Keir Starmer promises “growth everywhere” to get Britain’s future back

Labour Leader Keir Starmer has said a government led by him would have a laser-like focus on growing the economy in every part of the country.

This will make up a core part of Labour’s mission to improve growth for higher living standards.

Speaking on Sunday morning ahead of Labour Conference in Liverpool, Keir Starmer said: “We want growth across the whole of the country, not just growth in London and the south east, with ‘redistribution’ as a one-word plan for the rest of the country: growth everywhere.

“In addition to businesses, we’ve been talking to our local mayors about economic hubs and how we drive this across the whole of the United Kingdom.”

Part of the plan to increase growth across the country, which will be unveiled in greater detail this week, will see existing FE colleges transformed into new specialist ‘Technical Excellence Colleges’. The proposals will give communities the chance to fit skills training to the needs of the local economy and empower business to play a bigger role in the skills revolution. 

With Labour’s plans, local government will work hand-in-hand with local businesses and employers to align skills and training provision with local need and real job opportunities. 

‘Technical Excellence Colleges’ will have additional investment from local businesses and improved links to local universities. Bids will be assessed by Skills England to make sure local skills plans meet national strategic priorities to grow the economy and reskill people in the jobs of the future. 

The plans will unlock opportunity for people right across Britain and meet the demands of businesses who have been calling for improved skills training.

Labour will also cut waiting times, and get the NHS doing more out of hours work to get patients treated faster.

The plan will enable the NHS to provide an extra 2 million operations, scans, and appointments in the first year. Labour is pledging to invest an extra £1.1 billion to provide NHS staff overtime to work evening and weekend shifts, so appointments and procedures can be carried out. 

Labour’s plan will see neighbouring hospitals pooling their staff and using shared waiting lists, so they are working more efficiently together and making the best use of available capacity. Patients will be given the choice to travel to a nearby hospital to get treated on an evening or weekend, rather than wait longer. 

The plan to get the NHS working out of hours to clear waiting lists follows the announcement of Labour’s Fit For The Future Fund, which would provide enough investment to double the number of CT and MRI scanners in the NHS over the course of a Parliament

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