By Jessica Frank-Keyes
Keir Starmer will today launch Labour’s “down payment for change” in a pre-election doorstep offer to voters.
The Labour leader will speak at an event in Essex where he will outline the party’s six ‘first steps for change’, including promises to deliver economic stability and boost public services.
Starmer is expected to describe the promises as “a down payment on change – on our determination to begin a decade of national renewal”.
He will say: “These first steps make real our claim that a changed Labour Party is back in service of working people.
“They show our priorities, what we care about and what the British public cares about. Country first, party second.”
The pledges are: to deliver economic stability via “tough spending rules”; to cut NHS waiting times, with 40,000 more appointments a week; to launch a new border security command, to “smash criminal boat gangs”; to set up Great British Energy, a “publicly-owned clean power company to cut bills”; to crack down on antisocial behaviour, with “more neighbourhood police”; and to recruit 6,500 new teachers, funded “by ending tax breaks for private schools”.
It comes after Labour secured strong local election results on May 2, including Sadiq Khan winning a record third term in London, and unseating Andy Street in the West Midlands.
The party is also set to launch an ad campaign across local newspapers, billboards and ad vans detailing their five pledges, alongside a black and white image of Sir Keir.
A Labour spokesperson said the event marked the “next phase of the general election campaign” as the party launched a “distillation of its core retail offer to voters”.
They added that the policy offers were “based firmly on the five missions”, which Labour says will inform its work in government, if elected.
There will also be “distinct” Scottish and Welsh launches in the coming weeks, while the advertising campaign is the party’s “biggest ad spend since the 2019 general election”.
Labour has simplified the language of its five mission statements, which are now to: get Britain building again; switch on Great British Energy; get the NHS back on its feet; take back our streets; and break down barriers to opportunity.
Shadow cabinet ministers will also be at the event in Essex today, where Starmer will also say: “What is crucial about these commitments is that they are part of a long-term plan to get Britain back on its feet.”
“Each of the first steps would chime with voters’ aspirations, show a clear set of priorities and a powerful direction of travel.”
Conservative Party chairman Richard Holden said Labour had “no coherent plan” and described Thursday’s announcement as Sir Keir’s “sixteenth relaunch” that “won’t amount to a hill of beans”.
He added: “Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives are sticking to the plan which is working to strengthen the economy – with inflation down from 11.1 per cent to 3.2 per cent and £900 back in hard-working people’s pockets – and a fair immigration system with boat crossings down.”
