Afternoon summary
Starmer has been accused by the Labour Muslim Network of backing a “war crime” after he defended Israel’s right to place Gaza under seige. (See 4.27pm.)
The BBC has defended its decision to describe Hamas as militants rather than terrorists in its news coverage of the Israel-Hamas war following strong criticism from Grant Shapps, the defence secretary. (See 12.33pm.)
Starmer says he would like overall tax burden on working people to fall under Labour
Keir Starmer has said he wants to reduce the overall tax burdern for working people in the next parliament.
In an interview with Christopher Hope from GB News, Starmer was asked if he would like the tax burden to come down under Labour. He replied:
I would like the overall burden, particularly on working people to come down, but obviously we will operate, of course and always, within our fiscal rules.
Starmer says it's his ambition to get waiting lists down to around 2.3m by end of next parliament
Keir Starmer has said that he is aiming to get the NHS waiting list down to around 2.3m by the end of the first term of a Labour government.
During the party conference the party said it wanted to tackle the waiting list backlog. In an interview with Beth Rigby from Sky News, Starmer was asked if this mean he would cut the backlog from 7.7m, the current figure, to 2.3m by the end of the next parliament. He replied:
Yes. My ambition is to clear it.
And when Rigby asked if he could really do this in one parliament, Starmer replied:
By, the end of the next parliament, 2 million a year, 40,000 a week and that’s why we’ve set out the ambitious project for it, partly for the health of the individuals, of course, but also because the economy depends on people being in work and this is a huge drag.
Starmer says he's a Yimby, determined to bulldoze through local opposition to housebuilding
Keir Starmer has reaffirmed his determination to brush aside local opposition to his plans to increase housebuilding. (See 9.47am and 10.08am.)
When the BBC’s Chris Mason asked him if he was “saying bluntly this is so important you will, bulldoze through local opposition”, Starmer replied: “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.”
And when Mason put it to him that he was a Yimby (Yes in my back yard), Starmer replied:
I am Yes. I think that it’s very important that we build the homes that we need for the future.
Starmer says Israel should act against Hamas within international law - but avoids calling for 'restraint'
Keir Starmer has stressed the importance of Israel acting within international law in Gaza – but without explicitly calling for “restraint”. Asked in an interview with the BBC’s Chris Mason if he was calling for resraint, Starmer replied:
What we’re seeing in recent days is appalling and shocking acts of cold blooded murder in relation to men, women, and children and responsibility for that terrorism lies with Hamas.
Israel does have, must have the right to defend herself.
Obviously, that’s within the framework of international law.
But I think that Hamas should immediately release these hostages because Israel does have the right to defend herself, but also to take action to ensure the hostages are safely returned. Hamas should release those hostages, including children immediately.
And in an interview with Andy Bell from 5 News, Starmer said:
Israel has the right to defend herself. Obviously this is within the framework of international law. International law matters and everything should be done in accordance with international law but I don’t think we should deflect from the fact that the aggressor here, the terrorist acts, are those of Hamas and they bear responsibility for what is happening.
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Pregnant Then Screwed, which campaigns against the motherhood penalty, has welcomed Labour’s announcement of a review of early years provision. (See 3.47pm.) Joeli Brearley, its founder, said:
We are elated to have confirmation that Labour is starting work on an independent review but we need to be mindful of parents who are making decisions right now on whether they can afford to have more children based on the cost of childcare and their parental leave entitlements.
For now, parents will continue to be confused about whether childcare will be more affordable under a Labour government. They need certainty so that they can plan for the future.
Keir Starmer has recorded a series of TV interviews, all embargoed until 5pm. I will post highlights from them in about 15 minutes.
Starmer accused of backing 'war crime' by Labour Muslim Network after he defended seige of Gaza
A reader asks:
Am I right in thinking that Keir, in saying on LBC this morning that Israel has the right to withhold food and water to Gaza, is supporting the breaking of the Geneva Convention?
Arguably. On LBC this morning was asked by Nick Ferrari if he thought the seige of Gaza by Israel was appropriate, “cutting off power, cutting off water”. In response, Keir Starmer defending what Israel was doing – while also saying they should be acting within international law. Starmer replied:
I think that Israel does have that right. It is an ongoing situation.
