Keir Starmer has set his sights on 10 years as prime minister, saying it will take Labour wins at the next two general elections to reverse the “decline” suffered by the UK.
In comments that showed his growing confidence at winning power, the Labour leader said he was charting a course for “a decade of national renewal”.
“I appreciate a decade is not just one parliamentary term, it’s two,” Starmer told BBC Radio London during a round of interviews with regional broadcasters after Labour’s party conference. “But the state of the country means that it’s going to take a decade of national renewal, but that will be about bringing people together to work on essentially a national project.”
Starmer made a direct appeal to voters who backed parties other than Labour in 2019, acknowledging he needed to win over those who deserted the party during Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.
He said: “Obviously I’m appealing there to Labour voters, but also to people who voted for other parties who feel ‘we can’t go on with this decline and I want to be part of something which feels like a national project to put this country back where it needs to be’.”
The comments underline Labour insiders’ belief that the party is well placed to maintain its lead over the Conservatives in the opinion polls. While opposition strategists are preparing for the possibility of a general election next spring, most Tories expect Rishi Sunak to hold off until the autumn. The latest possible point the poll could be held is January 2025.
Starmer said he was “really fed up with the fact that we’ve had 13 years now of decline, of failure, the economy hasn’t really grown [and] our public services are crumbling”.
“At the next election, we get the opportunity to turn that around,” he added.
With two byelections coming up that Labour hopes to win, Starmer remained optimistic his party would retain its recent winning streak, having taken back Rutherglen and Hamilton West from the Scottish National party last week.
Starmer said that though Tamworth in the Midlands was a “strong Tory area”, Labour was fighting hard to win and many people in the constituency were “fed up” with the government.
In Mid Bedfordshire, another Tory stronghold, Starmer said people were angry and frustrated – and took aim at the former MP Nadine Dorries, saying she had been an absent and ineffective representative. The two byelections will take place next Thursday.
During the eight radio interviews he did on Thursday morning, Starmer stood by classifying himself as a “yimby” – an acronym for those supportive of housebuilding known as “yes in my back yard”.
He said the prospect of home ownership had become something of which many young people could only dream. Starmer told BBC Radio Devonprices were spiralling due to second home ownership and forcing people to live further away from their workplaces – hampering businesses’ efforts to recruit and retain staff.
He was also tepid in his support for the expansion of the ultra-low emission zone in London. While he said he would not shy away from measures to tackle air pollution and that the London mayor had a legal requirement to take action to do so, Starmer told BBC Radio Kent he would rather have a system that was more proportionate.
Two days after his conference speech where a protester covered him in glitter, Starmer said he was still finding tiny specks in his hair. He joked anyone with a teenage daughter knew the troubles of removing it completely, and called the demonstrator an “idiot”.
