More money, more police, more homes: Keir Starmer's six 'milestones' for change
The prime minister today set out six targets as part of his "plan for change", ITV News' Political Editor Robert Peston reports
Britain's public services are "broken, but not beyond repair", Sir Keir Starmer insisted on Thursday as he set out his government's "plan for change".
Speaking five months to the day since he took to office, the PM set out six "milestones" he hopes to achieve by the end of Parliament, acknowledging it will be "an almighty challenge" to hit the targets and will require "trade-offs".
The targets focus on raising living standards, rebuilding Britain, ending hospital backlogs, putting more police on the beat, giving children the best start in life and securing home-grown energy.
But ahead of his speech, Starmer faced criticism for failing to include a migration target in these crucial plans.
Others have been left scratching their heads as to why he is setting out these "milestones" - some of which had already been announced - and several months into the job.
The speech also comes after the public already heard his six "first steps" for change in the summer and his five "missions" early last year.
Starmer sets out the six 'milestones' his government plans to hit before the next election
Conservative Leader Kemi Badenoch claimed the speech is an “emergency reset” after a challenging five months in office for Labour, while Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said Starmer was “simply moving the goalposts”.
Speaking from Pinewood Studios, where Star Wars was filmed, Starmer said: "Some will say we've heard these missions before. Where's the rabbit out the hat? In Westminster they always say that.
"But I make no apologies for sticking to our plan."
He said the plan “doubles down on our national missions” which have “remained robust” since they were first published nearly two years ago.
“A strategy that will give the government and the nation, whether in calm or choppy waters, the stabilising certainty of the clear destination,” he said.
What are the milestones?
More disposable household income
The first milestone to reach is “higher living standards in every region of the country”, Starmer said, adding that the UK was aiming for the “highest sustained growth in the G7, so working people have more money in their pocket”.
ITV News' Political Editor Robert Peston pressed the prime minister on why he has not set a numerical target for increasing living standards, pointing out that the public will have no metric on how to judge his progress.
"One of the worst failures of the last government was that living standards went down," Starmer replied, dodging the question. "People were actually worse off at the end of the government than they were at the beginning of the government. That's unforgivable.
"And that's what we want to turn around to make sure people feel they're better off... Stabilising the economy was an essential first step because until you stabilise the economy, you can't build anything on that."
1.5 million new homes
He pledged to rebuild Britain with 1.5 million new homes, "so the security I enjoyed when I was growing the base camp aspiration of home ownership doesn't move further and further away from working class families like mine".
"It is ambitious, it's huge. This hasn't been done for a very decades and decades but we're going to do it. We're going to go for it," he insisted.
Starmer also set out a target of 150 new major infrastructure projects.
Cut to NHS waiting lists
A pledge to cut NHS waiting lists to 18 weeks between referral and treatment, was also one of the key milestones.
"A symbol of the NHS back on its feet, facing the future. Dignity and care restored to millions," he added.
Sir Ed Davey said it "was worrying to see no clear plan in these targets to make sure people can see a GP when they need to".
“Pledging to bring down waiting lists while neglecting GP services is like robbing Peter to pay Paul," he said.
“Millions are struggling to get through to their GP or having to wait weeks for an appointment, which just piles more pressure on our hospitals while people go without the care they need.”
An extra 13,000 police officers
The prime minister pledged to put “more police on the beat, stamping out anti-social behaviour in every community”.
Labour had already pledged to put in place 13,000 police officers, PCSOs and special constables by the next election, which would bring the total police workforce to a level above its 2010 peak.
Police numbers fell following the 2010 election, before rising again after 2019 as the previous government pledged to recruit 20,000 police officers.
While the number of officers reached record levels, the number of PCSOs and special constables continued to decline.
But the Conservatives said only a third of the 13,000 new recruits would be full police officers, while the £100 million would not cover what was needed to pay for them, leading to cuts elsewhere.
Giving children the best start
His fourth milestone is to give every child the “best start in life” with a record number of five-year-olds entering school “ready to learn”.
He said one in three children are not ready for school at the age of five, while kids are starting reception unable to read, insisting that he is "absolutely committed to driving down and dealing with child poverty".
Energy
The government has promised clean power by 2030, “so never again can a tyrant like Putin attack the living standards of working people”.
Labour’s manifesto at the election promised “zero-carbon” electricity by the same date.
He denied watering down his green energy commitment after the “milestone” set a target of 95% clean power by 2030.
Starmer said: “The clean energy pledge is today exactly what it was in the election; that has always been central to our mission.”
He added: “The mission hasn’t changed from the day I launched it nearly two years ago. In terms of where we need to get to on clean energy by 2030, it’s exactly the same as it always was.
“There’s always going to be a mix but that is the pledge that we made two years ago. That is the mission and we’ve not changed it today. “
The Tories said Starmer's plan shows the government is feeling "pretty unstable".
In a post on X, Badenoch said the PM had also offered “nothing concrete on immigration – because Labour have no plan to control numbers”.
She also claimed the government’s “costly plans for energy decarbonisation” had been “watered-down”, and “fewer than a third of Labour’s 13,000 neighbourhood police are actually new police officers”.
Badenoch added: “This relaunch can’t hide the reality of a Government that doesn’t know what it is doing.”
Reform UK also criticised the prime minister for not including "immigration or any measurable targets to hold him to on immigration".
“After freezing pensioners, hiking taxes and risking the future of British farming, the damage has already been done," a spokesperson said.
“We were promised growth and change, instead we have had sleaze, dishonesty and more of the same that the Tories gave us. Britain needs Reform.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper earlier insisted the government is "dedicated to commitments to making sure we can bring legal and illegal migration down" but defended the decision to not place a figure on it.
She said: "We have seen the net migration figures quadrupled under the Conservatives particularly the big increase in overseas recruitment, while training at home was being cut, and it's clear we've got this real persistent problem with criminal gangs that have been allowed to take hold along the Channel...
"We're determined to go after the criminal gangs and that's also part of the plan for change today."
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