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A film set location, a big budget production, an audience bussed in – the prime minister’s Plan for Change speech had all the hallmarks of big campaign moments past when Sir Keir Starmer used the event to launch his “first steps’ set of promises – from cutting NHS waiting lists and setting up a new border command to tackle small boats – and his election-winning manifesto.

Five months into government, on Thursday, he gathered his cabinet and crowd in Pinewood Studios to launch this six milestones for government.

But if it was meant to be a box office moment, it all felt a bit flat.

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The data behind Starmer’s plans

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Over the past 18 months, we’ve had three foundations, five missions, six first steps and now, on Thursday, six milestones, with a 42-page plan.

Speak to the prime minister at the edges of these events, and he can make a compelling case for his missions and the clarity he has for government.

But somehow it is getting lost in translation as the missions become the first steps, become milestones with three foundations to boot.

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It can be hard to find a narrative in what this government is trying to do.

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Keir Starmer during his speech in Buckinghamshire.
Pic PA
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Keir Starmer during his speech in Buckinghamshire.
Pic PA

Thursday was an attempt to change that with six measurable milestones now set up so you, Whitehall and the cabinet, are all crystal clear about where they are heading.

Some of them are a departure from manifesto pledges, others are not.

Some of them are genuinely ambitious, others less so.

The manifesto promise to have the fastest growing economy in the G7 is now an “aim” while the new milestone is to “raise living standards in every part of the United Kingdom, so working people have more money in their pockets” is a new target.

The idea is to make the pledge more “human” but the PM wouldn’t say how much he wanted to raise living standards – and household disposable income is already set to rise by the end of this parliament.

Then on opportunity for all, in the run-up to the election the government promised to recruit 6,500 more teachers to improve teaching in state secondaries.

Now the milestone they are asking to be measured on is a promise that 75% of five-year-olds are ready to learn in England when they start school against 67% today.

A programme lies on a chair on the day of Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer's 'plan for change' speech in Buckinghamshire, England, Thursday, December 5, 2024. Darren Staples/Pool via REUTERS
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A programme lies on a chair during Starmer’s big speech.
Pic: Reuters


There is a new milestone to fast-track planning decisions on at least 150 major economic infrastructure projects.

There is a milestone to put a named bobby back on the beat in every neighbourhood, while the pledge to halve violence against women and girls has not been marked up as a milestone.

‘Hold the government’s feet to the fire’

Why are they doing it now and to what end?

At its heart this is an attempt to give voters clear targets on which they can, to quote Starmer himself, “hold the government’s feet to the fire”.

But it felt a bit like a rag bag of measures in which some past promises were pushed aside and others pumped up.

The 1.5 million housing target, the pledge to return to the NHS standard of 92% of patients being seen for elective treatment in 18 weeks, the commitment to green power by 2030 are all ambitious.

But things that are perhaps too risky or hard to meet have been dropped.

The migration question

One of the biggest omissions in the milestones was migration.

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Where’s immigration in PM’s milestones?

This surprised me, not least because the prime minister had said clearly that the economy and borders were his two main priorities in government and a clear concern for voters.

But instead of making it one of his milestone measures, for which the public can hold him accountable, the PM said securing borders was one of the “foundations” of his government.

There is no metric on which to measure him beyond net migration coming down from record levels of 800,000 plus in the past couple of years.

Perhaps he could have been more ambitious in setting a target to hit in terms of cutting legal migration or small boat crossings.

Perhaps he could have committed to a deportation figure – something that Harriet Harman suggested he might have done on our episode of Electoral Dysfunction this week.

But I suspect, in the end, Number 10 decided it was too risky to try to set targets.

Keir Starmer leaves after delivering a speech in Buckinghamshire setting out his Government's ''plan for change''.
Pic: PA
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Keir Starmer leaves after delivering a speech in Buckinghamshire setting out his government’s Plan for Change. Pic: PA

‘The tepid bath of managed decline’

But with a disaffected electorate, high levels of scepticism, and a Reform party playing into that anti-politics sentiment, Starmer knows he must galvanise his government to try to deliver tangibles before the next election, and this speech will perhaps be looked back on as one aimed as much at Whitehall as it was you, the voter.

He explicitly challenged the British state to deliver in this speech saying his Plan for Change was “the most ambitious plan for government in a generation” and would require a “change to the nature of governing itself” as he called on the state to become more dynamic, decisive, innovate, embracing of technology and artificial intelligence.

“Make no mistake, this plan will land on desks across Whitehall with the heavy thud of a gauntlet being thrown down, a demand given the urgency of our times,” he told his audience as he fired a warning shot to Whitehall.

