‘You can’t lose four elections and not change’, insists Starmer – but refuses to say if he’s moving Labour from left
Sir Keir Starmer has repeatedly refused to say if he is moving Labour away from the left to the centre of British politics, but insisted: “You can’t lose four elections and not change”.
On the eve of his first in-person Labour conference speech as party leader, Sir Keir said he was focussed on turning Labour “from a party that looks inward to a party that looks outward” and “from a party that looks backwards to a party that looks forward”.
The Labour leader told Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby that the change to the party during this week’s conference in Brighton had been “profound”, following his efforts to alter Labour’s internal rulebook.
Sir Keir admitted he and deputy leader Angela Rayner have ‘disagreements’
And he admitted that he and Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner – who was criticised this week for calling Conservative ministers “scum” – have “disagreements” amid their “different approaches and different styles”.
The first few days of Labour’s gathering in Brighton were dominated by a row over Sir Keir’s efforts to change the party’s rules on leadership elections, with him accused of attempting to freeze out the party’s left-wing from future contests.
And Sir Keir was also rocked by the resignation of shadow minister Andy McDonald over a row about whether the party should back a minimum wage of £15 per hour.
Sir Keir denied he was pleased to see Mr McDonald – who had been among the last remaining supporters of his predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn, in the shadow cabinet – announce he was leaving Labour’s top team.
But he said: “I don’t want to have a discussion about Andy McDonald, I want our party to be focussed on the country.
“The change this week has been profound for our party.”
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And on his battle to change Labour’s rulebook, Sir Keir added: “A lot of people said to me ‘why are you doing this Keir? Are you going to get it over the line?’.
“I took a lot of criticism, but we stuck with it because it was a tough decision that had to be taken.
“You can’t lose four elections and not change, and we’ve changed.”
However, pressed on whether the Brighton gathering had shown how he was moving Labour away from Mr Corbyn’s leftist agenda, Sir Keir repeatedly refused to engage with the suggestion he was positioning his party closer to the centre of British politics.
“I want to move the party to a position where it focuses on what matters to working families,” he said.
“Let me tell you what that is, that is a decent education for every child, it is secure work, well-paid work near where people live, it is a health service that works for people where they need it and security.”
He added: “I’m moving it from a party that looks inward to a party that looks outward, I’m moving it from a party that looks backwards to a party that looks forward.”
As well as Mr McDonald’s resignation, Sir Keir and his allies have also been forced to field questions about Ms Rayner’s description of Conservatives as “scum” to Labour activists during a conference rally.
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Asked if this hindered his efforts to win back former Labour voters who backed the Tories in recent elections, Sir Keir said: “I wouldn’t use language.
“Angela Rayner and I have different approaches and different styles.
“It’s not language I would have used. Angela and I talk everyday – of course we have huge agreements and disagreements.”
But he added both he and his deputy had “one central aim” to “get the Labour Party in a position to win an election, and then to win an election”.
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Voters in Grimsby – one of Sky News’s election Target Towns – have been offering their views on politics, politicians and “broken promises”.
The electoral battle in Grimsby and Cleethorpes, the Target Towns, will be fierce. Labour will need an 11.7 point swing to win this newly-merged constituency back from the Conservatives.
In 2019, residents in Grimsby voted Tory for the first time since the end of the Second World War. The old Cleethorpes constituency was always more of a bellwether, having voted Conservative since 2010.
However, it has shed some of its rural, Conservative-voting residents in the merger.
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Politics live: Why have politicians lost people’s trust?
Speaking on the Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge, small business owner Shannon said she might not vote in the next general election later this year as she “just can’t trust anything anybody says”.
She said she has felt this way since Brexit – something Grimsby was overwhelmingly in support of – because “we were promised ‘x’ and ‘y’ and it hasn’t happened, so I’m just totally disengaged from it”.
Asked whether local MPs on the panel – Conservative Lia Nici and Labour’s Melanie Onn – could change her mind, Shannon said “possibly”, but reiterated how let down local people feel.
“We’re promised a lot, but it’s never delivered,” she said. “Talk of things happening… and then it doesn’t happen and people are just fed up… have been told this is what we’re going to get, but it doesn’t actually happen. And that’s why people have just lost faith.”
The Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge has reported from Grimsby
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‘Lack of leadership’
Steven told Sophy Ridge that he will “force” himself to vote at the election as “you should”, but he doesn’t believe there is anyone worth voting for.
“I find politics almost unbelievable,” he added. “It’s nothing to believe in. There’s no one to believe in.”
He puts the blame down to a “lack of leadership nationally” and that the current crop of politicians “lack the statesmanship” needed.
“The politicians that we looked up to and respected as children and young people seem to have vanished,” he added. “It seems to be petty about scandal, backbiting.
“I think there are important issues that need to be addressed in this country, and I think turn on the television or watch debates, and that seems to be sorely lacking in politics at the moment.”
‘Start caring about us’
Sarah used a former US president to express her upset at the state of politics today, telling Sophy Ridge: “I think Ronald Regan said it best – the most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help’, which I think is basically what most people think about the intervention of either Labour or a Conservative government.”
She said neither party had done anything for the town during their stints in power, and despite growing up in Grimsby, she was keen to leave as a result.
“It’s a shame really, because, you know, my family is from here, I’ve lived most of my life here, so it should be a place that is going to be a draw for young people – especially when you look at the housing prices.
“We just went to Liverpool in February and that’s such a wonderful city, you know, it’s like apples and oranges. But you look at what’s going [in Grimsby] and… the town centre is all fake shops or barbers or charity shops.
“No one does care about us and at the end of the day you can vote for any politician, but when they start caring about us, maybe we’ll care back.”
‘We fight for your town’
So what did the politicians have to say in response?
Both the Tory and Labour MPs accepted their roles in the downbeat feelings, with Ms Onn saying: “I do think I’m part of a system that bears responsibility for not communicating politics well, not engaging with people, not making them feel that they are heard enough through the course of our debates.
“I think the British public at large probably deserve to hear people occasionally say we haven’t always been as good as we could.”
But Ms Nici insisted it was not all just sniping in parliament and MPs do care about what happens to their constituents – and the country.
“What your MP does is go out, have a look at the legislation and then fight for your town,” she said. “I work hard every day to make sure that I’m listening to what you want and to be able to represent that right at the heart of at Grimsby.”
And both MPs agreed the town had a great future ahead after the next election. But it will be for the Shannons, Stevens and Sarahs to decide who stands up for them after the next election.
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