Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer calls need for warm banks 'serious and tragic'
Watch ITV News West Country reporter Max Walsh's full interview with Sir Kier Starmer
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called the need for warm banks in the West Country 'serious and tragic' during a visit to Swindon.
The leader of the opposition said the creation of 14 of these sites in Trowbridge, which are designed to allow people to stay warm for free this winter, was "powerful evidence of the failure of this government".
He then went on to pay tribute to those working in food and warm banks but said "we shouldn't need that in 21st Century Britain".
The Labour leader was in Swindon with Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves to meet women entrepreneurs in a bid to show the party's support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) today (18 November).
The Wiltshire town is currently represented by two Conservative MPs, and has not voted for Labour representatives in Westminster since 2010.
Asked what he is doing to appeal to voters in Swindon, Sir Keir Starmer insisted the Labour Party is focussed on creating new jobs in the town, following the closure of its Honda plant last year.
He said: "I think it's obvious to everybody that the Labour Party has changed.
"We are absolutely focussed on the voters, we're absolutely pro-business, we're lockstep with NATO, so we've got a changed Labour Party.
"We've got answers to the challenges of the future because here in Swindon, the question will be, 'what's the next generation of jobs?' We know that Honda have left, that's obviously been a big impact, but we do know, talking to entrepreneurs here in Swindon, there's great potential.
"But everybody in Swindon says to me, 'we want a government that actually matches our ambition', and that's why you need a plan for growth, so that we can say, 'for the future, within this number of years, we want these to be the jobs that are going to be in and around Swindon'."
The Labour leader also spoke about his party's plans to remove non-domiciled status, which allows individuals living in the UK to claim on their tax return that their permanent home is abroad.
But questioned if 'non-dom status' is a priority for those in Swindon, Sir Keir insisted the policy would bring an extra '£3bn plus' in tax.
That money could be used "to pay for thousands of staff to come into the NHS," he said.
"I'm sure if you go out in Swindon and say to anybody, 'do you think there should be more staff in the NHS?', their answer will be 'yes'", he added.
The Labour leader said this would also be popular in Swindon because "everybody knows the NHS is on its knees".
On the train strikes that have repeatedly left Devon and Cornwall cut off from much of the southwest, he said he supported workers who chose industrial action.
"They are working people who are struggling to pay their bills," he said and urged the government to negotiate with unions.
But Sir Keir Starmer said there needs to be a plan to "stabilise and build our economy" and rejected plans set out in the Government's Autumn Budget on Thursday (17 November).
But speaking to ITV News earlier this morning, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt defended the fiscal statement, saying the government is facing an "international crisis" and that everyone must recognise the next few years will be a "very difficult period".
He added the government's fiscal plan will protect "our key public services, like the NHS, the social care system, our schools" but will also "do more", such as increasing the national living wage and benefits, while maintaining the triple lock on pensions.
The chancellor also said that "to be British is to think of people who are going through difficult times".
"We take a lot of measures to help people through a difficult patch and that's what I announced yesterday", he concluded.
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