Sir Keir Starmer says national security ‘comes first’ as he makes pitch to Tory voters

Published

1 year ago

June 3, 2024

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Sir Keir Starmer will put defence and national security at the heart of Labour’s election pitch to voters during a visit to the North West on Monday.

Sir Keir will pledge Labour as the “party of national security” as he meets forces veterans and candidates.

He will also reaffirm the party’s commitment to the so-called “nuclear deterrent triple lock”, which includes a commitment to construct the four new nuclear submarines in Barrow-in-Furness.

The Labour leader will also repeat his ambition to increase defence spending to 2.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) – a target Rishi Sunak has said he wants to meet by 2030 – when economic conditions allow.

As well as the commitment to build four new submarines, under the “triple lock” Labour is also promising to maintain Britain’s continuous at-sea deterrent and deliver all future upgrades needed for the submarines to patrol the waters.

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The Vanguard-class submarines are due to be replaced by the bigger Dreadnought-class submarines in the 2030s, with between £31bn and £41bn set aside for the upgrade, according to the House of Commons Library.

Sir Keir’s focus on defence is part of a wider strategy to convince voters that the party has changed from the days of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.

The Conservatives have consistently pointed out that the current Labour leader served in Mr Corbyn’s shadow cabinet when he held critical stances towards NATO and the nuclear deterrent Trident.

As part of the bid to reassure voters, Sir Keir has chosen 14 ex-military personnel to stand for the party at the election.

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Sir Keir said: “National security will always come first in the changed Labour Party I lead.

“Keeping our country safe is the bedrock of stability that the British people rightly expect from their government.

“My message to them is clear: Labour has changed. No longer the party of protest, Labour is the party of national security.

“The excellent former service personnel that are standing as Labour candidates are a testament to that change.”

Grant Shapps, the defence secretary, said 12 current members of Sir Keir’s top team – including his deputy Angela Rayner and shadow foreign secretary David Lammy – previously voted against Trident.

“We know Rayner is now making the decisions in Labour, so Starmer’s supposed backing for Trident is meaningless,” he claimed.

“Labour’s refusal to commit to 2.5% defence spending by 2030 shows that they are a danger to our national security. Uncertain times call for a clear plan and bold action to chart a course to a secure future, only the Conservatives offer that.”

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Migrants deal a win for Starmer – and could help with fight against Reform

Published

3 hours ago

July 10, 2025

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Migrants deal a win for Starmer - and could help with fight against Reform

The bromance between Sir Keir Starmer and President Macron is so apparent – embraces all around.

This is some deft diplomacy from Sir Keir, who has been love-bombing his French counterpart ever since he became prime minister – trying to get closer ties, be it on security, on trade, and now of course on small boats.

And he has got a win today – he’s got President Macron to agree a deterrent deal.

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You remember the Conservatives were trying the Rwanda plan to deter people from coming by sending them back to Rwanda, a third country, if they came here illegally.

What the prime minister has agreed with President Macron today is a big deal. It’s a one in, one out deal.

What they’re going to do is, if someone arrives here illegally, they will be sent back to France, and in return, the UK will accept a legitimate asylum seeker. It might be someone who has family ties.

It’s going to start off really small – think of it as a pilot – as they’re going to test it out, see if it works.

It might be just a handful of people being sent back, maybe just under a thousand or so by the end of the year. But they will hopefully, for the prime minister, scale it up and it could become a real deterrent.

I’ll leave you with just one more thought: As Prime Minister Starmer and President Macron were doing this deal today, Nigel Farage was in the English Channel documenting illegal migrants making that crossing – 79 people being picked up by Border Force, taken off a dinghy and into Dover.

Polling out this morning by Portland suggests four in 10 voters who are planning on going to Reform would go back to Labour if the prime minister tackles small boats and drives down the crossings.

There is a real political imperative for him to try to start to resolve this problem. It’s going to count at the ballot box – immigration is a top-three issue in this country when it comes to voters.