Keir Starmer promises change as Rishi Sunak is haunted by the ghosts of prime ministers past in New Year speeches | Beth Rigby
When the Labour leader was up against the flamboyant Boris Johnson, Sir Keir Starmer, at times, struggled to have impact.
But the fall of Mr Johnson, the ensuing Tory chaos, and Labour’s 20-point lead in the polls, has changed the race and seems to have given Mr Starmer a new gear.
His New Year’s speech in east London was, in many ways, straight from the Tony Blair playbook. Mr Starmer was the candidate of change, Labour the party of change and his government the deliverer of political change that would bring about a “decade of renewal”.
Against the backdrop of soaring inflation and recession, a cost of living crisis, crippling strikes and an NHS at breaking point, Mr Starmer has the far easier job: lob rocks at the government and promise a thoroughly fed up public that Labour will do it better.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
What will Starmer do to help people?
The rolling No 10 turmoil during the reign of Mr Johnson and Liz Truss has made it easier still as Mr Starmer used this speech to criticise the “sticking plaster politics” of Westminster which might patch up problems in the immediate moment but doesn’t offer the solutions the country needs.
The Labour leader said: “You saw it yesterday from the prime minister. Commentary without solutions, more promises, more platitudes. No ambition to take us forward, no sense of what the country needs. Thirteen years of nothing but sticking plasters.”
Pitching himself as the candidate of change, Mr Starmer went on to argue that a Labour government would bring in the change, as he promised the public a “Take Back Control Bill” in the first year of a new Labour government to devolve power away from Westminster to local communities.
After being obliterated by Mr Johnson with that slogan in the 2019 general election, Mr Starmer turned it to his own advantage to goad his political rivals. “We will embrace the Take Back Control message, but we’ll turn it from a slogan to a solution, from a catchphrase to change.”
The promise of devolution was made by Mr Stamer last month in a keynote speech, but in his New Year one he again used it as a way of using it to argue that Labour offered a different vision of Britain and said he would outline his “missions” in the coming weeks.
Labour then using 2023 to begin sketching out the policies that will form the basis of its next manifesto.
It was unquestionably a more visionary speech than Mr Sunak’s but Mr Starmer carries none of the baggage of prime ministerial predecessors or the responsibility of being in office weighing Mr Sunak down.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
‘How are you different to previous PMs?’
For if Mr Starmer’s speech was one that sketched an idealised vision of Britain under a new Labour administration doing things differently, Mr Sunak’s was one very much grounded in realism.
Far from a fresh beginning, the Conservative prime minister was haunted by ghosts of PMs past in his New Year speech.
In a nod to the empty promises of Boris Johnson and the recklessness of Liz Truss, Mr Sunak’s pitch was to rebuild trust with the public, only promise what he could deliver and try to quietly get on with the job of working on “the people’s priorities”.
Mr Sunak is dealing with the fallout of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. He’s contending with a recession and soaring inflation, and the legacy of his two predecessors which damaged the reputation of his party and government in the eyes of his voters. His then, is a much harder pitch.
But the big question for both these men is whether their respective visions for the UK will win over the voters.
Mr Sunak knows, after the promises of Mr Johnson and Ms Truss, that voters want delivery from the government and has chosen targets – cutting NHS waiting lists and stopping illegal migration – that he hopes will return disgruntled voters to the Tory fold at the next general election.
Read more:
Starmer promises ‘take back control’ bill aimed at devolving power out of Westminster
Sunak makes five promises on economy, health and immigration in keynote speech
Is Sunak’s five-point plan enough to turn the tide for the Tories?
Mr Starmer has positioned himself as the change candidate – that word uttered 17 times in his speech on Thursday – with the promise of doing politics differently.
But in reality, he doesn’t need much to change this year in order to win the next general election, given Labour is 20 points ahead in the polls.
The candidate that needs change this year is Mr Sunak who made the economy the centrepiece of his five-point plan.
Mr Sunak hopes that falling inflation and economic growth into 2024 will give the Conservatives a shot for the next general election.
Economic recovery will enable the Tories to promise tax cuts whilst also giving them an angle to attack Labour by questioning their economic competence: “Keir Starmer has to set out plans bedded in economic reality too”, is how one No 10 insider put it (there’s a reason Mr Starmer made a point about not getting out the spending chequebook in his speech).
Hints of battles to come. These two leaders this week setting out their stall for 2023 in a year which both parties know will be critical in deciding who will win in 2024.
For now, it’s clear Mr Starmer and Labour are still very much in the driving seat.
Protesters have stormed the headquarters of two major newspapers in Bangladesh, amid widespread unrest following the death of a political activist.
