Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party Keir Starmer’s speech in Central London (11 May)

Thank you very much and thank you Jade. They were such powerful words, thank you for that introduction.

The election results last week were tough, very tough.  We lost some brilliant Labour representatives. That hurts and it should hurt. I get it, I feel it, and I take responsibility.

But it’s not just about taking responsibility for the results. It’s about taking responsibility to explain how as a political and electoral force, we will be better and do better in the months and years ahead.

Because we are not just facing dangerous times but dangerous opponents. Very dangerous opponents.

This hurts – not just because Labour has done badly. But because if we don’t get this right. Our country will go down a very dark path.

So just as I take responsibility for the results. I also take responsibility for delivering the change we promised. For a stronger and fairer Britain that we must build. I take responsibility for navigating us through a world that is more dangerous than at any time in my life. And I take responsibility for not walking away. Not plunging our country into chaos, as the Tories did time and again. Chaos that did lasting damage to this country. A Labour government would never be forgiven for inflicting that on our country again.

I know that people are frustrated by the state of Britain. Frustrated by politics. And some people – frustrated with me. I know I have my doubters. And I know I need to prove them wrong.  And I will. 

So let me start on a personal note. Like every prime minister I’ve learned a lot in the first two years in the job. In terms of the policy challenges that our country faces – incremental change won’t cut it. On growth, defence, Europe, energy, we need a bigger response than we anticipated in 2024. 

Because these are not ordinary times. And this is a political challenge just as much as it’s a policy challenge.

Delivery is of course essential. But it’s not sufficient on its own to address the frustration that voters feel.

We’re battling Reform and the Greens. But at a deeper level we are battling the despair on which they prey. Despair that they exploit and amplify.

And so analysis matters but argument matters more. Evidence matters but so too does emotion. Stories beat spreadsheets. People need hope.

So we will face up to the big challenges. And we will make the big arguments – the Labour case. That only Labour values and Labour policies can ensure our country not only weathers these storms, but emerges stronger and fairer.

And the Labour case that neither Nigel Farage nor Zack Polanski offers our country the serious progressive leadership these times demand.

Of course, like every government we’ve made mistakes. But we got the big political choices right. 

I mean – if we had listened to the advice of other parties, right now – we would be stuck in a stand-off with Iran. Having been dragged into a war that is not in our interest. And I will never do that.

We invested in our public services, in people, in the pride of Britain’s communities.

Difficult decisions funded that.

But now – NHS waiting times are coming down, child poverty is coming down, immigration is coming down, and we are rebuilding from the ground up. They were the right calls.

And most of all – we stabilised the economy. The fundamentals are sound – and that matters. Because it puts us in a much better place to come out of the conflict in Iran, stronger and fairer. And for living standards to improve after two decades of stagnation.

But that’s not enough. Clearly. 

No, for the British people, tired – of a status quo that has failed them, change cannot come quickly enough. And truth be told, I’m not sure that they believe that we care.  I’m not sure they believe that we see their lives. And that’s tough to say.

When you come from a working-class background, like me – it’s hard to hear that. Because I do know what it’s like to struggle and to strive.

But what I take from it is that I have spent too much time talking about what I am doing for working people and not enough time talking about why or who I stand for.

Because I can see how hard life has been during these decades of crisis. I can see that very clearly.

My late brother, Nick spent all his adult life going from one job to the next. The status quo did not work for him.

My sister is a carer working long hours on low pay. Year after year after year. She didn’t even get sick pay in the pandemic. The status quo did not work for her.

For too long we’ve ignored people like that. And there are millions of people in that boat. Millions of people who don’t get the dignity. The respect. The chance that they deserve, to go as far as their talent and effort should take them. Millions of people held back because the status quo in this country does not work for them.

I am fighting for them. We are fighting for them. I am their Prime Minister and this is their Government.

Because I know whose side I am on. I’m on the side of working people, just like my sister. People who work harder and harder but who worry about the cost of living. They’re not asking for the world, they just want to do the best for their kids. They want their town centres, the places they care about – to thrive. Their public services to work.

And people in power to see their problems. 

And right now they’re worried sick. They turn on the TV – they see bombs falling. Go to the petrol station – see prices rising. And they think – how is happening to us again? 

They say how can I be paying the price for a war thousands of miles away that I don’t support, that Britain isn’t involved in.

And it’s not a new feeling – is it? For two decades our country’s been buffeted by crisis after crisis. The 2008 financial crash, the Tory austerity that followed it, Brexit, Covid, the Ukraine War. On and on it goes.

And the response – is always the same… A desperate attempt to get back to the status quo… A status quo that failed working people, time and again. 

Our response this time must be different – a complete break. We must make this country stronger. Take control of our economic security, our energy security, our defence security.

And we must make this country fairer. Strength through fairness, that is my compass in this world. It is a core Labour argument.

And in the coming days, you will see those values writ large in the King’s Speech. 

And you will see hope, urgency, and exactly whose side we are on reflected in everything we say and everything we do.

Let me give you three examples today… 

Starting with British Steel.

Because what we did in Scunthorpe last year, is one of the proudest things we have done in Government. That plant was hours away from closure, and that is thousands of jobs – gone. An entire region – decimated. Britain’s security – exposed. And so we acted.

