Sir Keir Starmer’s “emergency list of priorities” is a sign that the Government is feeling “pretty unstable”, the Conservatives have claimed.
This comes as the Prime Minister set out a series of “milestones” he pledged to achieve over the course of this Parliament, including higher living standards, clean power by 20230, and cutting NHS waiting lists.
Building 1.5 million homes, putting “more police on the beat”, and giving every child the “best start in life”, were also listed as milestones by Sir Keir.
We will all on this side of the House want to congratulate the Government on its most recent reset, there are only a few more resets left before Christmas
The Government’s plan was also presented to the Commons by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, with shadow Cabinet Office minister Alex Burghart accusing Pat McFadden of appearing “rattled”.
In his statement on Thursday, Mr McFadden said the previous government had “given up” on trying to deliver for people.
“Today, we turn the page on that record, we reject the hopelessness that it fostered, and we set out milestones for each of our missions and the foundations which underpin them,” he added.
Mr Burghart then said: “We will all on this side of the House want to congratulate the Government on its most recent reset, there are only a few more resets left before Christmas. The Labour Party may like to try turning it off and, well, maybe just leaving it off.
“But it’s good that they have taken the time to come up with an emergency list of priorities after only 14 years in opposition, five months in power, they finally decided some things they’re going to work towards.
“(Mr McFadden) in his statement was quite punchy about the past, actually unusually punchy for (Mr McFadden).
“One could say that if (Mr McFadden) is rattled, and he is not the rattling type, it is a sign that the Government itself must be feeling pretty unstable at the moment.”
He added: “The missions only mean anything if the Government is honest about what it is doing, about the milestones it is hitting or not hitting, and also why it has downgraded certain other priorities.
“Like, how has it chosen these six issues, over immigration, over GP surgeries, over A&E, over defence, over the £300 energy bill reduction target, over becoming the fastest growing economy in the G7. Why has the Government chosen the priorities it has? The House should be told.”
Mr McFadden replied: “Let us contrast what we are announcing today with their milestones of failure.
“They had record high waiting lists, the worst Parliament for living standards on record, a surrender on house building, a failure on infrastructure, a £22 billion hole in the public finances.
“Those are the milestones of failure. Those are our choices today.”
Conservative MP Sir Bernard Jenkin (Harwich and North Essex) said no-one doubts the sincerity of the Government’s desire to achieve its “laudable” aims, adding: “But can I just remind him of John Lennon’s line, ‘Life is what happens while you’re making other plans’.
“And notably absent from these priorities are priorities like reducing the national debt, dealing with the demographic challenge or dealing with the lack of defence or security that we need to build up in order to confront global challenges.”
SNP MP Brendan O’Hara (Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber) added: “However the minister might try to dress this up, there’s an unmistakable whiff of panic about it.”