Obviously, everything should be done within international law.
But I don’t want to step away from the core principles that Israel have a right to defend herself and Hamas bears responsibility for these terrorist acts.
The difficulty with this response is that Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, (here) and Volker Türk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, (here) are among the many experts who are saying that what Israel is doing is not allowed under international law.
Alex Nunns, a former speechwriter for Jeremy Corbyn when Corbyn was Labour leader has posted the clip on X.
Keir Starmer says Israel “does have that right” to enforce a siege, cutting off power and water to Gaza. It doesn’t, collective punishment of civilians is a war crime.
— Alex Nunns (@alexnunns) October 11, 2023
Tens of thousands of civilians may be killed in the coming months and Keir Starmer is egging it on. pic.twitter.com/Yk0iXVO7tb
The Labour Muslim Network later said that in his LBC interview Starmer was endorsing the collective punishment of 2.2 million people in Gaza. It said:
Collective punishment is a war crime.
Cutting off power and water to hospitals and life-serving facilities is a war crime.
No government, no army, and no country can ever be above international law.
We ask you directly, Sir Keir: retract your comments, apologise to Palestinians, and meet urgently with Palestinian representatives and organisations in the UK, LMN and the Muslim Council of Britain.
Sir Keir Starmer must retract his comments on LBC, and apologise.
— Labour Muslim Network (@LabourMuslims) October 11, 2023
Our statement: pic.twitter.com/6QpHIYoHVT
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Labour gives details of its review of early years provision
Here is a bit more detail from Labour about the review of early years provision announced by Bridget Phillipson, the shadow education secretary, in her speech this morning. It will be led by Sir David Bell, a former permanent secretary at the Department for Education and a former head of Ofsted.
The party said:
Labour said its review would develop a plan for the widening of childcare eligibility promised by the Conservatives at the 2023 budget, look at ways to increase the amount of primary school-based nursery provision due to falling birth rates and how to build on Labour’s victory in the levelling up bill to remove restrictions on local authorities from opening nursery provision.
The review will consider major reform of the childcare workforce as well as inform Labour’s plan and deal with the lack of available childcare in England, where there are two children for every childcare place.
Commenting on his appointment to lead the review, Bell said:
I am delighted to have been invited to chair Labour’s early years review, which will inform the landmark creation of a new modern childcare system that embeds quality and availability throughout early years education.
It’s only through that relentless focus on high and rising standards and the better integration of early years into our wider education system that Labour will meet the ambitious aim of half a million more children meeting early learning goals by 2030.
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And just as Unite is saying that Labour’s plans for the NHS must involve higher pay for staff (see 3.01pm), teaching unions are also saying that a Labour government would have to pay teachers more.
Responding to Bridget Phillipson’s speech this morning, Paul Whiteman, the general secretary of the NAHT, the union for school leaders, said:
We welcome the ambition expressed by the shadow education secretary and her acknowledgement of some of serious issues facing schools.
Be it the recruitment and retention crisis, crumbling buildings, or the high-stakes, often unfair inspection regime, we need a coherent plan to fix these problems, and prioritise children’s education. Action is also needed to address unsustainable levels of staff workload and years of below-inflation pay and funding settlements.
And Daniel Kebede, the general secretary of the National Education Union, said:
Labour politicians are recognising that a re-set between the teaching profession and government is required – and that very little of national government ambitions can be achieved without working with, and in partnership, with teachers …
What is abundantly clear is that to maintain educational quality or get a step-change on pupil attendance and well-being will need adequate funding. High and rising standards will need more teachers and more time for teachers to focus on the core responsibilities of teaching and strong relationships with students. Current surveys show individual pupil needs is the top trend contributing to the work intensity of teachers. The recruitment and retention challenge simply must be solved - and this means making teaching, and the leading of schools in these times much more attractive.
But unions welcome Phillipson’s announcement of a review of early years provision. (See 11.26am.)
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Unite has said that Labour’s plan to improve and reform the NHS will fail unless it is accompanied by pay rises reversing the real-terms cuts that staff have endured.
