Starmer: Budget will boost living standards, revive NHS and ‘rebuild Britain’

The Budget will focus on boosting living standards, reviving the NHS and “rebuilding Britain”, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said as he signalled investment in schools, housing and transport.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves will deliver her first Budget on October 30 following gloomy warnings about the tough decisions and tax rises needed to deal with the economic legacy left by the Tories.

But Sir Keir indicated that the focus of the financial statement will be on “making people better off”.

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The prime minister said his three priorities were “driving up living standards – making sure people feel better off, making sure our NHS is back on its feet and fit for the future, and that we’re rebuilding the country, particularly what we’re doing on housing”.

He said difficult choices such as stripping winter fuel payments from millions of pensioners and grim warnings about the state of the NHS and prisons had been necessary.

He told BBC’s Newscast: “I am convinced that by running towards those problems and tackling them, we will make for a better future rather than painting over them.”

“It’s going to be on the health service and making sure we’re putting it back on its feet, making sure that we’re rebuilding Britain, we’re getting the growth that we need in, and we made really important manifesto commitments on things like waiting lists.”

Ahead of Monday’s international investment summit, Sir Keir said reassuring the markets about the government’s commitment to economic stability was essential for generating growth.

“So in the Budget, we are taking difficult decisions. Winter fuel, for example, was a difficult decision, but we’re doing it to provide the economic stability that we need and the clarity of mission,” he said.

In interviews with the BBC and The Guardian, he signalled that the Budget would see significant levels of government investment across the country.

He told The Guardian: “While other countries have powered ahead, building big and taking advantage of new technology, Britain has been left to make do with their out-of-date ideas and out-of-date service.”

The prime minister said it was “common sense to invest and build”.“If working people can’t afford a decent home, they can’t build good lives and careers,” he said.

“When people can’t get to work because public transport is poor, productivity suffers. If schools are crumbling over our children’s heads, how can we expect them to learn the skills they need?

“And NHS waiting lists are through the roof because there has been nowhere near enough investment in hospitals and the technology that could make treatment more efficient and more effective.”

Saturday marks the 100th day of Sir Keir’s premiership and he acknowledged it had not gone smoothly.“You get these days and weeks when things are choppy, there’s no getting around that,” he told the BBC. “That is in the nature of government.”But he insisted he would not be knocked off course.“You’re going to get side winds all the time. If you’re not going to get knocked off course, you’ve got to know where we’re headed,” he told The Guardian.

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