Keir Starmer promises to ‘give Britain its future back’ as he sets out five missions for government
Sir Keir Starmer has promised to “give Britain its future back” with a “mission-driven government” as he set out his priorities if he wins power at the next election.
The Labour leader set out five goals which will be at the core of his manifesto.
They are:
- Secure the highest sustained growth in the G7
- Build an NHS fit for the future
- Make Britain’s streets safe
- Break down the barriers to opportunity at every stage
- Make Britain a clean energy superpower
In a keynote speech in Manchester, Sir Keir said: “These missions will form the backbone of the Labour manifesto. The pillars of the next Labour government.
“They will be measurable, so we can track progress and be held to account. Long-term so we can look beyond the day-to-day. Informed by experts and the public, so we can build a coalition for change. And each will support our drive for growth. Each will help us get our future back.”
Sir Keir said he is already speaking to experts and business leaders about how he can achieve his goals.
Politics live: Labour leader unveils ‘five missions’
On the economy, he said growth will be “powered by good jobs and stronger productivity in every part of the country”.
On making the UK a clean energy super power, he said the first steps will be to insulate 19 million homes, train people in green jobs and create Great British Energy – a new, publicly owned company that will generate renewable sources.
Sir Keir said he is “not concerned about whether investment or expertise comes from the public or private sector – I just want to get the job done”.
This stands in contrast to his position in 2019, when the Labour party pledged to nationalise energy, rail, mail and water.
Sir Keir has since promised to take a “pragmatic” approach to nationalisation and told the audience in Manchester “if the aspiration is merely to replace the public sector while extracting a rent to privatise the profits, that takes us nowhere”.
Asked by Sky’s political editor Beth Rigby how he can be trusted when he has junked many of the policies he won the Labour leadership on, Sir Keir insisted his missions had been “hard thought through” and “reflect the challenges the country faces”.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Sky News’ Beth Rigby has asked Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer if his lack of detailed policy proposals will turn off voters.
Answering further questions from media, he denied there was no money to fund his plan, saying all his missions will be “fully costed”.
But he added: “Reform is as important as the money we put in.”
‘Sticking plaster politics’
Sir Keir is expected to set out further detail on his policies in the coming weeks.
It comes as the party continues to ride-high in UK nationwide polls, while Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s approval rating slumps.
During his speech, the Labour leader repeatedly hit out at the Conservatives for “13 years of sticking plaster politics” which he blamed for many of the country’s problems.
Listing some of those he said: “The only country in the G7 still poorer than it was before the pandemic. The worst decade for growth in two centuries. Seven million are on waiting lists and rising. You don’t see this everywhere.”
He said his missions are “a case for change, a new government and a new way of governing”.
He added: “Britain needs both and with Labour Britain will get both. That’s what today is about, a Britain that gets its future back.”
World
Ukrainian frontline commander warns: ‘The world is scared of Russia and losing is not only our problem’
In the courtyard of a farmhouse now home to soldiers of the Ukrainian army’s 47th mechanised brigade, I’m introduced to a weary-looking unit by their commander Captain Oleksandr “Sasha” Shyrshyn.
We are about 10km from the border with Russia, and beyond it lies the Kursk region Ukraine invaded in the summer – and where this battalion is now fighting.
The 47th is a crack fighting assault unit.
They’ve been brought to this area from the fierce battles in the country’s eastern Donbas region to bolster Ukrainian forces already here.
War latest: Russia ready to carry out ‘massive attack’
The captain known by his men as ‘Genius’
In the summer, Ukraine launched an incursion into Russian territory, in Kursk
Captain Shyrshyn explains that among the many shortages the military has to deal with, the lack of infantry is becoming a critical problem.
Sasha is just 30 years old, but he is worldly-wise. He used to run an organisation helping children in the country’s east before donning his uniform and going to war.
He is famous in Ukraine and is regarded as one of the country’s top field commanders, who isn’t afraid to express his views on the war and how it’s being waged.
His nom de guerre is ‘Genius’, a nickname given to him by his men.
Captain Sasha Shyrshyn and Sky News chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay
‘Don’t worry, it’s not a minefield’
Sasha invited me to see one of the American Bradley fighting vehicles his unit uses.
We walk down a muddy lane before he says it’s best to go cross-country.
“We can go that way, don’t worry it’s not a minefield,” he jokes.
He leads us across a muddy field and into a forest where the vehicle is hidden from Russian surveillance drones that try to hunt both American vehicles and commanders.
Sasha shows me a picture of the house they had been staying in only days before – it was now completely destroyed after a missile strike.
Fortunately, neither he, nor any of his men, were there at the time.
“They target commanders,” he says with a smirk.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
‘The world is scared of Russia’
It takes me a moment or two to realise we are only a few steps away from the Bradley, dug in and well hidden beneath the trees.
The disguised American Bradley vehicle hidden in the forest
Sasha tells me the Bradley is the finest vehicle he has ever used.
A vehicle so good, he says, it’s keeping the Ukrainian army going in the face of Russia’s overwhelming numbers of soldiers.
He explains: “Almost all our work on the battlefield is cooperation infantry with the Bradley. So we use it for evacuations, for moving people from one place to another, as well as for fire-covering.
“This vehicle is very safe and has very good characteristics.”
The American Bradley fighting vehicle that Ukrainian soldiers have found vital in their efforts
Billions of dollars in military aid has been given to Ukraine by the United States, and this vehicle is one of the most valuable assets the US has provided.
