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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer tried to shake off his image as a gloom-monger on Tuesday, telling voters exhausted with politics that better times are on the way — if they swallow his recipe of short-term pain for long-term gain.
Starmer capped Labour's first annual conference since winning a landslide election victory with a speech assuring members and supporters that things will be “tough in the short term" but there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Some members of the center-left party say Starmer has made that dark tunnel longer by delivering downbeat messages about the economy since becoming Britain's first Labour prime minister for 14 years in July. That and a distracting row about freebies have overshadowed what should be a celebratory gathering for thousands of party members in the northwest England port city of Liverpool.
A country tired of politics
“I know this country is exhausted by and with politics,” Starmer said. "I know that the cost-of-living crisis drew a veil over the joy and wonder in our lives and that people want respite and relief.”
He said the government will deliver positive change, but won’t offer “false hope.”
“Just because we all want low taxes and good public services, does not mean that the iron law of properly funding policies can be ignored,” Starmer said. He pledged to take “tough” decisions — code for spending restraint and likely tax increases — to achieve economic growth to fund schools, hospitals, roads, railways and more.
“The patient, calm, determined era of politics as service has begun," he said.
The government is gambling that voters will hear out Starmer’s argument and give the government time to show results. But anxiety about missteps has clouded the mood among Labour members, supporters, politicians and officials gathered beside the River Mersey in a rain-drenched Liverpool for the four-day conference.
Low approval ratings
Polls suggest Starmer's approval ratings have plummeted and public optimism in the government has shriveled.
Starmer won the election on a promise to banish years of turmoil and scandal under Conservative governments, get Britain’s sluggish economy growing and restore frayed public services such as the state-funded National Health Service.
Since then, he has announced there is a 22-billion-pound ($29 billion) “black hole” in the public finances left by the previous Conservative government, and has warned that “things will get worse” before they get better. That has many party members worried that tax increases and spending cuts loom in the Oct. 30 budget.
Treasury chief Rachel Reeves tried to allay some of that concern on Monday, promising there would be “no return to austerity.” But the government is facing opposition over its decision to strip millions of retirees of a payment intended to help heat their homes in winter.
The party’s mood has also been dampened by a tempest over Starmer’s acceptance of freebies at a time when millions of people are struggling with the cost of living.
Starmer insists he followed the rules when he took thousands of pounds worth of clothes and designer eyeglasses from Waheed Alli, a media entrepreneur and Labour donor. But after days of bad press, the party says Starmer and other ministers won’t accept any more free outfits.
Cabinet minister Pat McFadden, who ran Labour’s election campaign, said the government would not be derailed by criticism.
“I’m not going to pretend to anyone in this room that I’ve enjoyed some of the headlines and stories over the last week ,” he told a meeting at the conference. “But nor am I going to allow them to define the government.”
International challenges
The clothes episode, and another over the salary of Starmer’s top aide, are unwelcome distractions for a government taking office as tensions spiral in the Middle East and the 2 ½-year-old war in Ukraine.
Starmer’s government has maintained Britain’s strong military, humanitarian and diplomatic support for Kyiv, and has been involved in discussions with the U.S. over whether Ukraine should be allowed to use Western-supplied weapons to strike targets deep inside Russia.
In July's election, Labour lost several seats it had been expected to win to independent candidates critical of the party's initial refusal to call for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war.
The issue continues to be difficult for the party. On Monday, a heckler shouting about British arms sales to Israel briefly interrupted Reeves' speech, and on Tuesday activists attempted to write “Genocide conference” at the entrance to the convention center.
Starmer urged an immediate Gaza cease-fire and for “all parties to step back from the brink” amid mounting strikes in both directions across the Israel-Lebanon border.
Starmer emphasized the changes the government has already made, including settling long-running doctors’ strikes, setting up a state-run green energy firm, preparing to nationalize the railways and strengthening protections for renters.
He also hinted at future contentious moves, including more stringent conditions for welfare recipients, as he acknowledged some of his decisions would be unpopular.
“If the last few years have shown us anything, it's that if you bury your head because things are difficult, your country goes backwards,” he said.
