Starmer to unveil 'milestones' on election pledges

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said a new phase for his government will begin this week, under what he calls a “plan for change” for Britain.

Writing for the Sun on Sunday, Sir Keir described the strategy as “the most ambitious yet honest delivery plan in a generation” as the government was “knuckling down” on delivering its election promises.

He said ministers would detail “measurable milestones” by which the public could track the progress of the government towards its commitments.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said: “Keir Starmer is having to relaunch… because Labour had no plan for government”.

In his Sun article, the prime minister accused the Conservative of leaving “a dire inheritance, with crumbling public services and crippled public finances to face up to”.

Sir Keir said: “These are major problems that can’t be fixed overnight. I make no bones about that, and there’s no point pretending otherwise. Meaningful change is not easy to deliver.”

He acknowledged that there may be “obstacles and blockers – maybe even protests” to his proposed reforms.

The mention of protests may be a nod towards recent political challenges.

Thousands of farmers descended upon Whitehall earlier this month over changes to inheritance tax for farmers announced in the Budget.

Thousands more regularly march for a change to Britain’s support for Israel in the war in Gaza, though these marches first began under the previous government.

And in a blow to Sir Keir’s cabinet, Transport Secretary Louise Haigh on Friday resigned over a fraud charge from a decade ago.

The newspaper article signals a return to focusing on Labour manifesto pledges, after the Westminster focus of the past few days was firmly on one of the rare political issues where the skirmishing between parties was put to one side and MPs had a free vote on the assisted dying bill.

In a social media post, the Tory leader said Sir Keir’s first six months will be remembered for freebie scandals, a calamitous budget, surrendering British territory, and now a cabinet minister resigning over fraud and lies.”

Badenoch added: “This is just the beginning…. there will be more resets to come.”

Speaking to the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Cabinet Office Minister Pat McFadden rejected the suggestion the “plan for change” was a reset, saying it had been worked on since the “early days” of government.

“We knew that government would always have events that buffet you around from week to week and things that would cause a lot of heat in the newspapers, you have to deal with those.

“But alongside those you have to look at the long-term too.”

Sir Keir’s plans for the next phase of his government will include five detailed “missions”.

When it is fully unveiled on Thursday, it will be designed to highlight which measures will be prioritised both politically and financially.

“[The milestones] will also ensure the attention and resources of government are focused ­relentlessly on delivering real and meaningful change,” Sir Keir wrote.

For example, there exists a wide-ranging government mission to break down barriers to opportunity.

But under the new plan, a specific target will be created to help improve early years education.

Ministers will aim to increase the proportion of four-year-olds and five-year-olds who are fully ready to start school – socially as well as educationally – from 60% to 75%.

Other policies, from housebuilding to hospital waiting lists, will become priorities, too, under the plans to be announced by the prime minister on Thursday.

But by implication, it seems some previous pledges may be destined for the political slow lane.

The five headline missions do not specifically cover migration, but McFadden said it would be “mentioned” in a document, to be published on Thursday

However, he said there would not be a “numerical target” for the level of net migration arguing that the “exact number you need will always ebb and flow depending on the needs of the economy”.

The Liberal Democrats’ Cabinet Office spokesperson Sarah Olney said the government’s targets would be “meaningless unless they reversed the disastrous mistakes made so far”.

She said ministers should “swallow their pride” and ditch changes to the winter fuel payment and inheritance tax for farmers.

On Friday, Sir Keir experienced his first ministerial resignation, when Transport Secretary Louise Haigh quit following revelations she had pleaded guilty to a fraud offence a decade ago.

Haigh admitted telling police in 2013 she had lost her work mobile phone in a mugging, but later found it had not been taken.

She was given a conditional discharge by magistrates, following the incident which happened before she became an MP.

In her resignation letter, Haigh said she was stepping down because she did not want to become a distraction.

As opposition leader Sir Keir frequently attacked the Conservatives over Covid rule-breaking, saying you “cannot be a lawmaker and a law breaker”.

Asked if the prime minister was a hypocrite for appointing Haigh to his frontbench, McFadden said “no, he’s not” adding that there was no rule preventing someone who had once broken the law from serving in Parliament.

He said he did not know the details of why Haigh stepped down adding: “I regret she felt she had to go.”

Asked if any other cabinet ministers had past convictions he said: “Not that I am aware of but I haven’t looked into all of the background.”