Sir Keir Starmer has promised that a “take back control” bill aimed at devolving power out of Westminster will be the centrepiece of a Labour government’s first King’s Speech.
In his new year address in Stratford, east London, the Labour leader said he would “embrace” the message used by Boris Johnson and the Leave campaign during the Brexit referendum in 2016.
“The control people want is control of their lives and their communities,” Sir Keir said. “So we will embrace the ‘take back control’ message – but we will turn it from a slogan into a solution, from a catchphrase into change.”
Sir Keir promised that the flagship bill would “spread control” out of Westminster – devolving new powers over employment support, transport, energy, housing, childcare provision and spending to local and regional authorities.
The Labour leader also said his “take back control” bill would give communities a new right to request powers that go beyond Labour’s devolution plans – saying it would “give communities the chance to control their economic destiny”.
“I couldn’t disagree with the basic case so many Leave voters made to me,” he said. “That [take back control] phrase was really powerful – it was like Heineken, it got into people. The more they asked themselves ‘Do I have control?’, the more they answered ‘No.’”
Sir Keir said Leave voters were entitled to feel aggrieved at the economic hardship that has followed Brexit – saying the problem was that the change promised by Mr Johnson and others “has never happened”.
He said: “If you can’t make ends meet in your family, you don’t have control. If you can’t find a secure job, you don’t have control,” adding: “You can’t deny the basic arguments being made, and I think it’s time for us to embrace it.”
Earlier this week, Labour’s shadow levelling-up secretary Lisa Nandy said reversing Brexit was “a fantasy” – but that the party would look to align the UK with EU laws in more areas than just veterinary standards and security.
Asked about his plans to “make Brexit work”, Sir Keir said: “I don’t think anyone now seriously argues that this so-called oven-ready deal is actually working for anyone, so of course we have to address that, and I’ll set that out in more detail.”
Sir Keir also said a Labour government would not “spend our way out” of the “mess” inherited from the Conservatives – saying his party could not get its “big government chequebook out again”.
He said: “Of course, investment is required – I can see the damage the Tories have done to our public services as plainly as anyone. But we won’t be able to spend our way out of their mess; it’s not as easy as that.”
Sir Keir raised eyebrows by suggesting that Labour’s pledge to abolish tuition fees might need to be reconsidered because of the “damage that has been done to the economy”.
Asked about whether he stood by his pledge to abolish the fees, Sir Keir said: “Obviously we have got a number of propositions in relation to those fees that we will put forward as we go into the election.”
He added: “But I have to be honest about it, the damage that has been done to our economy means that we are going to have to, and we know we will, cost everything as we go into that election – and we will do that with discipline.”
Sir Keir insisted that he did have a plan for preventing so many migrants from crossing the English Channel in small boats. He pledged to do more to crack down on criminal gangs “upstream” in Europe, as well as speeding up the asylum claim process.
Promising a “decade of national renewal” if his party comes to power, Sir Keir acknowledged it would take time to fix huge problems, but he vowed to “give people a sense of possibility again – show light at the end of the tunnel”.
The Labour leader also promised to end “sticking-plaster” politics and the “short-term mindset” that dominates Westminster and “all the institutions which try and fail to run Britain from the centre”.
Sir Keir accused Rishi Sunak of being “in denial” about the scale of the crises in the NHS and the economy – saying the prime minister had offered only “platitudes” during his own speech on Wednesday.
The Tory prime minister tried to relaunch his premiership by offering five promises, including to turn the economy around, cut NHS waiting lists, and “stop the small boats” by the time of the election in 2024.
“It was almost as if he’d arrived from the moon and looked around and said, ‘Everything’s busted – nothing’s working,’” said Sir Keir. “It’s no good coming along and making five promises and saying, ‘Give us another chance, sorry about the last 13 years.’ It’s just not going to wash with the British public.”
Sir Keir said his party has to be ready for the Sunak government to “fall at any time”, adding that he has been working since August to get Labour on an election footing. “We should have a general election as soon as possible,” he added.
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that Labour would have to use both investment and reform to sort out Britain’s problems.
Asked whether Labour would get close to the £70bn extra that the Health Foundation charity has estimated will be required by the NHS by 2030, Ms Reeves pointed to the financial chaos that took hold during the short tenure of former prime minister Liz Truss.
“So much that we want to do requires money, but so much also requires reform of our public services,” she said. Reforms could involve increasing the amount of spare private health sector capacity the NHS currently uses, Ms Reeves confirmed.
When it was put to her that some within the Labour Party might consider such a move to amount to “privatisation by the back door”, Ms Reeves added: “It is absolutely not.”
