Sir Keir Starmer has been inspired by Brexit as he promises his party will “take back control” from Westminster and give more power to local.
The Labour leader said his party would properly deliver on the Brexit campaign message from 2016 as he promised to turn it from a “slogan to a solution”.
Keir Starmer said he understood the case for Brexit
Stefan Rousseau
Starmer said Labour would bring forward a “Take Back Control Bill”, which would devolve power from London to communities across the country.
The bill would give councils a greater say over their own finances while also giving communities a right to request more powers.
Speaking in Stratford, East London, the Labour leader said: “The decisions which create wealth in our communities should be taken by local people with skin in the game, and a huge power shift out of Westminster can transform our economy, our politics and our democracy.
“I go back to Brexit. Yes, a whole host of issues were on that ballot. But as I went around the country, campaigning for Remain, I couldn’t disagree with the basic case so many Leave voters made to me.”
Starmer, whose party continues to poll ahead of Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives, delivered his speech only a short distance from where the Prime Minister spoke on Wednesday.
He accused Mr Sunak of offering the country only “more promises, more platitudes” as he hit out at “sticking plaster politics”, but warned that Labour would not be able to spend its way out of the current challenges facing the country.
“None of this should be taken as code for Labour getting its big government chequebook out. Of course investment is required – I can see the damage the Tories have done to our public services as plainly as anyone.
“But we won’t be able to spend our way out of their mess – it’s not as simple as that.”
“There is no substitute for a robust, private sector, creating wealth in every community,” he told the audience.
His first speech of 2023 comes as the Government grapples with severe pressures in the NHS and ongoing strike action, as households continue to struggle with cost-of-living challenges.
The Labour leader vowed to turn 'take back control' into a 'solution'
Stefan Rousseau
The Labour leader, who described his party as “competent and compassionate”, said the country needs a drastically changed politics.
Sir Keir said: “This year, let’s imagine instead what we can achieve if we match the ambition of the British people.
“You can’t overstate how much a short-term mindset dominates Westminster, and, from there, how it infects all the institutions which try, and fail, to run Britain from the centre.”
“I call it sticking plaster politics,” he said.
“The long-term cure, that always eludes us.”
Sir Keir accused the Prime Minister of being in denial about the problems facing the country, as he took aim at the five pledges Mr Sunak set out on Wednesday.
“More promises, more platitudes. No ambition to take us forward. No sense of what the country needs. Thirteen years of nothing but sticking plaster politics.”