Sir Keir Starmer will need honest answers to convince voters to trust him
The location for Sir Keir Starmer’s first big campaign speech was a parish hall in Lancing, West Sussex.
There was Union Jack bunting, Formica tables and endless cups of tea. Quintessentially English, familiar, and relatable.
This is the Starmer his team wanted voters to see as they took the Labour leader back to his roots in the South East of England
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It was, his aides tell me, a deliberately personal speech with no new policy, designed to try to convey who Starmer is and what drives him.
Because it’s fair to say that how the Labour leader might appear to who he actually is, are quite different things.
You might remember how Boris Johnson used to goad him as a “lefty Islington London lawyer” and use his title, Sir Keir, to paint him as elite and out of touch.
Part of this election campaign is about trying to define him in the minds of voters.
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His is the story of a small-town boy, growing up on the Sussex-Kent border, from a working-class background in which the annual family holiday was a trip to the Lake District.
His father was a toolmaker and his mum a nurse, with a debilitating illness that shaped all their lives.
But that isn’t, say his team, very well known beyond the bubble of Westminster.
While I have heard Starmer talk about his tool-making late dad Rodney Starmer countless times, only 11% of the public knows that was what he did for a living, points out one of his team.
“We know the Tories’ strategy in a large part is going after Keir Starmer personally and we want to ensure voters can see who he is, where he comes from and he intends to fight for them,” they said.
“This was a deliberately personal speech that answers the questions of who he is and what motivates him, so it is right to kick off the first full week saying, ‘this is our candidate for prime minister’ when we know people are only starting to tune into the campaign.”
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National service plan ‘desperate’
Starmer says what motivates him is a sense of injustice and an anger within him that politics is no longer in the service of people.
If you want to boil his pitch down to one sentence it is this: “I changed the Labour Party to put it back into the service of British people and now I want to put Britain back into the service of working people.”
The foundation of that, he says, is economic security, border security and national security.
But there is, as the leader acknowledged in this speech, a gap between his Labour and voters.
“I know there are countless people who haven’t decide how to vote in this election,” he noted in his speech. “Do I trust Labour with my money, our borders, our security? My answer is yes, you can.”
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But the question of trust is one that haunts Starmer – the trust gap between him and voters.
When I asked him in a short interview to acknowledge that, he ran through his record as head of the Crown Prosecution Service as evidence that he delivers on promises.
But in politics, he has U-turned many times, most notably on the pledges he made when he was trying to become Labour leader.
When I put it to him that he has a trust issue because of promises broken, he told me he “totally disagreed” with that.
“I think it’s more important to stand in front of the electorate and say, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t now afford what I said before because of the damage being done to the economy.’,” he said.
“What I am saying to the electorate is this, ‘I’m going to tell you in advance of the election what I don’t think we can afford to do, I’m not going to tell you you can have everything and then break a promise’… I think that is basic honesty with the electorate.”
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There are still questions about how honest Starmer is really being. While he will not make big commitments on public services beyond his six “first steps” towards delivering his missions for government by the end of the parliament – on economic growth, NHS waiting lists, teachers in schools, dealing with illegal boat crossings, safer streets and all electricity from renewables by 2030 – he has over the weekend ruled out any national insurance and income tax rises in the next parliament.
It all, given what independent forecasters such as the IMF are saying about the state of public finances, points to spending cuts in the next parliament – but this is something Labour will not be drawn on, saying only it will swiftly conduct a spending review should it win the election.
But as we get beyond the framing – Labour’s “change” message versus the Conservatives’ “choice” one – and into the nuts and bolts of what these two leaders will do, Starmer is going to face more questions on his tax policies and spending plans.
And he will need honest answers if he really wants to convince the public he is a politician worthy of their trust.
UK
Pictured: Boy killed in Gateshead industrial estate fire – 14 children arrested on suspicion of manslaughter
Tributes have been paid to 14-year-old Layton Carr who died in a fire at an industrial estate.
Eleven boys and three girls, aged between 11 and 14 years, have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter after the incident in Gateshead on Friday. They remain in police custody.
Police were alerted to a fire at Fairfield industrial park in the Bill Quay area
Firefighters raced to Fairfield industrial park in the Bill Quay area shortly after 8pm, putting out the blaze a short time later.
Police then issued an appeal for a missing boy, Layton Carr, who was believed to be in the area at the time.
In a statement, the force said that “sadly, following searches, a body believed to be that of 14-year-old Layton Carr was located deceased inside the building”.
Layton’s next of kin have been informed and are being supported by specialist officers, police added.
