Sir Keir Starmer reveals new ‘milestones’ but bringing down migration fails to make list
Sir Keir Starmer has promised change as he outlined his government’s “milestones” – but bringing migration down failed to make the list.
The prime minister revealed the government’s six milestones he said would be reached by the end of this parliament.
He said they would “drive forward” his party’s missions and allow the public to “hold our feet to the fire”.
Politics latest: Starmer says milestones are ‘really risky’ for Labour
Billed as a “Plan for Change”, which he insisted was not a reset, migration was not on the list of milestones despite Labour previously saying borders and the economy were their two top priorities.
Quizzed on why it was not, Sir Keir told Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby that migration needs to come down – something he has said before.
Sir Keir said: “It is our duty to do it [bring migration down]. And we will do it.”
He refused to set a target or timeline.
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Where is immigration in PM’s milestones?
The milestones Sir Keir announced are:
• Raising living standards in every part of the UK – aim to deliver highest sustained growth in the G7
• Rebuilding Britain – build 1.5m homes in England and fast track planning decisions on at least 150 major infrastructure projects
• Ending hospital backlogs – 92% of patients will wait no longer than 18 months
• Putting police back on the beat – with 13,000 additional officers and a named police officer for every neighbourhood
• Giving children the best start in life – getting 75% of five-year-olds in England ready to learn when they start school
• Securing home grown energy – putting the UK on track to at least 95% clean power by 2030.
Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband said the official definition of net zero was 95% clean energy. Pic: PA
Sir Keir admitted Labour’s target to build 1.5 million new homes by 2029 may be “a little too ambitious” but denied he was going to change it.
He said the government faces an “almighty challenge” to hit these milestones by the end of this parliament as he denied the goals are not ambitious, saying they are “really risky” for Labour.
The PM was also questioned by journalists over the government’s net zero target because the Plan for Change document said the milestone of securing home grown energy would put the UK “on track to have at least 95% clean power by 2030”.
He insisted it was not a revision of Labour’s original target to get to 100% net zero by 2030.
Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband said after the speech the Climate Change Committee’s original definition of “clean power…is 95% low-carbon, zero-carbon energy and that’s the definition we’re using”.
Sir Keir also used his speech to accuse Whitehall of becoming “comfortable with failure” and promised “a profound cultural shift away from a declinist mentality”, as well as honesty about the “trade-offs” required to achieve his aims.
Conservative Alex Burghart said the speech showed Labour had lost their way. File Pic: PA
Senior Conservative Alex Burghart said he thought the speech was “probably the first reset of many” and accused Labour of having “clearly lost their way”.
“It is very difficult to believe anything that this government says,” he said.
“And this is a government that broke its promise to pensioners, broke its promises to businesses, to working people, to farmers. You know, the list goes on.
“So, it’s all very well them coming up with a bunch of pledges today but they’ve got a track record of not doing what they say they are going to do. So why should we listen to them now?”
Hong Kong police arrested 12 people involved in a cross-border money laundering scheme that relied on crypto and over 500 stooge bank accounts to launder HK$118 million ($15 million), local news outlets reported.
The syndicate was dismantled on May 15, resulting in the arrest of nine men and three women in mainland China and Hong Kong.
The suspects allegedly recruited others to open bank accounts to receive proceeds from fraud cases, which were then converted into crypto at crypto exchange shops to launder the illicit funds, Hong Kong Commercial Daily reported on May 17.
The criminal organization rented a residential unit in the Hong Kong neighborhood of Mong Kok to plan and carry out its money laundering activities. Of the $15 million laundered, more than $1.2 million was linked to 58 reported fraud cases.
Caught in action
The bust followed police surveillance on May 15, when two recruits left the syndicate’s Mong Kok base — one visiting a bank, the other an ATM — before both went to convert the cash into crypto at a crypto exchange shop in the neighborhood of Tsim Sha Tsui.
Police arrested both individuals on the spot, seizing around HK$770,000 ($98,540) in cash before the funds could be laundered. The other 10 individuals, aged between 20 and 41, were arrested soon after.
Police seized approximately HK$1.05 million ($134,370) in cash, over 560 ATM cards, multiple mobile phones, bank documents and records related to crypto transactions.
Senior Inspector Tse Ka-lun of Hong Kong’s Commercial Crime Bureau claimed that the individuals often used bank accounts from their friends and family to launder the stolen funds.
