Labour launches manifesto as Sir Keir Starmer pledges to end political ‘pantomime’ and ‘rebuild Britain’
Sir Keir Starmer has promised to “end to the desperate era of gestures and gimmicks” with a “credible” long-term plan from Labour to “rebuild our country” – if they win the election on 4 July.
There were no surprises at the party’s manifesto launch in Manchester, with the leader sticking to the “five missions” for government he set out last year, rather than revealing new policies.
But Sir Keir made no apology for it, rejecting a question by Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby, who asked whether it was a “Captain Caution” manifesto designed to protect Labour’s poll lead.
Politics live: Cameron admits PM faced ‘tough crowd’ at Sky News event
“I’m not going to do what Rishi Sunak [has done in the campaign], which is to offer things that he can’t deliver, because they’re unfunded,” he said. “People have had too much of that and fed up with that.
“This is a serious plan, carefully thought through. It is not about rabbits out of the hat, it’s not about pantomime, we’ve had enough of that. I’m running as a candidate to be prime minister, not a candidate to run the circus.”
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The theme ran throughout his speech as he defended the lack of new policy, despite the looming general election.
Pointing to the seat where Nigel Farage is running to become an MP, he told the audience: “If you want politics as pantomime, I hear Clacton is nice this time of year.”
But, after a brief interruption from a protester – who Sir Keir told, “we gave up on being a party of protest five years ago, we want to be a party of power” – he spent much of his time focusing on Labour’s missions, namely:
• Kickstarting economic growth
• Making the country a clean energy “superpower”
• “Taking back our streets” by halving serious crime
• “Breaking down barriers to opportunity” with reforms to childcare and education
• Building an NHS “fit for the future”.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Sir Keir Starmer was interrupted by a heckler as he launched the Labour manifesto in Manchester.
The Labour leader said the pledges “remain at the core” of his 131-page manifesto, adding: “If they are to offer hope and clarity through these times, if they are to show, despite the hard road, the light of the certain destination, then we must keep to that road, no matter the short term ebbs and flows of politics, even in a campaign.
“That is what mission-driven government means. A chance to stop us bobbing along until the next crisis blows us off course and instead make sure we can keep going through the storm.
“Stability over chaos. Long-term over short-term.”
Sir Keir reiterated his party’s “first steps” for government – again a plan Labour announced before the election was even called, but one he is determined to stick to.
They include a pledge to deliver “economic stability”, to cut NHS waiting lists with 40,000 more appointments a week, to crackdown on anti-social behaviour with more neighbourhood police and to recruit 6,500 new teachers.
These sit alongside promises of a new border security command to tackle small boat crossings in the Channel, and setting up the publicly-owned Great British Energy company.
“Labour’s first steps for change are a down payment on our long-term plan for the country – an immediate repair job on the damage that has been caused under 14 years of Conservative chaos and decline,” he said.
“We know we can’t wave a magic wand and pretend that everything will be fixed overnight… [but] they are the first steps towards our long-term plan.”
Other policies in the manifesto include “tough new spending rules to allow businesses to plan”, as well as a cap on corporation tax of 25% and promises of industry investment.
However, the party also commits to its “new deal for working people”, including better childcare, better pay, and help for people to get back into employment, with Sir Keir saying Labour was both “pro-business and pro-worker”.
They also promise to overhaul planning rules with a new 10-year infrastructure strategy for rail, road and to build 1.5 million homes, as well as reiterating plans to “shift power away from Westminster” by giving new responsibilities to regional mayors.
Sir Keir also doubled down on his pledge not to raise taxes on working people after much rumour around his plans for power.
“This is an issue of conviction,” he said. “I don’t believe it’s fair to raise taxes on working people when they’re already paying this month, particularly with a cost of living crisis.
“So let me spell it out. We will not raise income tax. We will not raise national insurance. We will not raise VAT. That is a manifesto commitment.”
