\n<\/p>\n
Keir Starmer will warn the Labour party that it is in a \u201cfight for the soul of the nation\u201d and that history will not forgive his government if it fails to confront and defeat Reform UK and the populist right.<\/p>\n
Speaking to the Guardian ahead of a vital conference for his leadership, he said he would tell disgruntled party members that now was \u201cnot the time for introspection\u201d and infighting.<\/p>\n
His remarks are likely be seen as a veiled dig at Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, who has been touted by some as a potential successor.<\/p>\n
The prime minister heads to Liverpool after a rocky few weeks marked by missteps and departures, and with Labour lagging 10 points behind Reform in the polls.<\/p>\n
In his interview, Starmer urged his party to recognise the scale of the challenge ahead.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have to say to all of those attending conference, this is a real opportunity for us to make our argument about patriotic national renewal, to own patriotism, to define it for what it is,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHistory will not forgive us if we do not use every ounce of our energy to fight Reform. There is an enemy. There is a project which is detrimental to our country. It actually goes against the grain of our history. It\u2019s right there in plain sight in front of us. We have to win this battle.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Starmer\u2019s focus will be on setting out his own vision for renewing the country, he will also urge Labour not to be distracted by speculation over his grip on power.<\/p>\n
Burnham \u2013 who would need a Westminster seat \u2013 is seen by a number of Labour MPs as someone who could provide a more robust challenge to Reform, as well as a change in economic strategy.<\/p>\n
With Starmer\u2019s premiership under scrutiny, Burnham said this week he had been privately encouraged to challenge the prime minister.<\/p>\n
But Starmer said he was determined to reclaim patriotism from Reform and renew the country.<\/p>\n
He also insisted he would remain in office and lead Labour into the next election. \u201cYes, and it will be an election about this very argument,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will also be saying to the party, this is no time for introspection. You know what conference is like, thousands of people, there\u2019s great energy, and there\u2019s always the usual jostling for who\u2019s up, who\u2019s down, all the rest of it. This is much bigger than that. This goes to the heart of who we are as a country.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do not have time for introspection. We have to unite and fight … we cannot miss this opportunity to set out our stall and take the fight to Reform.\u201d<\/p>\n
Starmer said he would \u201cconfront Reform, not ape Reform\u201d, after concerns inside his party that Downing Street was pitching to the right on issues including immigration to challenge Nigel Farage.<\/p>\n
He singled out the Reform leader\u2019s attack on the scientific establishment this week, during which Farage said he would never \u201cside with\u201d medical experts, as an example of why the government had to defend key institutions.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, we do have to, and it\u2019s really important, because once we lose the anchor of thinking that truth matters we are on a very, very slippery slope. What Nigel Farage has said about science recently needs to be absolutely shown to be what it is, which is lies feeding off a sense of disaffection.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also criticised Jeremy Corbyn, his leftwing predecessor as leader who he ousted from the party, claiming the veteran MP would \u201cnot get behind the fight, because he\u2019s into the politics of grievance on the left\u201d as much as Farage was on the right.<\/p>\n
With the budget looming large over the party conference, and tax rises looking ever more likely, Starmer admitted it was going to take time to turn the economy around. \u201cThere are no easy decisions. But we mustn\u2019t move away from our fiscal rules,\u201d he said, a direct retort to those advocating more borrowing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThree years ago this week, Liz Truss tried an experiment of moving away from fiscal rules \u2013 in her case to do tax cuts. We all know what the result of that was. The same will be true for spending and borrowing outside the fiscal rules. So we have to be really clear about that.\u201d<\/p>\n
He did not rule out increasing taxes but said the government would \u201cset out our case\u201d for any changes at the budget. The Treasury is expected to receive figures from the budget watchdog next week.<\/p>\n
However, he gave his clearest indication yet that he was planning to lift the two-child benefit cap. \u201cWe\u2019re going to bring down child poverty. That is the clear intent of this government. It\u2019s my clear personal intent. I\u2019m very proud that the last Labour government did so obviously, we\u2019ve got a taskforce which will report, but we will be taking measures to bring down child poverty.\u201d<\/p>\n
The prime minister threw his weight behind his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, who has faced intense criticism from within the Labour party, as well as attacks from the Conservatives. \u201cOf course. But next week is not about who\u2019s up, who\u2019s down, who\u2019s saying this about somebody else,\u201d Starmer said.<\/p>\n
The Electoral Commission said on Friday McSweeney would not face another investigation into undeclared donations to the Labour Together thinktank after it found \u201cno evidence\u201d of any other potential offences.<\/p>\n
At a progressive governance conference in London on Friday, Rachel Reeves also underlined the economic challenge ahead. \u201cI\u2019m chancellor in the world that we are in, not in the world that we may wish it to be,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn those tough times, it\u2019s even more important that we have somebody who\u2019s got a grip, has a plan, knows what they\u2019re doing, and is not willing to be dragged off course by every siren call.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the same event, Starmer confirmed that a new digital ID card would be introduced by 2029 that would be mandatory for people working in the UK. Darren Jones, spearheading the policy in No 10, said it could form \u201cthe bedrock of the modern state\u201d, an indication that it could have much wider uses in future, perhaps including the benefits system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Keir Starmer will warn the Labour party that it is in a \u201cfight for the soul of the nation\u201d and that history will not forgive his government if it fails to confront and defeat Reform UK and the populist right. Speaking to the Guardian ahead of a vital conference for his leadership, he said he<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24087,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[820,2171,1346,134,1055,838,6814,1347,1952],"class_list":{"0":"post-24086","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics","8":"tag-battle","9":"tag-fight","10":"tag-keir","11":"tag-labour","12":"tag-nation","13":"tag-reform","14":"tag-soul","15":"tag-starmer","16":"tag-warn"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24086\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}