British Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged to protect public services and ruled out austerity measures as the ruling Labour Party’s annual conference opened on Sunday.
The four-day conference in Liverpool (northwest England) is being held three months after the party achieved a major victory over the Conservatives in the general election.
After months of pessimism about the British economy, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner expressed optimism when she opened the conference, announcing that “change has begun.”
Rayner, who also holds the housing and communities portfolio, pledged to “repair the foundations and put Britain back on the path to growth”, while Foreign Secretary David Lammy repeatedly stressed in his speech that “the UK is back”.
Before the conference began, Starmer told the Observer newspaper that his government had achieved “much more in 11 weeks than the previous government had achieved in the previous 11 years.”
He pointed to ambitious goals set for housing construction, the creation of a government agency to invest in green energy, and the hiring of police officers and teachers.
No austerity drive
Starmer told the Sunday Mirror that despite laying the groundwork for potential funding cuts and tax increases in the budget due by the end of October, the government would not take the “austerity route”.
He repeated his warning that he would start “hard” but also told the Observer he would ensure “our public services work properly”, pledging to spare workers from tax rises.
Meanwhile, in her speech, Rainer announced a “historic” reform of workers’ rights that will be presented to parliament next month, including a ban on unfair employment contracts and an increase in the minimum wage.
For its part, the opposition and the media have criticised Starmer as a hypocrite, after he called on the public to accept short-term financial “pain” to help plug the £22bn “black hole” in the public finances that he says the Conservatives have left behind.
Public discontent has grown after a controversial move by the government to cut fuel payments for 10 million pensioners.
The fallout from the cuts has increased pressure from unions, with Unite general secretary Sharon Graham saying demanding a change in policy would be a “priority” at the conference.