Responding to Wes Streeting’s speech to the Labour conference this morning (see 12.02pm), Sharon Graham, the Unite general secretary, said:
Labour’s focus on the NHS is welcome – but it must come with a clear workforce plan that includes the reversal of real-terms pay cuts.
We cannot fix the NHS if we don’t reverse the crippling staff shortages. And we can’t do that if we don’t improve pay and conditions.
Dedicated staff are leaving in droves because they cannot make ends meet, many are visiting food banks. There is a real opportunity here to invest in the NHS and its staff.
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Court rejects legal challenge against Home Office putting asylum barge in Portland without planning permission
The high court has rejected a challenge by the mayor of Portland in Dorset, Carralyn Parkes, acting in a personal capacity, against the Home Office use of Bibby Stockholm barge to accommodate asylum seekers there.
Mr Justice Holgate rejected the claim that the Home Office had circumvented planning laws by not obtaining planning permission to use the barge to accommodate about 500 asylum seekers, in an oral judgment in the high court this morning.
He said the claim needed to be brought against Dorset council rather than against the Home Office. Parkes’s legal team sought permission to bring judicial review proceedings against the Home Office in a court hearing on Tuesday, arguing that the housing of asylum seekers on the barge was a “breach of planning control”. Government lawyers said that Dorset council, the local planning authority did not think planning permission was required.
Parkes’s legal team is considering an appeal and is also considering bringing a case against Dorset council.
In written submissions to the high court about the case, Dorset council said it was considering possible planning enforcement action against the Home Office for its use of an area onshore close to the barge.
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The Labour conference has now wrapped up. Apart from when Jeremy Corbyn gave the leader’s speech on the final day of conference, in recent years the conference has concluded with someone giving a Tory-bashing speech full of jokes. Often it was the deputy leader, but today it was Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow paymaster general (a slightly ill-defined role which means he’s an all-purpose fixer). Here is an extract from his speech.
Did you see [the Tories] last week?
Penny Mordaunt kept telling the Tory conference to “stand up and fight”.
No one stood up, but they did fight one another.
There was Michael Gove complaining about the Tory tax burden.
Rees-Mogg complaining about the lack of economic growth.
Jeremy Hunt complaining about civil servant numbers.
All of them complaining about the runaway costs of HS2.
It’s astonishing, who do these people think have been in power for the past 13 years?
Did you see the fringe?
There was Priti Patel skipping the light fandango with Nigel Farage.
Farage waltzing his way back into the Tory party and Sunak too weak to stop him.
And then there was Liz Truss too.
Letting it be known she wants a second chance to outlast the lettuce and crash and smash family finances all over again.
That was their conference fringe.
But I tell you it’s also the Conservative party’s future.
More turmoil, more risk, more chaos with Truss, Braverman, Rees-Mogg and Farage calling the shots
Vote Sunak, get Truss.
That’s the fifth Tory term we have to stop.
We were promised we would see “Rishi be Rishi”.
But no one liked what they saw.
The Tory members’ WhatsApp group branded Sunak a “loser” who has, and I quote, “about as much enthusiasm and appeal as a doorknob”.
Bit harsh on doorknobs. They are at least useful.
The conference ended, as it traditionally does, with renditions of the Red Flag and Jerusalem.
Before Ashworth spoke, the conference was addressed by Anthony Albanese, the Australian Labor party prime minister (via video) and by Oleksandr Korniyenko, the deputy speaker of the Ukrainian parliament (in person).
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BBC defends its decision to call Hamas militants, not terrorists, after Shapps calls it 'verging on disgraceful'
The BBC has defended its decision to describe Hamas as militants rather than terrorists in its news coverage of the Israel-Hamas war. It issued a statement in response to Grant Shapps, the defence secretary, telling LBC this morning that the decision not to use the term terrorists was “verging on disgraceful”. Keir Starmer also said he thought the term terrorists was appropriate, and he urged the BBC to provide an explanation. (See 10.31am.)
