Keir Starmer says Labour will prioritise growth which will mean ‘better jobs, public services, holidays and more cash’ – as it happened

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer. Photograph: Tolga Akmen/EPA

5.35pm BST

Afternoon summary

• Keir Starmer has said Labour would streamline planning rules to enable more houses to be built. (See 9.02am.) In a speech to the British Chambers of Commerce, he said current planning laws were a brake on productivity. (See 3.41pm.) In response to Tory suggestions that this was hypocritical, because shadow ministers have regularly blocked housing developments in their own constituencies, Starmer said that, unlike Rishi Sunak, he would press ahead with housebuilding reform even in the face of objections from MPs. (See 5.21pm.)

• Rishi Sunak has insisted Brexit is working by citing cheaper beer and sanitary products, as he claimed the economy was looking up and people’s household incomes were “hugely outperforming” expectations. As Rowena Mason reports, despite consumers struggling with high inflation and the cost of living crisis, the prime minister claimed there were “lots of signs that things are moving in the right direction” with the economy. Rejecting claims from the former Ukip leader Nigel Farage that Brexit had failed under the Tories, he cited freeports, cutting VAT on sanitary products and reforming beer duty as major successes.

• Angela Rayner has accused the Conservatives of starting to “prepare for opposition” and obsess over niche culture war issues in a prime minister’s questions in which she faced up to Oliver Dowden for the first time.

• The Vauxhall and Fiat manufacturer Stellantis has urged the government to renegotiate rules in the Brexit deal that it says could force it to shut some of its UK operations, putting thousands of jobs at risk.

Keir Starmer speaking at the BCC conference this afternoon. Photograph: Jordan Pettitt/PA

Updated at 5.38pm BST

5.21pm BST

Starmer says he will be 'tougher' than Sunak on housebuilding and not be put off by objections from his MPs

Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, has released an open letter to Keir Starmer asking questions about his plans to reform planning and promote housebuilding. He claims that three-quarters of members of the shadow cabinet have in the past blocked developments in their own constituencies.

Does anyone know what @Keir_Starmer’s latest position is on housing? I hope he can clear up these important questions👇 pic.twitter.com/Qh6hkLGJfb

— Michael Gove (@michaelgove) May 17, 2023

Starmer is being interviewed by Evan Davis on the PM programme, and Davis asked him about this claim. Starmer said he had not seen Gove’s questions, but he acknowledged that implementing his plans would be difficult because MPs would say: “Not here.”

But he said, unlike Rishi Sunak, he would not back off in the face of pressure from his party. He went on:

The prime minister backed off. He admitted it was the challenge within his own party, his own backbenchers, that forced him to [scrap the targets]. He didn’t say: ‘Look, it’s good for housing or good for growth.’ He just [backed down] because he was too weak to press on. We’ve got to be tougher than that and push forward.

In so far as people object because they want to protect the green belt, that’s right. Of course, we want to protect the green belt. But we need to recognise we do build on bits of the green belt and we don’t build on the right bits.

Updated at 5.26pm BST