Sir Keir Starmer ditches pledge that Britain will become fastest growing economy in G7

SIR Keir Starmer has ditched his pledge that Britain will become the fastest growing economy in the G7.

Amid soaring US and Canadian growth, the Prime Minister declined to repeat his pre-election vow as he prepared to unveil his milestone targets.

As polls show more than half of voters think he is doing a bad job, Sir Keir will today try to pitch himself on the side of the grafters who are getting short shrift from politicians by setting targets to judge performance.

He is eager to insist his new milestones will “galvanise the government machine”.

But while setting out goals on crime and the NHS, the PM will duck any meaningful reductions to migration or the ballooning benefits bill.

And his economic target will not have a number on it. His reset comes as more than half of voters say they have been let down by the PM’s performance so far. A poll by Ipsos shows just a quarter think he is doing a good job.

He will use a major speech today to tell voters to mark his leadership against results including recruiting 13,000 extra bobbies on the beat.

And there will be targets on green energy and education standards, which No10 said “will allow the public to hold the government to account on delivering on their priorities”.

But the PM has not set targets in getting people off sickness benefits and back to work or on net migration.

At PMQs yesterday, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch urged him to repeat his pre-election promise to beat the G7 but the PM ducked the question.

Instead he said: “We are on target to be the fastest- ­growing major economy in Europe in the next two years.”

Sir Keir will say today: “Hard working Brits are going out grafting every day but are getting short shrift from a politics that should serve them.”

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