Starmer to unveil ‘mission’ milestones and compares Whitehall to ‘oil tanker’
The Prime Minister will set out a “plan for change” with milestones set in key policy areas, or ‘missions’ to achieve the targets laid out in Labour’s manifesto, Downing Street has said.
Sir Keir Starmer will this week kick off what he called the “next phase” of his government, and announce the markers for achieving his ‘missions’, alongside public sector reform.
No10 said the timeframes will allow the public to hold Sir Keir and his team to account on their promises – which they say will be reached by the end of the Parliament.
A key area of focus will include reforms to Whitehall, to be led by the yet to be appointed new cabinet secretary – chief of the civil service – to gear it towards mission delivery, ahead of decisions being made for the departmental spending review expected in the spring.
Writing in The Sun on Sunday, Starmer compared “focusing the machinery of government” to “turning an oil tanker” and said “acceptance of managed decline” has “seeped into parts of Whitehall”.
He wrote: “The British people aren’t fools. They know a ruthless focus on priorities is essential.”
The so-called “missions” outlined in Labour’s election manifesto focused on five key policy areas: to kickstart economic growth; make Britain a clean energy superpower; take back our streets; break down barriers to opportunity; and build an NHS fit for the future.
The Sunday Times reported that one of Starmer’s new milestones would focus on early education, with the aim to raise the number of children who are ready for school.
Ahead of revealing the full details, Sir Keir said: “Mission-led government does not mean picking milestones because they are easy or will happen anyway – it means relentlessly driving real improvements in the lives of working people.
“We are already fixing the foundations and have kicked-started our first steps for change, stabilising the economy, setting up a new Border Security Command, and investing £22bn in an NHS that is fit for the future.
“Our plan for change is the next phase of delivering this government’s mission.”
But investment, he added, “comes alongside a programme of innovation and reform”.
It comes after a first five months in office that have seen anger over Budget proposals and reports of tension in No10, including the departure of former chief of staff Sue Gray.
While polling for The Observer newspaper by Opinium indicates more than half of the public disapprove of the Prime Minister’s performance, leaving him with a net rating of -32 per cent.
Conservative Party co-chairman Nigel Huddleston argued that the government’s “relaunch will do nothing to hide the chaos Labour have unleashed on the country”.
He said: “In four short months his Labour government has been engulfed in a cronyism row, cut the winter fuel payment for 10m pensioners, hit farmers with the ‘family farm tax’ and hammered businesses and working people with higher taxes.
“While Keir Starmer has serious questions to answer about why he let someone serve in his cabinet who he knew had a fraud conviction.
“The British people will rightly be wondering why they have been short changed by the party that claimed to offer change.”