A BBC spokesperson said:
We always take our use of language very seriously. Anyone watching or listening to our coverage will hear the word ‘terrorist’ used many times – we attribute it to those who are using it, for example, the UK government.
This is an approach that has been used for decades, and is in line with that of other broadcasters. The BBC is an editorially independent broadcaster whose job is to explain precisely what is happening ‘on the ground’ so our audiences can make their own judgment.
Shapps told LBC this morning:
I actually think it is verging on disgraceful, this idea that there is some sort of equivalence, and they’ll always say well there’s two sides … what Hamas have done, as a proscribed terrorist organisation, meaning that they are illegal in Britain, it’s illegal to support them, is to have gone out and slaughtered innocent people, babies, festival-goers, pensioners.
They are not freedom fighters, they are not militants, they are pure and simple terrorists and it’s remarkable to go to the BBC website and still see them talking about gunmen and militants and not calling them terrorists.
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Streeting says Sunak's decision to ban younger generations from buying cigarettes shows Labour 'winning battle of ideas'
Wes Streeting also claimed in his conference speech that Rishi Sunak’s decision to back plans to stop younger generations ever being able to buy cigarettes showed that Labour was winning the battle of ideas – because he proposed the policy first.
He said:
Back in January, I proposed going even further by outlawing the sale of cigarettes to the next generation altogether.
Tory MPs said it was “nanny state”,
“an attack on ordinary people and their culture”,
They accused me of “health fascism”.
Unfortunately for them, Labour is winning the battle of ideas, and where Labour leads Rishi Sunak follows.
We’ll vote through the ban on selling cigarettes to kids, so that young people are even less likely to smoke than they are to vote Tory.
Streeting announced that Labour would consult on the idea in an interview with the BBC in January. The policy was first proposed officially in the UK in 2022, in an indepedent review of smoking policy by Dr Javed Khan published by the Department of Health and Social Care when Sajid Javid was health secretary. With Boris Johnson, and then Liz Truss, in No 10, the proposal was at the time buried by the government. Streeting said he would consult on it because radical public health measures were needed, but in May he gave an interview saying he needed to be convinced the plan would be practical.
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NHS at risk of going bankrupt if it does not reform, Wes Streeting says
Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, said in his speech this morning the NHS is at risk of going bust if it does not reform.
Addressing the Labour conference, he said:
Labour will never abandon the founding principles of the NHS as a publicly funded public service, free at the point of use.
I make the case for reform not in opposition to those principles but in defence of them.
I’m blunt about the fact that the NHS is no longer the envy of the world, not to undermine it, but to reassure people that we’ve noticed.
I argue that our NHS must modernise or die, not as a threat but a choice.
The crisis really is that existential. Just because as waiting lists rise, public confidence falls …
In the longer term the challenge of rising chronic disease, combined with our ageing society, threatens to bankrupt the NHS.
The Tories answer is all sticking plasters in the short term but an abandonment of the NHS in the longer term.
As we saw in Manchester last week, the Conservative party dances to the tune of Nigel Farage now.
And the more they move to the right, the greater their threat to our NHS becomes.
So it falls to us, the party that founded the NHS 75 years ago, to rescue, rebuild and renew the health service today.
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The Conservatives say that Labour cannot be trusted to build more homes because of its vote against the plan to get rid of an EU-legacy river pollution law that ministers claimed was obstructing the building of 100,000 homes. In a statement issued by CCHQ this morning, Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, said:
This morning Sir Keir Starmer’s flagship policy has been revealed to be short-term positioning to grab headlines, not a serious long-term plan …
Only last month Labour voted against 100,000 new homes to win cheap headlines and please special interests. He’s a blocker not a builder.
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Labour will champion needs of 'other people's children' ignored by Tories, Bridget Phillipson says
Labour will champion the education of “other people’s children” ignored by the current government, shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson told the party’s conference in Liverpool. In her speech this morning she said:
Degrees are for their children, not ours. It’s never their kids’ choices or chances that they’re keen to wind back.
Student debt for nurses, for young people starting out, looking to buy a home and build a family – not their problem. Other people’s children.
Phillipson said Labour will pay for free breakfasts for primary schools by “closing tax loopholes for the global super-rich”, repeating her determination to add VAT to private school fees.
