Starmer confirms that Labour has ditched Corbyn’s 2019 manifesto
Sir Keir Starmer has confirmed Labour will scrap the party’s 2019 manifesto in a final break from the Jeremy Corbyn-era.
The Labour leader made the long expected announcement today, telling a Westminster event that “the slate is wiped clean”.
His comments will draw fury from the left of the party, after Starmer pledged during the 2020 Labour leadership election to stick with a number of key Corbyn policies such as scrapping university tuition fees and hiking income tax for the top five per cent of earners.
“What we’ve done with the last manifesto is put it to one side,” he told a New Statesman event.
“We’re starting from scratch. The slate is wiped clean.
″What we do have to recognise is that having come through the pandemic, we need to look at everything in the round, and make choices about where we want to put our money.”
When challenged about potentially breaking his leadership pledges, Starmer said that “if you don’t change your views as you experience life, then you’re probably not going to get very far”.
The Labour leader has made a concerted effort to moderate the party since taking over two years ago, after drifting to the left under Corbyn and shadow chancellor John McDonnell.
Starmer effectively purged the party’s ruling body, the NEC, of Corbyn supporters and has put in a shadow cabinet of moderate Labour MPs.