A mob set fire to the offices of the Bengali-language Prothom Alo daily newspaper and the English-language Daily Star in the capital Dhaka, leaving journalists and other staff stuck inside.
The Bengali-language Prothom Alo daily was one of the two newspapers that were targeted. Pic: AP.
One of the Daily Star’s journalists, Zyma Islam, wrote on Facebook: “I can’t breathe anymore. There’s too much smoke.”
Both dailies stopped updating their online editions after the attacks and did not publish broadsheets on Friday.
Troops were deployed to the Star building and firefighters had to rescue the journalists trapped inside. The blaze was brought under control early on Friday.
The latest protests erupted a year after the July Revolution ousted PM Sheikh Hasina. Pic: PA.
Political activist Sharif Osman Hadi died in hospital late on Thursday, six days after the youth leader was shot while riding on a rickshaw in Dhaka.
Bangladesh’s interim government urged people on Friday to resist violence as police and paramilitary troops fanned out
across the capital and other cities following the protests overnight. They have sparked concerns of fresh unrest ahead of national elections, which Mr Hadi had been due to stand in.
He was a prominent activist in the political uprising last year that forced the then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to flee the country. Mr Hadi spent six days on life support in a hospital in Singapore before he succumbed to his injuries.
Mr Hadi died a week after he was shot by a man on a motorbike. Pic: PA.
Hundreds of protesters took to the streets following news of Mr Hadi’s death on Thursday night, where they rallied at Shahbagh Square near the Dhaka University campus, according to media reports.
A group of demonstrators gathered outside the head office of the Muslim-majority country’s leading Bengali-language Prothom Alo daily, before vandalising the building and setting it on fire.
A few hundred yards away, another group of protesters pushed into the Daily Star offices and set fire to the building. The protesters are believed to have targeted the papers for their alleged links with India and closeness to Bangladesh‘s interim leader, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus.
Read more:
Ex-Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina sentenced to death
UK MP Tulip Siddiq sentenced by Bangladeshi court
Although calm had returned to much of the country on Friday morning, protesters carrying national flags and placards
continued demonstrating at Shahbagh Square in Dhaka, chanting slogans and vowing not to return until justice was served.
👉 Tap here to follow The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim wherever you get your podcasts 👈
Last year’s mass uprising erupted from student protests against a quota system that awarded 30% of government jobs to relatives of veterans.
The July 2024 protest, which resulted in as many as 1,400 deaths according to the United Nations, was dubbed the first “Gen Z” revolution.
Bangladesh’s former prime minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed was forced to resign in August 2024 and fled to India. She was later sentenced to death in absentia.
Sheikh Hasina was sentenced to death in absentia. Pic: AP
Dr Yunus was then sworn in as interim leader.
The country’s Islamists and other opponents of Ms Hasida have accused her government for being subservient to India.
Mr Hadi was a fierce critic of Ms Hasina and neighbouring India.
He had planned to run as an independent candidate in a constituency in Dhaka at the next national elections due to be held in February.
Authorities said they had identified the suspects in Mr Hadi’s shooting, and the assassin was also likely to have fled to India. Two men on a motorbike followed Hadi and one opened fire before they fled the scene.
TikTok is being threatened with legal action over cuts to its UK online safety teams.
In August, the social media company announced more than 400 workers would lose their jobs, with AI replacing some of the workers and other jobs being rehired abroad.
TikTok is being accused of threatening those safety workers with redundancy days before they were due to vote on forming a union.
Read more: TikTok moderators warn users may be at risk
Now, two moderators have sent a legal letter to TikTok laying out the terms of a potential legal case on grounds of unlawful detriment and automatic unfair dismissal.
Unlawful detriment is when an employer treats a worker unfairly because they used a protected employment right, for example, being a union representative, asking for flexible working or whistleblowing about the company.
“In June, TikTok said it was going to hire hundreds more content moderators, then two months later, they fired everyone,” said Stella Caram, head of legal at Foxglove, a non-profit supporting the moderators.
“What changed? Workers exercised their legal right to try to form a trade union. This is obvious, blatant and unlawful union-busting,” she said.
Moderators gathered to protest the redundancies in London
TikTok has been given one month to respond to the legal claim.
A TikTok spokesperson said: “We once again strongly reject this baseless claim.
“These changes were part of a wider global reorganisation, as we evolve our global operating model for Trust and Safety with the benefit of technological advancements to continue maximising safety for our users.”
As well as Foxglove, the two moderators launching the case are working with the United Tech & Allied Workers (UTAW), part of the Communication Workers’ Union, and law firm Leigh Day.
In exclusive interviews last month, three whistleblowers told Sky News the cuts would put UK users at risk, a claim repeated by Julio Miguel Franco, one of the moderators behind the legal action.
“TikTok needs to tell the truth,” he said.
“When it says AI can do our job of keeping people safe on TikTok, it knows that’s rubbish.
“Instead, they want to steal our jobs and send them to other countries where they can pay people less and treat them worse. The end result is TikTok becomes less safe for everyone.”
Read more on social media:
Online sleuths and fake news: The world of missing people
Parents of sextortion victim who took his own life sue Meta
Internal documents seen by Sky News show that TikTok planned to keep its human moderators in London for at least the rest of 2025.
The documents lay out the increasing need for dedicated moderators because of the growing volume and complexity of moderation.
TikTok’s head of governance, Ali Law, also told MPs in February that “human moderators … have to use their nuance, skills and training” to be able to moderate hateful behaviour, misinformation and misleading information.
Dame Chi Onwurah speaks at the House of Commons. File pic: Reuters
After a series of letters between TikTok and MPs, Dame Chi Onwurah, chair of the science and technology select committee, said she was “deeply” concerned about the cuts.
“There is a real risk to the lives of TikTok users,” she said.
Last month, in an exclusive sitdown with Sky News, however, Mr Law said user safety would not be compromised.
“We set a high benchmark when it comes to rolling out new moderation technology.
“In particular, we make sure that we satisfy ourselves that the output of existing moderation processes is either matched or exceeded by anything that we’re doing on a new basis.
“We also make sure the changes are introduced on a gradual basis with human oversight so that if there isn’t a level of delivery in line with what we expect, we can address that.”
Australia is set to launch a national gun buyback scheme in response to the Bondi Beach terrorist shootings.
Fifteen people were killed and dozens wounded on Sunday at the Sydney beach after two gunmen opened fire at people celebrating Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights.
In the aftermath of the shooting, which authorities say appears to have been inspired by the Islamic State, patrols and policing across the country have been ramped up in an effort to prevent further violence.
Both the federal government and the state government of New South Wales, where Sydney is located, have pledged reforms, including tightening gun control laws, to prevent the threat of further violence in a nation with an estimated four million firearms.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said the government would also strengthen hate laws. Announcing the gun buyback scheme, he cited the response to a previous Australian mass shooting – when a lone gunman killed 35 people in Tasmania’s Port Arthur in 1996.
“Australia’s gun laws were last substantially reformed in the wake of the Port Arthur tragedy,” Mr Albanese said on Friday. “The terrible events at Bondi show we need to get more guns off our streets.”
Surfers and swimmers hold a tribute at Bondi Beach on 19 December. Pic: AP
On Friday, Australia’s Jewish community gathered at Bondi Beach for prayers, while hundreds of swimmers and surfers made a huge circle in the sea to honour the victims.
“Over the past two years, there’s been a lot of people who have been questioning whether we’re still welcome here in Australia because we saw people calling for our death on the streets on a weekly basis,” Rabbi Yosef Eichenblatt from Sydney’s Central Synagogue told ABC News, after attending the paddle-out tribute.
Funerals for the victims also continued today, with Boris and Sofia Gurman, a couple killed after attempting to stop one of the gunmen, being laid to rest.
Meanwhile, Ahmed al Ahmed, the hero who wrestled a gun from one of the alleged gunmen, was handed a cheque for more than A$2.5m (£1.23m) from an online fundraiser.
Read more from Sky News:
Democrats release more Epstein photos
‘All Jewish hearts are broken’ says UK Chief Rabbi on Bondi visit
Floral tribute at Bondi Beach on 19 December. Pic: AP
One of the Bondi terrorists – Sajid Akram, 50, who was killed at the scene – held a firearm licence and had six guns registered.
If a man in Sydney’s suburbs needs “six high-powered rifles and is able to get them under existing licensing schemes, then there’s something wrong,” Mr Albanese said.
He said the government would work with states to target surplus, newly banned and illegal firearms, adding that the costs would be shared between the federal and state governments.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns announced on Friday the state government would be recalled next week to enact the “toughest gun law reforms in the country”.
Changes would include limiting firearms to four per person, tightening licensing requirements and restricting access to high-risk weapons and components.
Following the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, Australia secured the surrender of about 640,000 prohibited firearms nationwide. The total cost of compensation to owners was about A$304m (£150m).
Mr Albanese has faced pressure from critics who say his centre-left government has not done enough to deal with a surge in antisemitism since the start of the war in Gaza.
The government said it had consistently called out antisemitism over the last two years and passed legislation to criminalise hate speech.
-
Sports2 years agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Sports3 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment3 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment1 year agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024