Sir Keir Starmer to announce ‘first steps’ for government in ramping up of election campaign
Sir Keir Starmer will outline his “first steps” for government at a launch event to kickstart the next phase of Labour’s campaign for the general election.
The party leader will host the event in the potential battleground of Essex, where he will pledge to build on the five “missions” he set out last year.
Among the first steps “to change Britain” will be Labour’s pledge to deliver economic stability, cut NHS waiting times, launch a new border security command, set up publicly-owned energy firm Great British Energy, crack down on antisocial behaviour and recruit 6,500 new teachers.
Sir Keir told his shadow cabinet that, following a successful set of May local elections that saw the party steal the West Midlands mayor title from the Tories, the “next phase” of the party’s strategy was “crucially important”.
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Alongside the launch will be an advertising campaign – described by a party spokesman as the largest spend since the previous general election – that will see the Labour leader appear on ad vans and billboards alongside the six steps.
However, a spokesman stressed the steps will not be the “sum total” of the party’s election offer.
Sir Keir told members of his frontbench that “each of the first steps would chime with voters’ aspirations, show a clear set of priorities and a powerful direction of travel”.
“Stability is change”, he also told them.
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Starmer unveils Labour ‘missions’
The Tories hit out at what they said was Labour’s “sixteenth relaunch”, adding that it “won’t amount to a hill of beans”.
The “steps” will be provided to voters in physical form, but Labour steered away from directly comparing this to the pledge card given out by Sir Tony Blair ahead of the 1997 general election.
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Separate Scottish and Welsh launches are expected in coming weeks with offers aimed at voters in the devolved nations, the party said.
Richard Holden, the Tory Party chair, said: “Sir Keir Starmer’s been Labour leader for four years but still has no coherent plan.
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“Labour’s asylum amnesty, colossal unfunded spending commitments, and higher taxes would take us back to square one and it’s clear his sixteenth relaunch won’t amount to a hill of beans.”
“Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives are sticking to the plan which is working to strengthen the economy – with inflation down from 11.1% to 3.2% and £900 back in hard-working people’s pockets – and a fair immigration system with boat crossings down.”
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Reform UK overtakes Conservative membership – Nigel Farage calls it ‘historic’, Kemi Badenoch says numbers are ‘fake’
Reform UK now has more members than the Conservative Party and is “the real opposition” according to Nigel Farage, while Kemi Badenoch has called his numbers “fake”.
According to a digital counter on the party’s website, Reform UK had gone past 131,690 members – the amount the Conservative Party declared before its leadership election in the autumn – just before midday on Boxing Day.
Mr Farage, party leader and MP for Clacton-on-Sea, hailed the “historic moment” and said on X: “The youngest political party in British politics has just overtaken the oldest political party in the world. Reform UK are now the real opposition.”
But Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused the party of issuing misleading figures: “Manipulating your own supporters at Xmas eh, Nigel?. It’s not real. It’s a fake… [the website has been] coded to tick up automatically.”
Posting on X, she added that the Tories had “gained thousands of new members since the leadership election”.
Reform UK also shared a video of the membership tracker being projected on to the Conservative Party headquarters in London overnight.
Zia Yusuf, party chairman, also said “history has been made today” and that the Tories’ “centuries-long stranglehold on the centre-right of British politics” has “finally been broken”.
Mr Farage hit back at Ms Badenoch, who strongly contested Reform UK’s figures. He claimed to have proof and posted a screenshot of an online register reportedly showing ‘active memberships’.
“We understand you are bitter, upset and angry that we are now the second biggest party in British politics, and that the Conservative brand is dying under your leadership. However, this not an excuse to accuse us of committing fraud,” he wrote on X.
Mr Yusuf added to the debate by appearing to goad Ms Badenoch about an audit: “We will gladly invite a Big 4 audit firm to verify our membership numbers on the basis that you do the same.”
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Nigel Farage said Reform UK is ‘now the real opposition’ after the ‘historic moment’. Pic: Reuters
The Conservative party membership figure – shared after Kemi Badenoch was announced as the new leader on 2 November – was the lowest on record and a drop from the 2022 leadership contest, when there were around 172,000 members.
In response, a Conservative Party spokesman said: “Reform has delivered a Labour Government that has cruelly cut winter fuel payments for 10 million pensioners, put the future of family farming and food security at risk, and launched a devastating raid on jobs which will leave working people paying the price.
“A vote for Reform this coming May is a vote for a Labour council – only the Conservatives can stop this.”
According to research from the House of Commons Library, there is no uniformly recognised definition of party membership and no established method or body to monitor the number of members each political group has.
Reform UK was also originally set up as a limited company, but Mr Farage said he would change the party’s structure to be member-owned in September.
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It comes after Mr Farage offered to help Lord Mandelson, the new ambassador to the US, negotiate with president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration.
A long-time associate of Mr Trump, he has been seen at several Republican events during and after the presidential election.
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