Layton has been described as a ‘beautiful soul’
A fundraising page on GoFundMe has been set up to help Layton’s mother pay for funeral costs.
Organiser Stephanie Simpson said: “The last thing Georgia needs to stress trying to pay for a funeral for her Boy Any donations will help thank you.”
One tribute in a Facebook post read: “Can’t believe I’m writing this my nephew RIP Layton 💔 forever 14 you’ll be a massive miss, thinking of my sister and 2 beautiful nieces right now.”
Another added: “My boy ❤️ my baby cousin, my Layton. Nothing will ever come close to the pain I feel right now. Forever 14. I’ll miss you sausage.”
A third said: “Rest in peace big lad such a beautiful soul taken far to soon my thoughts are with you Gee stay strong girl hear for u always.”
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Detective Chief Inspector Louise Jenkins, of Northumbria Police, also said: “This is an extremely tragic incident where a boy has sadly lost his life.”
She added that the force’s “thoughts are with Layton’s family as they begin to attempt to process the loss of their loved one”.
They are working to establish “the full circumstances surrounding the incident” and officers will be in the area to “offer reassurance to the public”, she added.
A cordon remains in place at the site while police carry out enquiries.
Sky News can reveal that the government has rowed back on a national compensation scheme for victims of child sexual abuse, despite it being promised under the previous Conservative administration.
Warning – this story contains references to sexual and physical abuse
A National Redress Scheme was one of 20 key recommendations made by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), but a Home Office report reveals the government has scrapped it because of the cost.
Marie, who is 71, suffered alleged sexual, physical, and emotional abuse at Greenfield House Convent in St Helens, Merseyside, between 1959 and 1962, and is still fighting for compensation.
Greenfield House Convent, where Marie says she was abused
As soon as she arrived as a six-year-old, Marie says her hair was cut off, her name changed, and she experienced regular beatings from the nuns and students.
She claims a nun instigated the violence, including when Marie was held down so that her legs were “spread-eagled” as she was sexually abused with a coat hanger.
Merseyside Police investigated claims of abuse at the convent, but in 2016, a suspect died before charges could be brought.
Marie has received an apology from the Catholic body that ran the home; she tried to sue them, but her claim was rejected because it was filed too long after the alleged abuse.
Marie, 71, is still fighting for compensation for the abuse she says she suffered as a child
In February, ministers said the law would change for victims of sexual abuse trying to sue institutions for damages, which was a recommendation from the IICSA.
Previously, people had to make a civil claim before they were 21, unless the victim could prove a fair trial could proceed despite the time lapse.
Campaigners argued for the time limit to be removed as, on average, victims wait 26 years to come forward. Changes to the 1980 Limitation Act could lead to more people making claims.
Peter Garsden, President of The Association of Child Abuse Lawyers
Civil cases ‘can take three to five years’
But Peter Garsden, president of the Association of Child Abuse Lawyers, worries that when it comes to historical abuse where the defendant is dead, institutions will still argue that it is impossible to have a fair trial and will fight to have the case thrown out of court.
Mr Garsden said it takes “between three and five years” for a civil case to get to trial.
He warned that claimants “can end up losing if you go through that process. Whereas the Redress Scheme would be quicker, much more straightforward, and much more likely to give justice to the victims”.
Victim awarded £10 compensation
Jimbo, who was a victim of abuse at St Aidan’s children’s home in Cheshire, took his case to the High Court twice and the Court of Appeal three times, but, after 13 years, all he ended up with was £10 for his bus fare to court.
Despite the Lord Justice of Appeal saying he believed that the abuse had occurred, Jimbo lost his claim because of the time limit for child sexual abuse claims to be made.
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Neither Marie nor Jimbo is likely to benefit from the removal of the time limit for personal injury claims, which is why Mr Garsden is calling on the government to implement a National Redress Scheme for victims of sexual abuse, as recommended by the IICSA.
Hundreds of millions paid to victims
The governments in Scotland and Northern Ireland have set up compensation schemes and paid hundreds of millions of pounds to victims.
In 2023, the then Conservative government said a similar scheme would be organised for England and Wales.
But the Home Office admitted in its Tackling Child Sexual Abuse: Progress Update that it “is not currently taking forward any further steps on the IICSA proposal for a separate, national financial redress scheme for all survivors of child sexual abuse”.
“In the current fiscal environment, this recommendation is very difficult to take forward,” it added.
For victims, the scheme was the last chance of compensation for a lifetime blighted by abuse.
“The money is about justice and about all the other people who have had to suffer this abuse,” Marie said.
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