Referring to private school lobbyists privately describing her as “chippy”, Phillipson said:
I have a message for them: chippy people make the change that matters. I will make the change that matters.
Phillipson mentioned new plans to improve maths teaching in primary schools, and announced that Sir David Bell, the vice-chancellor of Sunderland university and a former head of Ofsted, will lead a review of childcare under a Labour government.
The review will look at reforming the childcare workforce, and ways to increase primary school-based nursery provision.
Phillipson also hinted at revisions to higher education funding, saying that Labour will “change the way students pay for their time at university”, without giving further details.
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Starmer says waving Palestinian flags in some areas during Israel-Hamas war could be criminal offence
And here are some more lines from what Keir Starmer said about the Israel-Hamas war in interviews this morning.
Starmer declined to contradict Suella Braverman’s suggestion that the waving of Palestinian flags in some communities while the Israel-Hamas war is taking place could be a criminal offence. The home secretary raised this possibility in a letter to the police in which she urged them to clamp down on actions that might amount to intimidating members of the Jewish community. She said in some situations waving a Hamas flag might be a racially aggravated section 5 public order offence. Asked on LBC if he agreed that waving a Palestinian flag in some Jewish areas of London could be an office, Starmer replied:
I think it would all depend on the circumstances.
Obviously what we have seen is attacks on Jewish communities in north London and obviously – and I know firsthand – that’s having a huge impact on Jewish communities, understandably, and not for the first time.
It’s very important at times like this that we don’t conflate peaceful discussion of Palestinian issues with Hamas.
Now, the flags is a different situation. It really depends on the circumstances. If it’s provoking or encouraging attacks that might be one thing. There might be other situations. So I would not get fixated on that particular activity.
‘It really depends on the circumstances…I wouldn't get fixated on the particular activity.’@NickFerrariLBC asks @Keir_Starmer if waving a Palestinian flag in Jewish areas of London should be considered a criminal offence. pic.twitter.com/gllszzbdY2
— LBC (@LBC) October 11, 2023
Starmer said he had extended family in Israel. His wife is Jewish, and he told LBC:
Yes, we have extended family in Israel. And this will be typical I think of many people in Israel, families, communities. They have a deep sense of shock of what is happening. And fear, overladen with a real anxiety, they felt that with the Israeli intelligence and security, they always know they’re under threat. But they felt there was a protection there, and there’s huge anxiety that on this occasion that didn’t seem to operate in the way that they wanted. So I’ve never known a time of such incredible anxiety on both those fronts, and understandably.
He said that Israel did have the right to besiege Gaza in response to the Hamas attacks. He told LBC:
I think that Israel does have that right. It is an ongoing situation.
Obviously everything should be done within international law, but I don’t want to step away from the core principles that Israel has a right to defend herself and Hamas bears responsibility for the terrorist acts.
He argued that Hamas was responsible for the conditions endured by civilians in Gaza. Asked about their plight, he told Sky News the world should stand with Israel.
What sympathy does the Labour leader have for the civilians in Gaza?
— Kay Burley (@KayBurley) October 11, 2023
Here's @Keir_Starmer#KayBurley LH pic.twitter.com/eZ0nmPq7zu
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Starmer urges BBC to explain why it is calling Hamas militants, not terrorists
Keir Starmer has said the BBC should explain why it is calling Hamas militants, not terrorists, in its news coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.
Echoing a complaint by Tory MPs, including Grant Shapps, the defence secretary, who told GB News this morning that Hamas represented “pure and simple terrorism” and that other terms did not fully convey this, Starmer told LBC:
The BBC needs to explain why it [is not use the term terrorists] because for most people – I said terrorism and terrorist, and to me that’s obviously what we are witnessing. So I think it’s for the BBC to explain why then not doing it.
I have asked the BBC for a response to what Starmer and Shapps said this morning. But last night John Simpson, who for many years was the BBC’s world affairs editor, posted his own explanation on X.
