Keir Starmer will use this month’s Labour conference to outline his “roadmap for Britain” - and how he offers “the fresh start it needs”.
In an exclusive Mirror interview, the party leader pledged to use the Liverpool get-together to outline the policies he believes will propel him to No10 and finally end years of Tory rule.
Offering a glimpse of the agenda, the former Director of Public Prosecutions promised a “big plan on the economy and how we’re going to grow it, big plan on the NHS and how we get through the winter … and very strong commitments on law and order - as you would expect from someone who has devoted much of his life to the criminal justice system”.
He promised specific policies, adding: “I am going to set out in my conference speech our roadmap, our plan for Britain and how Labour will give Britain the fresh start it needs.”
Mr Starmer’s vision includes “fixing the short-term problems like the cost-of-living crisis, the National Health crisis and the law and order crisis”.
Then he will tackle longer-term challenges such as “rebuilding our economy, growing our economy, seeing the climate crisis not just as an obligation but as an opportunity for the next generation of jobs (and) rebuilding our public services”.
Top of his agenda is setting out the help Labour would offer families battling today’s living standards disaster as inflation rampages at 10.1%, the energy price cap rockets from £1,971 to £3,549 on October 1 and mortgage rates climb amid fears of a recession.
“Constantly people are saying to me, ‘I can’t pay my bills, Keir, I’m really worried’, and it ranges from people who are right on the edge, who are genuinely going to have to make really difficult decisions about heating and eating, pensioners who are really worried about what time they’ll get out of bed, saying to me, ‘I’m going to get out of bed more like lunchtime so I don’t have to put the heating on’ - awful decisions they are having to make,” he said.
“The other thing I’ve been struck by is people on a reasonable salary who would not consider themselves particularly hard-up saying, ‘I can’t afford £3,500 on average for my energy bill - I certainly can’t afford £4,000 at the turn of the year’.
“People are worried sick across the whole country.”
Hearing grim stories from the frontline is “heartbreaking” but “it also makes me angry that they have been left in this place with a government that hasn’t got any of the answers”, he admitted.
“Their descriptions of how hard it is are absolutely compelling and just reinforce in me how urgently we need to take action to deal with the cost-of-living crisis,” said Mr Starmer.
He remembers as a 10-year-old listening to his parents Rodney, a toolmaker, and Josephine, a nurse, discussing how to pay bills - and how their telephone was cut off because they could not afford the connection.
“I’m not claiming great poverty but … money was tight at times,” said the party chief.
“That meant we had to decide what utilities we could dispense with - and the telephone was one of them when we couldn't pay the bill.
“I know what it’s like to sit round the kitchen table and realise on a weekly or monthly basis that the numbers don’t add up and something’s got to go.”
Labour’s plan to help families with fuel bills includes freezing the energy cap until April - partly funded by another windfall tax on oil and gas giants.
Critics warn it would be a stop-gap measure, with a new plan needed when the freeze expires.
“We have to address the question of how people are going to get through the winter,” said Mr Starmer.
“It’s a national emergency.”
But he admitted that “ultimately we need to be energy self-sufficient - less reliant on the international market”.
He called for a “sprint to renewables, massively increasing wind power, solar power, tidal power and really getting on with nuclear” - boosting well-paid, highly-skilled jobs.
Blasting the Government’s approach, he said: “Every problem is crisis management, short-term - never a long-term, strategic plan that’s going to fix the problems in the first place.”
He fears Boris Johnson ’s replacement will fail to deliver a reset when they enter Downing Street next week.
Either Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak will be declared the winner of the Tory leadership race on Monday and become Prime Minister on Tuesday.
“Neither of the candidates have shown they understand the scale of the problem and neither has come up with any proposals that meet the scale of the challenge,” said Mr Starmer.
“Labour has shown with our energy freeze and paying for that with a windfall tax on oil and gas companies that we are on the side of working people, on the side of struggling households.
“They are not on the side of working people.”
He insisted he was “completely unfazed” by the prospect of facing a new PM “offering more of the same, more of the tired, worn-out policies” each week in the Commons.
And, delivering a farewell message to doomed Premier Mr Johnson, Mr Starmer wished him “a long and happy retirement”, adding: “It’s good for the country that he’s gone - he should stay gone.”
Keir's birthday
Not many new sexagenerians would choose to mark their milestone with 90-minutes of lung-busting eight-a-side football.
But that is the date awaiting Keir Starmer tomorrow as he celebrates his 60th birthday this weekend.
The Labour leader reached the landmark yesterday - and the Mirror presented him with a £13 Waitrose chocolate cake at Cafe Renoir near his home in Kentish Town, North London.
Later, he tucked into a celebratory lunch with wife Victoria and their two children.
The festivities continue tomorrow when he takes to the pitch for his weekly match.
“I told myself many years ago that I was determined to still be playing 90 minutes of football when I was 60, and so it’ll be a very special moment when I pull on the shirt on Sunday,” he said.
Arsenal passion
Arsenal FC gave devoted fan Keir Starmer one of the best birthday presents he could have wished for yesterday - being top of the league as he turned 60.
Asked for his birthday wish, the Labour leader instantly replied: “Oh, a Labour Government.” Then his eyes lit up as he added: “Followed by Arsenal top of the league as a close second - but that’s already been delivered for today!”
The Gunners narrowly missed out on Champions League qualification last season.
But Mikel Arteta’s side, who play Manchester United at Old Trafford tomorrow, are the only Premiership team with a 100% record of played five won five this term.
“I think we’re seeing a much stronger team dynamic, the two or three new signings have been fantastic - but the spirit has changed,” said Mr Starmer.
“It’s a winning spirit now. This is the change we are making in the Labour Party too, by the way.”
