Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer pledges to slash red tape to build new hospitals and energy schemes
Watch our political correspondent Emma Hutchinson's interview with the Labour leader
Labour would slash red tape to help build new hospitals and work with communities to make sure they benefit from nearby green energy schemes, party leader Sir Keir Starmer has told ITV News.
He made the pledge during a visit to Kettering Buccleuch Academy where he also took part in a Q&A session with students.
Speaking to ITV News Anglia after the event, he said it was time to "turn the page and rebuild the country with Labour".
That rebuilding would start with vital infrastructure projects, he said, as he reiterated that Labour would carry on the hospital rebuilding programme.
Earlier this month Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves said a Labour government would commit to the long-awaited upgrade plan to deliver 40 new hospitals across the country originally announced under former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Sir Keir said: "We do need to streamline planning because it takes far too long to get things done.
"When it comes to hospitals I think everybody wants to see more progress on hospitals to make sure that we’ve got the facilities we need."
And he promised that communities would financially benefit from green energy schemes.
"On infrastructure, [and] renewable energy we need to work with communities. But we do need to move more quickly, and there needs to be a dividend for communities, so if there are projects in your locality that should have an impact on lowering your bills."
It is a key plank of the party's manifesto. If it wins to keys to number 10, Labour says it will create a government-owned company called Great British Energy.
The manifesto says GB Energy "will partner with industry and trade unions to deliver clean power by co-investing in leading technologies; will help support capital-intensive projects; and will deploy local energy production to benefit communities across the country".
Sir Keir also promised to ensure that local government was properly funded. For voters in Northamptonshire this will have special resonance after their former county council went bust.
"We have to turn things around for local government because many voters will be worried about what happens if their council doesn’t have enough money and public services aren’t what they should be," he said.
"It’s going to be hard because I haven’t got a magic wand that I can wave to fix everything, but we can make a start I think if we change the budget settlements for councils from one year to three years - that will make a big difference to how the money can be used."
He also pledged to end no-fault evictions, which he said put extra burdens on cash-strapped local authorities.
"When people are evicted for no fault of their own, quite often they have to be supported by local authorities so that’s a further burden on them," he explained.
His comments echo calls by the Local Government Association.
It has called for all parties to commit to a "significant and sustained increase in funding for councils in the next Spending Review, alongside multi-year funding settlements and plans to reform the local government finance system”.
And Sir Keir promised to hit the ground running from day one.
"It is an election for change," he told ITV News Anglia. "We have had 14 years now of the Tories; we’ve had chaos, we’ve had division, we’ve had failure. This election is the chance to turn the page on that.
"On day one in government, if we are privileged to be elected to serve the country, we will roll up our sleeves and get on with the first step.
"The image will be of a government dedicated to service, sleeves rolled up... There is a lot to do, the country has got a lot of challenges after 14 years of the Tories."
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