The key points from Starmer’s do-or-die speech, featuring three reheated policies and repeated soundbites from previous resets:
- Refused to resign and vowed to fight any leadership challenge: “I’m not going to walk away”.
- Will “put Britain at the heart of Europe” and “repair” the UK-EU relationship at the next EU summit. Suitably vague…
- Legislation this week to nationalise British Steel, subject to ‘a public interest test’. So yet another Whitehall review…
- ‘New’ jobs guarantee: every young unemployed person to get a guaranteed offer of a job, training or work placement. Already announced.
- Conceded Labour needs a “bigger response than 2024” and that “incremental change won’t cut it” on growth, defence, Europe and energy.
- Called Farage a “grifter” and “chancer” and said Reform would take Britain down a “very dark path“.
- Said Labour “cannot win as a weaker version of Reform or the Greens” but only as “a mainstream party of power, not protest“. They lost around 1500 seats on Thursday.
- Took “responsibility” for the local election results but argued resigning would inflict Tory-style “chaos” on the country.
- On Burnham’s return to Westminster: “a decision for the NEC“.
- Claimed to have got the “big political decisions” right, and to have stabilised the economy. Inflation and unemployment are up since he came in…
That concludes his 30th reset speech. Will it be enough to stop the herd?
