LIVE: Starmer vows he will prove doubters wrong in speech to save job

Sir Keir Starmer today pleaded with mutinous Labour MPs not to oust him from Downing Street, warning it could plunge the UK into chaos.

In response to one question, Sir Keir says:

The question of whether a government constantly changes its leadership, the question whether that damages the country is not an academic question, it’s not something that you study at university and go through various theories.

We tested it. We tested it to destruction under the last government, and it inflicted huge damage on this country.

A Labour government will never be forgiven if we repeat that and inflict that on the country. And that’s what I mean when I say I’m not going to plunge this country into chaos.

A Labour MP has called on Sir Keir Starmer to set out when he will leave Downing Street in a statement released during the Prime Minister’s speech.

David Smith, who represents North Northumberland, said if Labour must change its approach to make good on promises to tackle the cost of living and deal with immigration fairly.

See his statement below:

Sir Keir Starmer says he had spoken to Angela Rayner but sidestepped a question of whether she had ruled out ever mounting a leadership challenge against him.

He says:

I’m afraid I’m going to disappoint you … I spoke to Angela many, many times, by the way, in the last few weeks, we are friends.

We get on very well, but I’m not going to go through each and everything that we discussed in those calls.

He also said he had spoken to former Welsh Labour leader Eluned Morgan, who stood down after losing her seat, and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar since the local elections.

Sir Keir Starmer said he wanted to ‘take a big leap forward’ at the upcoming EU-UK summit, but declined to say whether Labour’s next manifesto would commit to seeking membership of the single market or customs union.

Asked if he would rule out including single market or customs union membership in the party’s next manifesto, Sir Keir said:

What I want to do is take a big leap forward with the EU-UK summit this year and take us closer, both on trade, the economy, defence and security. And that will then be a platform on which we can build as we go forward.

And as we do that, I strongly believe we’ve got to turn our back on the arguments of the past, not open old grievances, but look forward together to how we make this country stronger, how we make this country fairer. And so that’s the approach that I will take.

Sir Keir Starmer has said he will not walk away if a leadership competition is launched.

Asked directly if he would fight for his position, the Prime Minister told reporters: ‘I’m not going to walk away.’

Questioned on whether he thought the nation was ‘ungovernable’, he added: 

I don’t think Britain is ungovernable. On the contrary, one of the things that I draw great strength from is all the millions of people who care passionately about their place, their community, where they live, where they work.

The millions of people who give hours and hours and hours of their time for their community, volunteering, helping others, running teams, you name it. That is a great strength of our country.

I draw strength from the fact that we are a reasonable, tolerant, decent country, a live and let live country, a diverse country. That is the real Britain.

Taking questions from journalists, Sir Keir Starmer admitted he has ‘doubters’ in his own party but has vowed to prove them wrong.

Asked about Labour MPs calling for him to step down following the local election results, Sir Keir says:

I’m not going to shy away from the fact that I’ve got some doubters, including in my own party – and I’m not going to shy away from the fact that I have to prove them wrong, and I will.

I had my doubters when I took on the Labour Party. I had my doubters who said we couldn’t change this party and make it capable of winning an election. And I proved them wrong.

And when we did that, I had my doubters, who said, ‘you can’t lead us to a general election victory after the loss in 2019, it was so bad. It’s not possible’ – and I proved them wrong. I’m going to prove them wrong again here.

Sir Keir Starmer has described a ‘battle for the soul’ of the UK, as he warned Labour campaigners his party ‘cannot win as a weaker version of Reform (UK) or the Greens’.

He said:

This is nothing less than a battle for the soul of our nation and I want to be crystal clear about how we will win it because we cannot win as a weaker version of Reform or the Greens.

We can only win as a stronger version of Labour, a mainstream party of power, not protest.

A decision to let Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham stand to become an MP is one for Labour’s National Executive Committee, Sir Keir Starmer has said.

Asked whether he would back continuing to ‘block Andy Burnham from trying to return to Parliament’, Sir Keir replied:

Obviously, any future decision is for the NEC. Andy’s doing a great job as mayor in Manchester.

And I actually work really well with Andy and I’ll give you two examples – on Northern Powerhouse Rail, which is really important for the North West. We are working together on that project.

But equally, we stood together to support Manchester and the community when we had the terrible attack on a synagogue last year, and he was the first person I phoned, and I went straight to Manchester to work with him on our response.

“So, we work very well together, but the actual decision would be one for the NEC.

Sir Keir said he would block ‘far-right agitators’ from coming to the UK for a march on Saturday that he said was ‘designed to confront and intimidate’.

The Prime Minister attacked ‘grievance politics’ that he said other parties were turning to.

He said:

They want more grievance politics, more division, more pointing at Britain’s problems, looking not for solutions, but for someone to blame.

Now that’s fine if it’s me (to blame), if it’s politicians, that’s the job, but increasingly it’s not. It’s other people in this country, and I don’t think that’s British.

That is not the decency and respect that we are known for. But it’s here. That politics is with us now, and you’ll see it again on Saturday at a march designed to confront and intimidate this diversity and this diverse country.

Nigel Farage is a ‘grifter’ and a ‘chancer’, Sir Keir Starmer has said.

Sir Keir said his Labour Government would be defined by putting Britain at the ‘heart of Europe’.

He said Farage was repeatedly wrong over his claims of the benefits Brexit would bring and added he now doesn’t want to talk about it.

He says:

He took Britain for a ride. He is not just a grifter, he is a chancer.

He adds:

The last government was defined by breaking our relationship with Europe.

This Labour Government will be defined by rebuilding our relationship with Europe, by putting Britain at the heart of Europe, so that we are stronger on the economy, stronger on trade, stronger on defence.

Legislation will be brought forward to take ‘full national ownership of British Steel’, Sir Keir Starmer has announced.

Turning to how the UK can take control of its ‘economic security’, Sir Keir says in Scunthorpe the Government has been negotiating with the current owner and a commercial sale has not been possible.

He tells the audience:

So I can announce that legislation will be brought forward this week to give the government powers, subject to that public interest test, to take full national ownership of British Steel. Public ownership in the public interest.

Urgent government on the side of working people, making Britain stronger with the hope of industrial renewal. That is a Labour choice.

Sir Keir admitted the Government has ‘made mistakes’ but added the UK was in a ‘much better place to come out of the conflict in Iran stronger and fairer’.

The Prime Minister said:

Of course, like every government, we’ve made mistakes. But we got the big political choices right.

I mean, if we’d listened to the advice of other parties, right now, we’d be stuck in a stand-off with Iran, having been dragged into a war that is not in our interest – and I will never do that.

We have invested in our public services, in people, in the pride of Britain’s communities. Difficult decisions funded that.