UK
Woman’s body found in car boot in east London – as murder investigation launched by two police forces
UK
Police investigating criminal offence after Daily Telegraph columnist ‘dumbfounded’ by social media post probe
Essex Police say they are investigating an alleged criminal offence of inciting racial hatred, after Daily Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson said she was “dumbfounded and upset” when officers knocked on her door last Sunday.
Ms Pearson revealed she was told she was being investigated over a year-old deleted post online.
She said she wasn’t informed which post had been reported, but suggested it could have been related to the 7 October attacks in Israel or pro-Palestine marches.
She claimed the officers told her she was being investigated for a NCHI (a none crime hate incident) an incident involving an act which is perceived to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards persons with a particular characteristic, but is not illegal.
NCHI reports have long been controversial, with many citing free speech concerns, and Ms Pearson’s account of the police visit has led to widespread support from Conservatives and online commentators, including Tory leader Kemi Badenoch.
But an Essex Police spokesperson has told Sky News its investigation was never for an NCHI, and that the matter was always being treated as an investigation into an alleged criminal offence of inciting racial hatred.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Speaking on her Planet Normal podcast on Wednesday, Ms Pearson said she found the visit “chilling”.
“I was dumbfounded, upset, it’s not very nice,” she said. “I was in my dressing gown on the step of the house, these two coppers were there just outside the door.
“There were people gathering for the Remembrance Day parade so there were people watching from the other side of the road.
“Whatever I did or didn’t tweet, if somebody found it offensive, that to me is still not a reason for two policemen to come to my house on a Sunday morning.
“You know, they don’t do that for burglars, do they? We know policing is under-resourced and they are unable to attend often quite serious crimes.
“This was the most extraordinary overreach and state intrusion into my private life and I don’t think I did anything wrong and I think their response was outrageous.”
Read more:
Ex-Tory MP feels ‘enormous guilt’ over Westminster scandal
Farage issues message to his ‘haters’
In a statement, Essex Police said: “Officers attended an address in Essex and invited a woman to come to a voluntary interview.
“They said it related to an investigation into an alleged offence of inciting racial hatred, linked to a post on social media.
“For clarity: a complaint of a possible criminal offence was made to the police and this is why we called; to arrange an interview.
“Everyone was polite and professional throughout the brief conversation.”
They said an officer told Ms Pearson: “It’s gone down as an incident or offence of potentially inciting racial hatred online. That would be the offence.”
Essex Police say they have complained to the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) over what they call “false reporting” regarding the ongoing investigation.
In an interview with The Telegraph published yesterday, Kemi Badenoch said police visiting a journalist over a social media post was “absolutely wrong” and that “we need to look at the laws around non-crime hate incidents”.
“There has been a long-running problem with people not taking free speech seriously,” she said.
She challenged the prime minister to review the laws, saying: “Keir Starmer says he is someone who believes in these things. Now he needs to actually show that he does believe it. All we’ve seen from him is the opposite.”
Ms Badenoch added: “We need to stop this behaviour of people wasting police time on trivial incidents because they don’t like something, as if they’re in a nursery.
“It’s like children reporting each other. And I think that in certain cases, the police do it because they’re afraid that if they don’t do it, they will also be accused of not taking these issues seriously.”
Essex Police said the officers went to the address to invite Ms Pearson to attend a voluntary interview as part of their investigation, which was passed to them by another force.
“The report relates to a social media post which was subsequently removed,” the statement read.
“An investigation is now being carried out under Section 17 of the Public Order Act.”
Essex Police also said they made attempts to contact Ms Pearson before the visit.
Other prominent Conservative voices such as Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Chris Philp have also leapt to Ms Pearson’s defence online, as has X owner Elon Musk, who quoted a post about the incident and said: “This needs to stop.”
Police commentator Graham Wettone told Sky News the police are “duty bound to investigate allegations of crime”.
“They’ve had an allegation of crime made there,” he said. “They will investigate it. If at the end of this they decide that no criminal offence has been committed – and we’re not at that stage yet – then it can still be recorded as a none crime hate incident.”
The police, he said, are duty bound to keep a record of none crime hate incidents.
“Parliament said they want the police to do this, to investigate and record incidents like this. So they are doing exactly what parliament and society asked them to do, and they are getting criticism for doing what people want.”
