Keir Starmer is to accuse the government of “losing control of the British economy” in a crucial speech held against the backdrop of turmoil in the markets sparked by chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s tax giveaway Budget.
Addressing Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool, Sir Keir will say that the party is ready to fight the next election on the traditional Tory territory of the economy.
And he will make clear he believes that Kwarteng and Liz Truss have wrecked the Conservatives’ generations-old claims of economic responsibility, declaring that it is now Labour and not the Tories who are the party of “sound money”.
In a conference largely free of the vicious scrapping between left and right of recent years, Starmer will drive home the extent to which he believes he has exorcised the ghost of predecessor Jeremy Corbyn by deliberately citing one of the most famous quotes of Labour’s last election-winner, Tony Blair.
As in 1997, when Blair swept to a landslide victory after 18 years of Tory rule, Labour is once again “the political wing of the British people”, he will tell delegates.
He will promise to create a million new jobs with a green prosperity plan, launched within 100 days of entering Downing Street to boost growth and reduce energy bills at the same time as addressing climate change.
One year after Starmer was repeatedly heckled by left-wingers in his 2021 conference speech, the Liverpool gathering has seen Labour buoyed by what many see as a genuine chance of power at the next election, on the back of polls regularly giving them a lead of 12 points or more over Tories.
Sir Keir believes his attempt to reposition Labour as “the party of the centre-ground” has been massively boosted by scenes of delegates respectfully observing a tribute to the Queen and singing the National Anthem against a backdrop of union flags.
Tuesday’s address is seen as a chance for Sir Keir to present himself to the country as a prime minister-in-waiting.
But despite polls – including one in The Independent last weekend – suggesting voters do not know what he stands for, he is not expected to unveil a detailed policy platform for an election which could be more than 18 months away.
Aides said the party leader relishes the prospect of taking on Ms Truss in the national ballot expected in 2024 on the basis of fundamental policy divides over the economy, rather than a clash of personalities as it might have been with Boris Johnson.
“We will go into the election as the party of fiscal responsibility with spending commitments that we have shown we can pay for,” said a senior Labour spokesperson.
Starmer will unleash a vitriolic attack on the “shambolic” mini-Budget and on Truss and Kwarteng’s offer of tax breaks for the richest in society and uncapped bonuses for bankers.
“What we’ve seen from the government in the past few days has no precedent. They’ve lost control of the British economy,” he will say. “And for what? For tax cuts for the richest one per cent in our society.”
In a bid to claim the mantle of fiscal responsibility, the Labour leader will recommit his party to the creation of an independent Office for Value for Money to ensure taxpayers’ cash is spent in the national interest.
Starmer has already vowed to reverse Mr Kwarteng’s abolition of the 45p top rate of income tax on earnings over £150,000, with shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves telling the conference on Monday that the cash raised would instead be spent on training thousands of doctors, nurses and health visitors.
On Tuesday, he will set out his plan to create “an economy that works for working people and gives Britain its hope and its future back”. Achieving this will require “the biggest partnership between government, business and communities this country has ever seen”, ending the “short-termist” approach of the past decade.
After 12 years of Tory-led administrations, Labour is ready to get the country “out of this endless cycle of crisis with a fresh start, a new set of priorities and a new way of governing”, he will say.
Fresh from announcing his plan to make the UK a “green superpower” with a massive investment in wind and solar energy, Starmer will say that the climate crisis provides the biggest opportunity in decades to make the country work for working people.
Britain “cannot afford to miss out” on the opportunity to lead the world in renewable energy, electric vehicles and harnessing new hydrogen power, he will say.
Accusing the government of leading Britain into the current cost of living crisis, he will say: “We should never be left cowering in a brace position, worrying about how to get through a winter.
“It’s time for Britain to stand tall again.”
Interviewed on stage by left-leaning soccer star Gary Neville on Monday, Starmer said the mood at Liverpool was one of “confidence that we have done hard work in the last two years to change our party, to remake our party, to make it face the public and that we’re ready to deliver”.
He added: “The sense of coming together, the sense that we are really a government-in-waiting, and that we now have our chance at this conference to set out our ideas for the country. That confidence is worth its weight in gold.”