“I do think there are too many people in Whitehall who are comfortable in the tepid bath of managed decline. Had forgotten, to paraphrase JFK, that you choose change not because it’s easy, but because it’s hard.”

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Starmer and his team know that without galvanising Whitehall and setting clear navigation through this mission and now measurable milestones, delivery will be hard.

The plan is for stock takes on the missions and milestones in order to hold mandarins accountable.

On the back of Starmer’s milestones speech will come another from cabinet minister Pat McFadden on civil service reform.

At the election, Starmer ran on a platform of promising change.

Five months later, eyeing a sharp fall in opinion poll ratings, he is offering a concrete plan for change.

For now voters seemed tuned out, with the pledges and targets being thrown at them failing to stick.

I don’t think Starmer or his team expect those polls to turn around any time soon.

But they are adamant that if they can fulfil promises to build more homes and better infrastructure, cut NHS waiting lists, lift living standards, and give people a sense of greater security on their streets, they can turn the tide on the tsunami of cynicism they face.

Starmer might not be the best storyteller, but in the end he’ll likely be judged not on the flourish or rhetoric, but on whether he can actually deliver.

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MP Zarah Sultana who was ousted from Labour announces she is starting new political party with Jeremy Corbyn

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MP Zarah Sultana who was ousted from Labour announces she is starting new political party with Jeremy Corbyn

An MP who was ousted from the Labour Party has announced she is setting up a new political party with Jeremy Corbyn.

Independent MP Zarah Sultana said she and the former Labour leader will co-lead the new party, which she did not provide a name for.

She said other independent MPs, campaigners and activists from across the country will join them, but did not name anyone.

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Ms Sultana also said she was “resigning” from the Labour Party after 14 years.

She was suspended as a Labour MP shortly after they came to power last summer for voting against the government maintaining the two-child benefit cap.

Several others from the left of the party, including Mr Corbyn, were also suspended for voting against the government, and also remained as independent MPs.

More on Jeremy Corbyn

However, Ms Sultana was still a member of the Labour Party – until now.

Zarah Sultana

Mr Corbyn has previously said the independent MPs who were suspended from Labour would “come together” to provide an “alternative.

The other four are: Iqbal Mohamed, Shockat Adam, Ayoub Khan and Adnan Hussain.

Mr Corbyn and the other four independents have not said if they are part of the new party Ms Sultana announced.

In her announcement, Ms Sultana said she would vote to abolish the two-child benefit cap again and also voted against scrapping the winter fuel payment for most pensioners.

Ms Sultana also voted against the government’s welfare bill this week, which was heavily watered down as Sir Keir Starmer tried to prevent a major rebellion from his own MPs.

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Protesters block Israeli arms manufacturer in Bristol

On Wednesday, Ms Sultana spoke passionately against Palestine Action being proscribed as a terror organisation – but MPs eventually voted for it to be.

She said to proscribe it is “a deliberate distortion of the law to chill dissent, criminalise solidarity and suppress the truth”.

Ms Sultana said they were founding the new party because “Westminster is broken but the real crisis is deeper – just 50 families now own more wealth than half the UK population”.

She called Reform leader Nigel Farage “a billionaire-backed grifter” leading the polls “because Labour has completely failed to improve people’s lives.

Reform leader Nigel Farage attending day three of Royal Ascot.
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Ms Sultana called Nigel Farage a ‘billionaire-backed grifter’. Pic: PA

The MP, who has spoken passionately about Gaza, added: “Across the political establishment, from Farage to Starmer, they smear people of conscience trying to stop a genocide in Gaza as terrorists.

“But the truth is clear: this government is an active participant in genocide. And the British people oppose it.

“We are not going to take this anymore.”

A Labour Party spokesperson said: “In just 12 months, this Labour government has boosted wages, delivered an extra four million NHS appointments, opened 750 free breakfast clubs, secured three trade deals and four interest rate cuts lowering mortgage payments for millions.

“Only Labour can deliver the change needed to renew Britain.”

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Tornado Cash co-founder keeps testimony plans unclear ahead of trial

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Tornado Cash co-founder keeps testimony plans unclear ahead of trial

Tornado Cash co-founder keeps testimony plans unclear ahead of trial

Roman Storm is scheduled to appear in a New York courtroom for his criminal trial on July 14, facing money laundering and conspiracy charges.

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US Senator Cynthia Lummis drafts standalone crypto tax bill

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US Senator Cynthia Lummis drafts standalone crypto tax bill

US Senator Cynthia Lummis drafts standalone crypto tax bill

The Wyoming Senator seeks to end double taxation and add clarity to the tax treatment of crypto staking, mining, and lending transactions.

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