UK
Sir Keir Starmer vows to defend budget decisions ‘all day long’ as farmers slam ‘disrespectful’ PM
Sir Keir Starmer has said he will defend the decisions made in the budget “all day long” amid anger from farmers over inheritance tax changes.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced last month in her key speech that from April 2026, farms worth more than £1m will face an inheritance tax rate of 20%, rather than the standard 40% applied to other land and property.
The announcement has sparked anger among farmers who argue this will mean higher food prices, lower food production and having to sell off land to pay for the tax.
Sir Keir defended the budget as he gave his first speech as prime minister at the Welsh Labour conference in Llandudno, North Wales, where farmers have been holding a tractor protest outside.
Sir Keir admitted: “We’ve taken some extremely tough decisions on tax.”
He said: “I will defend facing up to the harsh light of fiscal reality. I will defend the tough decisions that were necessary to stabilise our economy.
“And I will defend protecting the payslips of working people, fixing the foundations of our economy, and investing in the future of Britain and the future of Wales. Finally, turning the page on austerity once and for all.”
He also said the budget allocation for Wales was a “record figure” – some £21bn for next year – an extra £1.7bn through the Barnett Formula, as he hailed a “path of change” with Labour governments in Wales and Westminster.
And he confirmed a £160m investment zone in Wrexham and Flintshire will be going live in 2025.
‘PM should have addressed the protesters’
Among the hundreds of farmers demonstrating was Gareth Wyn Jones, who told Sky News it was “disrespectful” that the prime minister did not mention farmers in his speech.
He said “so many people have come here to air their frustrations. He (Starmer) had an opportunity to address the crowd. Even if he was booed he should have been man enough to come out and talk to the people”.
He said farmers planned to deliver Sir Keir a letter which begins with “don’t bite the hand that feeds you”.
Farmers’ tractor protest outside the Welsh Labour conference in Llandudno, North Wales
Mr Wyn Jones told Sky News the government was “destroying” an industry that was already struggling.
“They’re destroying an industry that’s already on its knees and struggling, absolutely struggling, mentally, emotionally and physically. We need government support not more hindrance so we can produce food to feed the nation.”
He said inheritance tax changes will result in farmers increasing the price of food: “The poorer people in society aren’t going to be able to afford good, healthy, nutritious British food, so we have to push this to government for them to understand that enough is enough, the farmers can’t take any more of what they’re throwing at us.”
Mr Wyn Jones disputed the government’s estimation that only 500 farming estates in the UK will be affected by the inheritance tax changes.
“Look, a lot of farmers in this country are in their 70s and 80s, they haven’t handed their farms down because that’s the way it’s always been, they’ve always known there was never going to be inheritance tax.”
On Friday, Sir Keir addressed farmers’ concerns, saying: “I know some farmers are anxious about the inheritance tax rules that we brought in two weeks ago.
“What I would say about that is, once you add the £1m for the farmland to the £1m that is exempt for your spouse, for most couples with a farm wanting to hand on to their children, it’s £3m before anybody pays a penny in inheritance tax.”
Read more:
Ex-Labour adviser suggests doing to farms ‘what Thatcher did to coal mines’
Farmers ‘could block ports and disrupt food supply’
Welsh farmer Gareth Wyn Jones
Ministers said the move will not affect small farms and is aimed at targeting wealthy landowners who buy up farmland to avoid paying inheritance tax.
But analysis this week said a typical family farm would have to put 159% of annual profits into paying the new inheritance tax every year for a decade and could have to sell 20% of their land.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The Country and Land Business Association (CLA), which represents owners of rural land, property and businesses in England and Wales, found a typical 200-acre farm owned by one person with an expected profit of £27,300 would face a £435,000 inheritance tax bill.
The plan says families can spread the inheritance tax payments over 10 years, but the CLA found this would require an average farm to allocate 159% of its profits each year for a decade.
To pay that, successors could be forced to sell 20% of their land, the analysis found.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports7 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Environment1 year agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway