Starmer warns of a hard journey ahead but says there's 'light at the end of the tunnel'

Sir Keir Starmer will assure the country there is “light at the end of this tunnel”, but people must first join a “shared struggle” through tough short-term pressures.

In his first Labour Party conference speech as prime minister, Starmer will say he wants to “build a new Britain”.

But he will also warn there are no easy answers and he could not offer “false hope” about the challenges ahead.

Starmer will attempt to set out his positive vision of “national renewal” but the speech comes against a backdrop of anger within the Labour movement about the decision to means-test winter fuel payments, stripping them from millions of pensioners.

That decision, along with infighting behind the scenes in No 10 and rows over donations to Starmer and other senior Labour figures, has contributed to a party conference with a more subdued mood than might have been expected after July’s election landslide.

The prime minister will use his speech to acknowledge that many voters were motivated by despair at the Tories and warn his party that it needs to deliver a “decisive” government without putting a heavy tax burden on workers, which will mean reforming public services.

He will say: “I know this country is exhausted by and with politics. I know that the cost-of-living crisis drew a veil over the joy and wonder in our lives and that people want respite and relief, and may even have voted Labour for that reason.

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“Our project has not and never will change. I changed the Labour Party to restore it to the service of working people. And that is exactly what we will do for Britain.

“But I will not do it with easy answers. I will not do it with false hope.”

In a sign that he will be prepared to push ahead with reforms to the economy and public services despite the prospect of resistance, Starmer will say: “I have to warn you, working people do want more decisive government.

“They do want us to rebuild our public services and they do want that to lead to more control in their lives.

“But their pockets are not deep – not at all. So we have to be a great reforming government.”

The opening weeks of Labour’s government have been characterised by a gloomy outlook on the public finances, with the claimed £22 billion “black hole” left by the Tories blamed for the decision to squeeze winter fuel payments.

But the prime minister will attempt to set out his end goal of creating “a Britain built to last, built with respect and built with pride”.

He will say: “The politics of national renewal are collective. They involve a shared struggle.

“A project that says, to everyone, this will be tough in the short term, but in the long term – it’s the right thing to do for our country. And we all benefit from that.”

Starmer will say the short-term pain will bring about the longer-term benefits more quickly.

He will say: “The truth is that if we take tough long-term decisions now, if we stick to the driving purpose behind everything we do: higher economic growth – so living standards rise in every community; our NHS facing the future – waiting lists at your hospital down; safer streets in your community; stronger borders; more opportunities for your children; clean British energy powering your home; making our country more secure… then that light at the end of this tunnel, that Britain that belongs to you, we get there much more quickly.”

The PM will tell activists in Liverpool that “it will be hard” because “it’s not just that financial black hole, the £22 billion of unfunded spending commitments, concealed from our country by the Tories, it’s not just the societal black hole – our decimated public services leaving communities held together by little more than good will – it’s also the political black hole”.

“Just because we all want low taxes and good public services does not mean that the iron law of properly funding policies can be ignored.

“We have seen the damage that does, and I will not let that happen again. I will not let Tory economic recklessness hold back the working people of this country.”

Richard Fuller, Conservative Party Chairman, said: “Labour have only been in office for 81 days, but so far they have already shown the only interests they are serving are their own.

“From picking the pockets of pensioners to fund their union paymasters' pay-rises, to their litany of ex Labour staffer appointments in the civil service, Starmer's government are clearly putting themselves first, the Labour Party second, and the country last.

“Rather than seeking national renewal, Starmer’s political decisions risk running the country into the ground.”

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