for our ambitions” to improve living standards across the UK and told his audience: “Judge us on our plan”.
His economic pledge would mean the UK outstripping the US, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and Japan in terms of growth, something he conceded “is going to be tough”.
Despite Brexit hitting economic growth by billions of pounds since 2016, Starmer urged people not to “fixate laser-like” on it as the only reason for the sluggish economy, although he did say a Labour government would “reset” relations with the EU and “fix” some of the problems with the deal.
“The lack of growth in our economy can’t simply be put down to Brexit. We’ve had a problem with growth in our economy since about 2010. If we get fixated on Brexit as the only issue when it comes to growth, we would be making a big mistake,” he told the Guardian after the speech.
“I’m not pretending we don’t need to improve the deal that we’ve got with the EU. I do think the Brexit deal needs to be improved. It’s obviously not working very well. It wasn’t oven baked, or even half baked. It’s not just fixing the protocol in Northern Ireland, we have to have a closer trading relationship more generally.”
In his speech, Starmer said he would have a “single-minded” approach to winning the next election, with the party becoming more like a top sports team pursuing victory.
“All around the world, countries are gearing up for an almighty race for the opportunities of tomorrow,” he said. “Britain must be on the start line – not back in the changing room tying its laces.”
He accused the government of being weak, divided and “clapped out”, repeatedly saying the UK needed more stability after years of the Tories “blowing with the wind” rather than fixing deep-rooted problems. “We lurch from crisis to crisis. Always reacting, always behind the curve. A sticking plaster, never a cure,” he said.
Starmer risked further riling the left of his party by stressing that he was ready to draw on investment and expertise from the public and private sectors to “get the job done”.
However, he added: “There is a massive role for the private sector in mission-driven government but if the aspiration is merely to replace the public sector while extracting a rent to privatise the profits, while socialising the risk, that takes us nowhere.”
Starmer’s “missions” cover five broad themes: the economy, the NHS, crime, the climate crisis and education. He said they would be long-term objectives, rather than consumer pledges, but would be “measurable” so voters could check against performance.
Ahead of the May local elections, Labour will set out more detail on how it would change the police and justice system to prevent crime, tackle violence against women, and stop criminals getting away without punishment. In echoes of New Labour, Starmer promised to be “tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime”.
It will then flesh out how a Labour government would make Britain a clean energy “superpower”, build an NHS “fit for the future” and break down the barriers to opportunity for all children by changing the education systems and better equipping them for the workplace.
Earlier, Starmer had defended dropping key pledges made during his Labour leadership bid, saying the 10 promises he made during the 2020 race to succeed Jeremy Corbyn had been adapted in the face of unprecedented global events, rather than been abandoned. “The vast majority of Labour members and supporters are 100% behind what we’re doing,” he added.
He also told the BBC that it was “right” to strip Shamima Begum of her citizenship, despite having previously said that she ought to have been allowed to back into the UK. He said: “I think the court decision is the right decision. The court has looked at all the evidence. National security has to come first.”
