Keir Starmer commits to eliminating NHS waiting lists if he becomes prime minister

Sir Keir Starmer is committed to eliminating the record waiting list for NHS treatment if he becomes the next prime minister, he confirmed in an interview with ITV News.

The Labour leader told Political Editor Robert Peston his "ambition" is to clear the list, which currently stands at 7.7 million people, in the first term of a government under his rule.

"That's our ambition," Sir Keir said when asked directly.

"Two million a year, that's a huge ambition. 40,000 a week. The money's there, the plan is there, and we need to drive those waiting lists down."

Sir Keir Starmer tells ITV News it's his 'ambition' in a first term as prime minister to eliminate the record-long wait for routine treatment on the NHS

The Labour leader spoke to ITV News on the final day of the annual conference in Liverpool, which started on a high for the party after a "seismic" by-election victory in Rutherglen and Hamilton West.

When asked what he thought of Rishi Sunak's promise to deliver "change" at last week's Conservative Conference, Sir Keir said: "What I did agree with, is when he said we need change.

"He's absolutely right. But he can't be the change. He's responsible for the decisions that he now claims are so awful that we've got to cancel them all."

This year's Labour conference, situated on Liverpool's historic waterfront, had been relatively quiet until the leader's keynote speech on Tuesday.

Moments after walking out to 'Lionheart' by Joel Corry and Tom Grennan, Sir Keir's big moment was loudly interrupted by a protestor who stormed onto the stage behind him and showered him in glitter.

The demonstrator, representing a group that prides itself on its use of "civil disobedience" to call for electoral reform, was dragged kicking and screaming off the stage, leaving Sir Keir to respond: "If he thinks that bothers me, he doesn't know me."

But despite Labour capitalising on the incident and advertising 'Sparkle with Starmer' t-shirts, serious questions have been asked about the security operation surrounding the man who, if the polls are to be believed, could become the next prime minister.

"I glanced at Vic, my wife, who was in the front row as I was rolling my sleeves up in my determination to get on with the speech," Sir Keir told Peston.

"But my mindset was, we've waited four years to get to the position where we can face the country and make our case to the country, by changing our party, by showing that the Tories and SNP aren't fit to govern, and this was very important for me and the Labour Party, and I wasn't going to be put off by some idiot coming onto the stage."

On his wife Victoria, Sir Keir said: "She knew I was going to get on with that speech, she knows me very well."

'I wasn't going to be put off by some idiot coming onto the stage', Sir Keir tells ITV News, after his keynote conference speech was disrupted by a protester

The Labour leader also told ITV News how Middle Eastern governments need to call out Hamas for what he described as "shocking acts of coldblooded murder" in Israel.

"Everybody in a position of responsibility should condemn Hamas in the strongest terms for what has happened, and I particularly direct that at responsible states in the Middle East," he said.

Sir Keir, whose wife Lady Victoria is Jewish, also spoke of their anxiety about their extended family members who still live in Israel.

He finished by remarking on the importance of cross-party unity when responding to the crisis: "I think it is important that both the government and actually the opposition stand together. That's what we've done on Ukraine and I think that's what we should do on Israel."

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