Sir Keir Starmer to launch election campaign with vow to change the ‘character of politics’

Published

2 years ago

January 4, 2024

admin

Sir Keir Starmer is launching his election campaign on Thursday – and will promise the “character of politics will change” if Labour enters power.

The government has until December this year to call an election – although if it decides to go to the polls so late, the vote itself will not happen until January 2025.

Sir Keir’s speech follows similar events held by Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey and Reform UK head Richard Tice.

The prime minister is yet to hold such a launch for his campaign – and this week has been marred by controversy over a claim the government has cleared the asylum backlog, which the UK’s stats watchdog is now probing.

Labour has held a double-digit lead over the Conservatives in polling since before Rishi Sunak entered Number 10, according to the Sky News poll tracker.

Speaking in the West of England, Sir Keir is set to say: “No matter the road the Tories take this year, I believe that if people see the commitment to service is always there in politics, and if they can see that people in power respect their concerns, then a lot of people across this country, after everything we’ve been through over the past 14 years, will find some hope in that.

“It will feel different. The character of politics will change, and with it the national mood. A collective breathing out, a burden lifted, and then, the space for a more hopeful look forward.

“Because the truth is, it’s this kind of politics and only this kind of politics that can offer real change.

“So do not listen to the siren voices that say we’re all the same. We’re not, and we never will be.”

Sir Keir setting out his stall to voters this early marks a contrast to last year, when Rishi Sunak spoke ahead of his Labour adversary and announced his five pledges.

In his address last year, the Labour leader promised to end “sticking plaster politics” – a phrase he has often repeated since.

Voters ‘right to be anti-Westminster’

Returning to this year, Sir Keir will also ask voters to “believe” in a “downtrodden” UK again.

He is set to say: “This year, at the general election, against the understandable despair of a downtrodden country, I will ask the British people to believe in it again.

“You’re right to be anti-Westminster and angry about what politics has become.

“But hold on to any flickering hope in your heart that things can be better, because they can, and you can choose it.

“You can reject the pointless populist gestures and the low-road cynicism that the Tories believe is all you deserve.

“That’s all they have left now. After 14 years, with nothing good to show, no practical achievements to point towards, no purpose beyond the fight to save their own skins.”

The Labour leader will also play on recent scandals to highlight a “need to clean up politics”.

He will add that under Labour there will be “no more VIP fast lanes, no more kickbacks for colleagues, no more revolving doors between government and the companies they regulate” – adding that he “will restore standards in public life with a total crackdown on cronyism: this ends now”.

He will point out that “trust in politics is now so low, so degraded” following “the sex scandals, the expenses scandals, the waste scandals, the contracts for friends, even in a crisis like the pandemic, people have looked at us and concluded we’re all just in it for ourselves”.

And as he further distances himself from the Corbyn era, Sir Keir will say that Labour is “no longer a party of protest, but a party of service”.

Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts

Speaking ahead of the event, Conservative Party chairman Richard Holden said: “Nothing is more cynical and populist than a weather vane Labour leader who has a consistent track record of telling people whatever he thinks they want to hear on any given day.

“He was for a second Brexit referendum, then he wasn’t. He told Labour members when he was running to be leader he would nationalise industry and scrap tuition fees, but then dropped these policies as soon as the contest was over. And he says he opposes Jeremy Corbyn now despite campaigning twice to make him prime minister and calling him his ‘friend’.

“The only thing we know for certain about Keir Starmer is that he has a £28bn black hole in his spending promises which will mean thousands of pounds of tax rises every year for families.”

Politics

David Lammy blames ‘human error’ for release of migrant sex offender – as confirms independent investigation

Published

2 hours ago

October 28, 2025

admin

David Lammy blames 'human error' for release of migrant sex offender - as confirms independent investigation

David Lammy has confirmed there will be an independent investigation into the accidental release of a migrant jailed for sex offences, as he blamed “human error” for the incident.

The deputy prime minister and justice secretary told MPs he was “livid” on behalf of Hadush Kebatu’s victims and he would be deported back to Ethiopia “as quickly as possible”.

Politics latest: Epping MP calls on Lammy to commit to closing the Bell Hotel

Kebatu, who was found guilty in September of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman in Epping, was freed in error from HMP Chelmsford in Essex on Friday instead of being handed over to immigration officials for deportation.

His accidental release sparked widespread alarm and a manhunt that resulted in him being found and arrested by the Metropolitan Police in the Finsbury Park area of London at around 8.30am on Sunday.

The incident has sparked questions over how the man, whose crimes sparked protests in Epping over the use of asylum hotels, was able to be freed.

Addressing MPs in the House of Commons, Mr Lammy said the mistake should not have happened as he sought to lay part of the blame on to the Conservatives over the state of the prison system over the past 14 years.

He said “there must and there will be accountability” for the mistaken release of Kebatu from prison.

“I’ve been clear from the outset that a mistake of this nature is unacceptable,” he said.

“We must get to the bottom of what happened and take immediate action to try and prevent similar releases in error to protect the public from harm.”

Mr Lammy said he ordered an “urgent review” into the checks that take place when an offender is released from prison, and new safeguards have been added that amount to the “strongest release checks that have ever been in place”.

The justice secretary said the investigation would be led by former Metropolitan Police deputy commissioner Dame Lynne Owens, who also used to lead the National Crime Agency.

He also said the investigation would have the same status as high-profile probes into other prison incidents, including the attack on three prison officers at HMP Franklin in April of this year and the escape of Daniel Khalife from HMP Wandsworth in 2023.

‘Calamity Lammy’

Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick referred to a report by Sky News which detailed how a witness present at the prison observed Kebatu appearing “confused” upon his release.

The witness said Kebatu had in fact tried to go back into the prison several times, but was instead guided to Chelmsford station, where he caught a train to London.

Mr Jenrick claimed the case was proof “the only illegal migrants this government are stopping are those that actually want to leave the UK”.

“Dear oh dear,” he said. “Where to begin? This justice secretary could not deport the only small boat migrant who wanted – no – who tried to be deported.

“Having been mistakenly released, Hadush Kebatu came back to prison asking to be deported not once, not twice, but five times, but he was turned away.”

He went on: “The only illegal migrants this government are stopping are those that actually want to leave the UK.

“His officials, briefing the press, called it the mother of all – yeah, they’re not wrong, are they?”

Mr Jenrick, who served as immigration minister under the previous Conservative government, branded his opposite number “calamity Lammy”.

“It’s a national embarrassment and today the justice secretary feigns anger at what happened.”

Continuing with his attack, Mr Jenrick asked Mr Lammy whether he would resign if Kebatu was not deported “by the end of the week” – to which he received no reply.

But asked later by an MP whether he was considering his position, Mr Lammy replied: “A ridiculous question, the answer is no.”

The new checks announced by Mr Lammy on Monday involve five pages of instructions and require more senior prison staff to sign off a release, according to documents obtained by Sky News.

The instructions are effective from Monday.