Parliament was in recess but it didn’t matter. As a united Labour Party, we passed emergency legislation. And we took control. We must bring that same urgency to everything now. Starting, appropriately enough, with Scunthorpe.

Because steel is the ultimate sovereign capability. Strong nations, in a world like this, need to make steel.  That’s why we’re backing steel in Port Talbot and across the UK.

But in Scunthorpe, we’ve been negotiating with the current owner. A commercial sale has not been possible.  And a public interest test could now be met. So I can announce that legislation will be brought forward this week to give the Government powers – subject to that public interest test. To take full national ownership of British Steel, public ownership in the public interest. Urgent Government on the side of working people. Making Britain Stronger with the hope of industrial renewal.

That is a Labour choice.

Second example – Europe.

And I’m sorry – but I need to take a bit of a detour on this. Because I want to remind you what Nigel Farage said about Brexit. He said it would make us richer. Wrong – it made us poorer. He said it would reduce migration. Wrong – migration went through the roof. He said it would make us more secure. Wrong again – it made us weaker. He took Britain for a ride – and unlike the Tories, actually who at least had to face up to it he just fled the scene.

And now, he’ll talk about almost anything other than the consequences of the one policy he actually delivered. Because he’s not just a grifter, he is a chancer.

So – at the next EU summit I will set a new direction for Britain. The last government was defined by breaking our relationship with Europe. This Labour Government will be defined by rebuilding our relationship with Europe. By putting Britain at the heart of Europe. Because standing shoulder to shoulder, with the countries that most share our interests, our values and our enemies, that is the right choice for Britain.

That is the Labour choice.

And for our young people also something more. Because Brexit snatched away their ability to work, to study, and to live easily in Europe. That’s why I am proud we restored the Erasmus scheme. But I want to go further. I want to make a better offer for our young people restore that hope and that freedom, that sense of possibility.

And so I want an ambitious Youth Experience scheme to be at the heart of our new arrangement with the EU. So that our young people can work, study and live in Europe.

A symbol of a stronger relationship and a fairer future with our closest allies.

That is the Labour choice. 

And third – the greatest hope…

The hope every parent has of a better future for their children, I want parents to feel that this is shared by their Government.

Now – my parents… Don’t worry – I’m not going there! But, they didn’t have a lot of money.  And my Mum was seriously ill for most of her life. But when they were in their later years reflecting on what gave their life meaning, I could see that, as well as their hope in us, their kids, what comforted them was the idea that they had contributed to a Britain that was getting better for young people. That kids now had better opportunities than they did.

And so I have always been driven by the idea that every child should go as far as their talent or effort takes them. It’s a beautiful idea shared – widely across this country.

We tell ourselves stories about it – don’t we? Stories not unlike mine about the working-class kids who do make it.  And I don’t blame people for telling those stories. It’s important to tell those stories. But it’s not everyone – is it?

So when I say every child should have the opportunity to go as far as their talent or effort takes them, I mean every child. I mean the kids who are growing up in poverty. The kids who have special educational needs. The kids who can’t get a job, and the kids who are ignored, frankly.

Because society often only puts those who go to university on a pedestal. We don’t see anything else as success. And that’s wrong – deeply wrong.

So we will go much further on our investment in apprenticeships, in technical excellence colleges, in special educational needs.

We will make sure every young person struggling to find work will get a guaranteed offer of a job, training or a work placement. And we will go much further with our pride in place programme, back the millions of people who give their time and effort to young people in their community. We will back them, not just with money, but with power.

And we will make sure that kids whose talent lies with their hands, kids who go to college, kids ignored by the status quo because politicians’ kids don’t go there… They will finally get the respect they deserve in a stronger, fairer Britain.

That is the Labour choice.

These are just a few examples. But they show the urgency and hope in our direction. They show the Labour values we will be guided by. And they show, frankly the lessons that we will learn.

Now – other parties will draw different lessons. In fact – they already are.  They want more grievance politics. More division. More pointing at Britain’s problems. Looking, not for solutions, but for someone to blame.

Now that’s fine if it’s me, if it’s politicians – that’s the job. But increasingly – it’s not. It’s other people in this country. And I don’t think that’s British. That is not the decency and respect we are known for.  But it’s here that politics is with us now…

And you’ll see it again on Saturday at a march designed to confront and intimidate this diverse city and this diverse country. That is why this Government will block far right agitators from travelling into Britain for that event. Because we will not allow people to come to the UK, threaten our communities, and spread hate on our streets.

This is nothing less than a battle for the soul of our nation.  And I want to be crystal clear about how we win it. Because we cannot win as a weaker version of Reform or the Greens. We can only win as a stronger version of Labour. A mainstream party of power, not protest.

But I also want to be crystal clear on this, because I will never stop fighting for the decent, respectful, and diverse country that I love. And I will never give up on the hope we can unlock in this country…

The hope of renters for security in their home, of workers for fairness at work, of public services – freed from austerity. The hope of European solidarity, of community pride, of the people who paint over the graffiti that is racist.

A country taking control of its future. Our spirit – unchanged. Our resolve – unbroken.

The hope of a country that can and will become a stronger, fairer Britain.

That is the hope I am fighting for, that is the hope we are fighting for, that is the Labour choice.

Thank you.

Ends