Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
I’ll make Britain the best place to grow up and grow old in
Starmer’s vow for fairer country He appeals to Red Wall voters
KEIR Starmer addresses voters of all generations today, pledging a better future under Labour.
Vowing to make Britain the “best place to grow up in and the best place to grow old in”, he sets out his vision for a revitalised party – and a fairer nation.
Declaring that Labour is “under new leadership”, he will say : “It’s time to get serious about winning.”
He will be delivering his first party conference speech as leader in Doncaster, South Yorks – whose Don Valley seat was lost to the Tories last year.
It was one of a swathe of traditionally Labour seats to fall to the Tories in December when Labour had its fourth successive general election defeat, and its worst result since 1935.
Since his decisive win in the leadership contest in April, Mr Starmer has doubled down on his image as an accomplished barrister with a forensic eye for detail.
Through thorny clashes with Mr Johnson at Prime Minister’s Questions, h e has exposed B ori s J ohnson’s haphazard approach and has clawed his party back to within two points of the Tories in a recent survey.
A Yougov poll last month found a slim majority thought he would do a better job running the country than Mr Johnson.
But Mr Starmer recognises that the party has not yet done enough. He will say : “To those people in Doncaster and Deeside, in Glasgow l and Grimsby, in Stoke and in Stevenage to those who have turned away from Labour, I say this: we hear you. I ask you: take another look at Labour. We’re under new leadership, we love this country as you do.”
As a second lockdown threatens, Mr
Starmer will make his speech without his party colleagues around him, denied a conference hall filled with thundering applause.
Underlining his patriotism, he will say : “My vision for Britain is simple: I want this to be the best country to grow up in and the best country to grow old in. A country in which we put family first.
“A country that embodies the values I hold dear. Decency, fairness, opportunity, compassion and security. Security for our nation, our families and all of our communities.”
And in an echo of the last Labour leader to win a general election, Mr Starmer will pledge to put “properly funded public services” and a “worldclass education which unleashes everyone’s potential” at the heart of his vision f o r Br i t a i n . Allies have told the Mi r r o r that his message to the party will be to stop obsessing over internal divides and to reflect on what went wrong in the recent past.
On the economy, Mr Starmer is expected to say that th e way forward is a “huge investment in skills” and “working hand-in-hand with businesses and trade unions” to create high-quality jobs.
And in a direct challenge to Mr Johnson, who has long promised a “levelling up” plan for the whole country, Mr Starmer will demand “an economy that doesn’t force people to move hundreds of miles from family and friends just to find a decent job”.
To those who’ve turned away, we hear you KEIR STARMER WOOS BACK EX-LABOUR VOTERS