British politicians know perfectly well why the BBC avoids the word ‘terrorist’, and over the years plenty of them have privately agreed with it. Calling someone a terrorist means you’re taking sides and ceasing to treat the situation with due impartiality. The BBC’s job is to place the facts before its audience and let them decide what they think, honestly and without ranting. That’s why, in Britain and throughout the world, nearly half a billion people watch, listen to and read us. There’s always someone who would like us to rant. Sorry, it’s not what we do.
British politicians know perfectly well why the BBC avoids the word ‘terrorist’, and over the years plenty of them have privately agreed with it. Calling someone a terrorist means you’re taking sides and ceasing to treat the situation with due impartiality. The BBC’s job is to…
— John Simpson (@JohnSimpsonNews) October 10, 2023
The BBC’s style guide says:
The word “terrorist” is not banned, but its use can be a barrier rather than an aid to understanding. We should not use the term without attribution.
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Labour announces ‘phonics for maths’ scheme in planned curriculum review
At the Labour conference Bridget Phillipson, the shadow education secretary, is delivering her speech now.
As Richard Adams reports, she is saying Labour would replace Rishi Sunak’s demand for compulsory maths classes until 18 with improved maths teaching for younger children and “real world” numeracy lessons for pupils in England.
How Labour says it would change planning rules to encourage more housebuilding
Keir Starmer was talking about Labour’s plans to reform the planning system yesterday. He covered some of this in his speech, but after he had finished Labour published a much more detailed briefing, which does not seem to be available online. I’m posting it here for the record. This is what Labour describes as its housing recovery plan.
Upon entering office, the deputy prime minister and secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities, Angela Rayner, will publish a written ministerial statement and write to all chief planning officers to instruct local planning authorities to approve planning applications in areas which do not have a local plan and fail other key policy tests, such as the housing delivery test.
This statement will also signpost changes to the National Planning Policy Framework, which will reverse concessions the government made to Tory backbenchers in December 2022, reinstate and enforce compulsory local targets.
The shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has announced they would increase planning capacity – ensuring every local authority has at least one full time, experienced planning officer and expanding the government’s strategic planning capacity for housing and infrastructure – funded by increasing stamp duty on overseas buyers.
Where local authorities don’t meet their requirements, a Labour government would work with the planning inspectorate to use all powers available to build homes, with interventions ranging from mediation to worst case scenarios that may require use of ‘call-in’ powers or see local planning authorities designated.
As announced by Angela Rayner, increasing flexibility in the Affordable Homes Programme so Homes England can support build out of the increasing number of ‘stalled’ sites with planning permission, but that are no longer viable due to soaring interest rates and economic uncertainty.
As well as clearing the backlog, Labour will reform the system to accelerate planning permissions while strengthening local consent on ‘how’ developments can best support local communities, not ‘if’ the homes that people need are built at all. This will put the local plan front and centre in the planning system and create a genuinely plan-led system.
Labour will strengthen the presumption in favour of developments that are aligned to local plans, with a lighter touch process for approval in line with plans and, where criteria are met, a strong community right to appeal against off-plan and speculative development.
We will increase transparency, monitoring and enforcement of requirements to maintain up to date local plans with fixed timelines for renewing local plan. We will also introduce a ‘backstop’ option allowing central government or the planning inspectorate to draw up local plans where they are significantly and egregiously delayed.
Under our new streamlined system, we will lowering the thresholds for applications being made directly to the planning inspectorate to reflect the fact that decision making should be smoother.
We will give planning officers stronger authority to grant permission on smaller sites that are in line with the plan, without referring to the planning committee, and define in guidance that pre-application advice by officers is a material consideration to the planning decision, and a ‘cooling off’ period where members go against officers’ recommendations.
We will provide guidance on off-the-shelf environmental mitigations which cut down on endless surveys and halt the vexatious frustration of applications.
In addition to increasing planning capacity by raising stamp duty on overseas buyer, Labour will accelerate the government’s plan to increase planning application fees, and potentially going further, with revenue ringfenced for more planning resource.
We will also make HM Land Registry data publicly available to increase transparency of land ownership, preventing landowners from holding a de facto veto over local plans due to an opaque land market.
