Starmer warns of ‘long and difficult road’ to build fairer country
Prime Minister Keir Starmer will tell Labour members that the government faces a “long and difficult” path towards rebuilding the country in a speech set to define his leadership after a troubled year in office.
Starmer’s speech on Tuesday afternoon will warn the audience at the Labour Party Conference that decisions will not be “cost-free”, a message that further suggests sweeping tax rises will be made at the Budget.
It will also describe the “test” facing the government in its “fight for the soul of our country”, which the Prime Minister last week said would be between Reform and Labour in coming elections.
“We can choose decency, or we can choose division,” Starmer will tell members.
“A country – proud of its values, in control of its future or one that succumbs, against the grain of our history, to the politics of grievance.”
“It is a test – a fight for the soul of our country, every bit as big as rebuilding Britain after the war, and we must all rise to this challenge.
“And yet we need to be clear that our path, the path of renewal, it’s long, it’s difficult, it requires decisions that are not cost-free or easy. Decisions that will not always be comfortable for our party.”
“Yet at the end of this hard road there will be a new country, a fairer country, a land of dignity and respect: everyone seen, everyone valued, wealth creation in every single community, working people in control of their public services, the mindless bureaucracy, that chokes enterprise, removed, so we can build and keep on building.”
Starmer’s tough months ahead
The speech will come as the Labour government heads into a tough end of the year, with the looming Budget, leadership troubles and dire poll ratings likely to be keeping ministers awake at night.
Starmer’s speech echoes comments made by Chancellor Rachel Reeves on Monday afternoon as she told party members that “harder” choices would have to be made in the coming months.
Reeves is widely expected to have to fill a £30bn hole in public finances, with another sweeping tax grab set to be unveiled.
The other option could be making spending cuts. The new work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden has suggested that the government would look to introduce the welfare reforms before the Budget to curb expenditure.
The last time the government made small £5bn savings to the welfare budget resulted in a large rebellion from Labour MPs, with the government having to row back on changes to disability payments.
Discontent across the Labour benches remains but more immediate threats to Starmer’s leadership may have temporarily cooled after Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, who has been openly critical of the government in recent days, agreed Starmer was in fact the best man to be Prime Minister at a fringe event on Monday at the conference.