Ukraine is running low on men to fight, and the weaponry it has is not enough, especially if it can’t fire long-range missiles into Russia itself – which it is currently not allowed to do.
If President-elect Donald Trump cuts the supply of military aid, the Ukrainians will lose – it’s that simple.
US President-elect Donald Trump has been clear he intends to change his nation’s policy on the war in Ukraine. Pic: Reuters
Sasha says: “We have a lack of weapons, we have a lack of artillery, we have a lack of infantry, and as the world doesn’t care about justice, and they don’t want to finish the war by our win, they are afraid of Russia.
“I’m sorry but they’re scared, they’re scared, and it’s not the right way.”
Like pretty much everyone in Ukraine, Sasha is waiting to see what the US election result will mean for his country.
He is sceptical about a deal with Russia.
“Our enemy only understands the language of power. And you cannot finish the war in 24 hours, or during the year without hard decisions, without a fight, so it’s impossible. It’s just talking without results,” he tells me.
Read more from Stuart Ramsay:
How Ukrainian units are downing Russia’s drones
Heartbreaking final moments of girl who tried to flee Gaza
Inside a brutal and deadly Mexican gang war
‘Losing will be not only our problem’
These men expect the fierce battles inside Kursk to intensify in the coming days.
Indeed, alongside the main supply route into Kursk, workers are already building new defensive positions – unfurling miles of razor wire and digging bunkers for the Ukrainian army if it finds itself in retreat.
Barbed wire rolled out in the Sumy region ahead of expected fighting
Tank traps in the Sumy region
Sasha and his men are realistic about support fatigue from the outside world but will keep fighting to the last if they have to.
“I understand this is only our problem, it’s only our issue, and we have to fight this battle, like we have to defend ourselves, it’s our responsibility,” Sasha said.
But he points out everyone should realise just how critical this moment in time is.
“If we look at it widely, we have to understand that us losing will be not only our problem, but it will be for all the world.”
Stuart Ramsay reports from northeastern Ukraine with camera operator Toby Nash, and producers Dominique Van Heerden, Azad Safarov, and Nick Davenport.
A weather warning has been issued for parts of Spain, as the country counts the cost of recent flooding.
The orange warnings are in place for parts of southwestern Spain – the area around Seville down towards Gibraltar.
Up to 8cm (3ins) of rain could fall within 12 hours, but the weekend looks much more settled in the country.
The latest warnings come just two weeks after flash flooding in Valencia and other parts of the country killed more than 200 people.
Malaga saw 14.2cm (5.6ins) of rainfall on Wednesday – Spain’s highest of the day – most of which fell in six hours.
All train services were halted in Malaga. Some flights have now resumed after the initial disruption.
Pic: Jamie Marchant
Emergency services in the province have moved 3,000 people from homes at risk of flooding close to the Guadalhorce River in the west of the city.
Jamie Marchant, 29, from Caerphilly in South Wales travelled to Malaga last Wednesday.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
He told Sky News that “debris” had been left behind by the recent rainfall in the region.
“Everyone is pitching in to clean up and some shops are opening as usual,” he added.
Orange warnings for the Valencia region in eastern Spain expired earlier on Thursday.
Read more from Sky News:
Call for dog-free areas to tackle racism
Argentina walks out of COP29 summit
The adverse weather could lead to total insured losses of more than €4bn (£3.33bn), according to credit rating agency Morningstar DBRS.
Much of the claims are expected to be covered by the Spanish government’s insurance pool, the agency said, but insurance premiums are likely to increase.
A necklace believed to contain jewels from the infamous Marie Antoinette “Affair of the Diamond Necklace” has been sold for £3.7m.
Set with nearly 500 diamonds and weighing about 300 carats, it smashed price expectations at a Sotheby’s auction in Geneva.
The Marchioness of Anglesey wore it at Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953, and it was also worn 16 years earlier at King George VI’s crowning.
However, the link to Marie Antoinette, the last queen of France, may have been the most intriguing selling point for the mystery buyer.
Some of the jewels are believed to have been at the centre of the Affair of the Diamond Necklace – a scandal which is said to have paved the way for Antoinette’s eventual downfall.
The scandal erupted when a hard-up noblewoman, Jeanne de la Motte, pretended to be the queen and acquired a hugely expensive necklace in her name without paying.
An undated portrait of Marie Antoinette. (AP Photo)
Antoinette, who was accused of having a hand in the scam, was acquitted in a trial. But the affair discredited her further in the eyes of the French people – among whom she was already deeply unpopular.
Her reputation never recovered, her public appearances all but ceased, and the number of pamphlets containing malicious gossip about her increased.
It also added to her reputation for extravagance that helped fuel the French Revolution – with the queen beheaded in 1793.
Pic: Reuters
Jewels from the original necklace – which contained nearly 650 diamonds and weighed almost 2,800 carats – were
later sold on the black market, making them hard to trace.
However, a Bond Street jeweller testified at the time that he bought about 350 of them for just over £10,000, according to Sotheby’s.
Experts say the quality and age of the diamonds in the necklace sold on Wednesday point to a match.
Read more from Sky News:
Mum ‘sexually assaulted’ in ambulance by paramedic
Baby red panda dies after nearby fireworks set off
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
“It’s likely or possible that some of these diamonds may have come from the famous diamond necklace that led to the downfall of Marie Antoinette,” said Jessica Wyndham, Sotheby’s head of magnificent jewels.
The Georgian-era piece measures 67cm and hadn’t been seen in public for 50 years before it came up for sale.
Its final sale price of over 4.2 million Swiss francs was double its pre-auction valuation.
-
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