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Starmer says Labour will ignore local opposition to new building if it has to to deliver more homes
Keir Starmer has said that, in order to achieve his aim of accelerating housebuilding in Britain, he will be willing to ignore local opposition to developments.
He also said that he would not tolerate Labour MPs trying to block his housebuilding plans either.
Last year Rishi Sunak abandoned plans for mandatory national housebuilding targets in the face of widespread opposition from his MPs, many of whom represent green belt constituencies where housing developments are often unpopular with residents.
Labour’s plan for housebuilding depends to a large extent on reforms to planning law. The party is not going to stop communities registering objections, but it wants to limit the extent to which some developments can be held up.
In an interview with the Today programme, Starmer was asked if he would be willing to tell people: ‘We hear you, but I’m afraid we’re ignoring you.’ He replied:
Yes. We’re going to have to do that. Now, that’s not going to be a crude exercise. I think one of the problems we have is that planning is at the moment very, very localised.
There isn’t the ability to look across a wider area and say: ‘Where would the best place be for this development? Where could we have a new town?’ And so we need to bulldoze through it, but we also need to be pragmatic about how we do it.
But I’m going to be clear: we aren’t going to have to do things which previous governments haven’t done because otherwise we’ll end up where we are now, which is talking about housing – this has been the story of the last 13 years – but not actually getting very much done.
Asked about his own opposition in the past to the plan to take HS2 to Euston, which is in his Holborn and St Pancras constituency, Starmer said that MPs were entitled to stand up for their constituents, but that government had a different role. He said:
You will always get – and quite understandably and quite rightly – individual MPs standing up for the communities in their patch.
The role of government is obviously different. The role of government is to deliver on big projects. And we’re going to have to get that balance right.
In a separate interview with Times Radio, he indicated that he would not let Labour MPs block his plans in the way that Tory MPs vetoed mandatory housing targets. He said:
We are going to have to be tough with anybody who stands in the way of that and that will include any Labour MPs who say: ‘Well, I’m signed up to the project but just not here.’
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Keir Starmer has told LBC that he thought the protester who interrupted his speech yesterday was trying to pull him over. “There was a struggle,” Starmer said. He went on:
I was not going over and I was not going to leave that podium, I was going to deliver that speech. It did feel a bit like a five-a-side moment where someone is trying to get the ball off me. Channelling the inner Arsenal, obviously.
Keir Starmer says he was trying to reach ‘inner soul of British public’ with conference speech
Good morning. Keir Starmer has been doing an interview round this morning, and he used a striking phrase when he described what he was trying to do with his conference speech yesterday. He said he was trying to reach “the inner soul of the British public”.
He told Radio 5 Live:
What I was trying to do yesterday was not so much lay out layers and layers of detailed policy; we have done quite a lot of policy in the last year or so.
What I was trying to do was to reach, if you like, the inner soul of the British public who have had 13 years of decline, 13 years of hope almost beaten out of them, and to say: we can go forward, what is ruined can be rebuilt, wounds do heal and if we set our face to it we can have a decade of national renewal.
That helps to explain the “we are the healers” language in the speech. For a full summary, here is Pippa Crerar’s story.
And Rosa Prince at Politico has a good round-up of the reaction. It implies the inner soul of the public might be responding quite well.
As Peter Walker reports, on his media round this morning Starmer also said that he was “bomb-proofing” all of his policy pledges to ensure a Labour government does not break promises.
I will post a full summary from the Starmer media round shortly.
The Labour conference finishes in Liverpool today at lunchtime. With Starmer’s speech over, it may feel to some as if it is already over, but we will be hearing this morning from Bridget Phillipson, the shadow education secretary, Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, and Jonathan Ashworth, a shadow Cabinet Office minister.
If you want to contact me, do try the “send us a message” feature. You’ll see it just below the byline – on the left of the screen, if you are reading on a laptop or a desktop. This is for people who want to message me directly. I find it very useful when people message to point out errors (even typos – no mistake is too small to correct). Often I find your questions very interesting, too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either in the comments below the line; privately (if you leave an email address and that seems more appropriate); or in the main blog, if I think it is a topic of wide interest.
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