Hong Kong reported a 12% year-on-year increase in fraud reports in 2024, with authorities making more than 10,000 fraud-related arrests. Of those arrests, around 73% involved individuals who held stooge bank accounts.
Related: DOJ charges 12 more gamer-turned $263M Bitcoin robbers
The crackdown comes as Hong Kong continues to roll out its crypto regulatory framework to support local innovation, protect consumers and establish itself as a crypto hub.
Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission introduced new rules for crypto exchanges offering staking services in April. Two months earlier, the securities regulator rolled out a roadmap to improve market access, optimize compliance, expand product offerings, strengthen crypto infrastructure and foster relationships with industry players.
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Politics
Keir Starmer says closer EU ties will be good for UK jobs, bills and borders ahead of key talks
Sir Keir Starmer has said closer ties with the EU will be good for the UK’s jobs, bills and borders ahead of a summit where he could announce a deal with the bloc.
The government is set to host EU leaders in London on Monday as part of its efforts to “reset” relations post-Brexit.
A deal granting the UK access to a major EU defence fund could be on the table, according to reports – but disagreements over a youth mobility scheme and fishing rights could prove to be a stumbling block.
The prime minister has appeared to signal a youth mobility deal could be possible, telling The Times that while freedom of movement is a “red line”, youth mobility does not come under this.
His comment comes after Kaja Kallas, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, said on Friday work on a defence deal was progressing but “we’re not there yet”.
Sir Keir met European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen later that day while at a summit in Albania.
Ursula von der Leyen and Sir Keir had a brief meeting earlier this week. Pic: PA
If agreed, the deal will be the third in two weeks, following trade agreements with India and the US.
Sir Keir said: “First India, then the United States – in the last two weeks alone that’s jobs saved, faster growth and wages rising.
“More money in the pockets of British working people, achieved through striking deals not striking poses.
“Tomorrow, we take another step forward, with yet more benefits for the United Kingdom as the result of a strengthened partnership with the European Union.”
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Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said she is “worried” about what the PM might have negotiated.
Ms Badenoch – who has promised to rip up the deal with the EU if it breaches her red lines on Brexit – said: “Labour should have used this review of our EU trade deal to secure new wins for Britain, such as an EU-wide agreement on Brits using e-gates on the continent.
“Instead, it sounds like we’re giving away our fishing quotas, becoming a rule-taker from Brussels once again and getting free movement by the back door. This isn’t a reset, it’s a surrender.”
Moody’s credit rating agency downgraded the credit rating of the United States government from Aaa to Aa1, citing the rising national debt as the primary driver behind the reduction in creditworthiness.
According to the May 16 announcement from the rating agency, US lawmakers have failed to stem annual deficits or reduce spending over the years, leading to a growing national debt. The rating agency wrote:
“We do not believe that material multi-year reductions in mandatory spending and deficits will result from the current fiscal proposals under consideration. Over the next decade, we expect larger deficits as entitlement spending rises while government revenue remains broadly flat.”
The credit downgrade is only one degree out of the 21-notch rating scale used by the company to assess the credit health of an entity.
Despite the negative short to medium-term credit outlook, Moody’s maintained a positive outlook on the long-term health of the United States, citing its robust economy and the status of the US dollar as the global reserve currency as strengths, reflecting “balanced” lending risks.
Related: Asia’s wealthy shifting from US dollar to crypto, gold, China: UBS
Investors react to Moody’s US credit revision
Moody’s announcement drew mixed reactions from investors and market participants, leaving many unconvinced by the agency’s revised outlook.
Gabor Gurbacs, CEO and founder of crypto loyalty rewards company Pointsville, cited the rating agency’s previous credit assessments during times of financial stress as unreliable, signaling that the outlook was too optimistic.
“This is the same Moody’s that gave Aaa ratings to sub-prime mortgage-backed securities that led to the 2007-2008 financial crisis,” the executive wrote in a May 17 X post.
However, macroeconomic investor Jim Bianco argued that the recent Moody’s credit outlook does not reflect a real downgrade in the perception of US government creditworthiness and characterized the announcement as a “nothing burger.”
US government debt surpassed $36 trillion in January 2025 and shows no signs of slowing, despite recent efforts by Elon Musk and others to reduce federal spending and curtail the national debt.
As the debt climbs and investors lose faith in US government securities, bond yields will spike, causing the debt service payments to go up, further inflating the national debt.
This creates a vicious cycle as the government will have to entice investors with ever-greater yields to incentivize them to purchase government debt.
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