Sir Keir Starmer has rejected claims he is being too cautious and timid in his offer to the public – and insisted there is a “huge difference” between Labour and the Conservatives.

Setting out his stall at the start of a year that is likely to see voters go to the polls, the Labour leader said the “clock is ticking” on the Tories’ time in power and his party is “ready” for a general election whenever it comes.

Politics latest: Sir Keir Starmer makes direct appeal to voters in major speech

In a new year’s speech, he set out his vision for change in politics to disillusioned and disaffected voters.

He told them “things can be better” and promised them a “politics that serves you” – and the chance to “turn the page” on the Tory government.

Sir Keir said “the moment power is taken out of Tory hands and given, not to me, but to you, that moment is getting closer by the second”.

“We don’t just expect an election on the economy,” he said. “We want an election on the economy and we’re ready for that fight.”

On the prospect of tax cuts, Sir Keir said he wanted people to “have more money in their pocket”. But he stressed his priority before that will be getting the economy growing again.

His critics, including within the party, have warned Labour against being “too timid” and “limping into Number 10”.

Asked by Sky’s political editor Beth Rigby whether his pitch to vote Labour is simply to see the back of the Tories, Sir Keir said the “change that we are offering, the difference that we want to make, between 14 years of decline and a decade of national renewal, they are fundamentally different things”.

“Underpinning the decade of national renewal, these are not just words. I’ve set out over the last few months five national missions that we will seek to achieve over the period of the next Labour government,” he said.

“They are really ambitious,” he continued, adding there is a “huge, huge difference” between Labour and the Tories.

Asked whether he will be willing to take part in TV debates with Rishi Sunak when the general election is called, Sir Keir said reports he will “duck them” are “nonsense”.

“I’ve been saying bring it on for a very long time, I’m happy to debate anytime,” he said.

“I don’t think anyone can accuse me of ducking scrutiny and debate. As I’ve said many times – just bring it on.”

In his speech at a research centre near Bristol, Sir Keir urged voters to reject “pointless populist gestures” and pledged to crack down on cronyism as he sought to outline the dividing lines between Labour and the Conservatives.

He said: “I don’t see our job as going back to some kind of golden age, I don’t think that’s how working people look at things at all. Government in this country is too centralised and controlling, and, because of that, too disconnected from the communities it needs to serve.”

He accused the Tories of “denigrating the people who serve this country” and said there has been “a total lack of respect” for public sector workers.

Sir Keir promised to “clean up politics” of sleaze, adding: “No more VIP fast lanes, no more kickbacks for colleagues, no more revolving doors between government and the companies they regulate.

“I will restore standards in public life with a total crackdown on cronyism: this ends now.”

He pointed to his legal career as a record of his anti-sleaze zeal, claiming he helped send both Labour and Tory “expense cheat politicians” to jail in the wake of the 2009 expenses scandal, while serving as the director of public prosecutions.

Sir Keir also set out to highlight the differences between the Labour Party under his leadership – and that of his predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn.

He said it was longer “a party of protest” but a “renewed” Labour with a distinctive target – to “defeat this miserabilist Tory project” and “crush their politics of divide and decline” with a new “Project Hope”.

The Labour leader used the word “hope” 18 times during his speech.

“This isn’t a game. Politics shouldn’t be a hobby or a pastime for people who enjoy the feeling of power. Nor should it be a sermon from on high, a self-regarding lecture, vanity dressed up as virtue,” he said.

“It should be a higher calling, the power of the vote, the hope of change and renewal married to the responsibility of service. That’s what I believe in.”

Looking ahead to the pending election, which could see his party sweep to power, Sir Keir added: “Nobody will be above the law in a Britain I lead.

“But with respect and service, I also promise this: a politics that treads a little lighter on all of our lives.”