Britain can become a country of pride, wealth and stability if the public accepts a series of difficult “trade-offs”, rejects nimbyism and sees through the Conservatives’ populist “lies”, Keir Starmer has said.
In his first Labour conference speech as prime minister, he urged the public to keep faith amid tough and sometimes unpopular choices made by the government, telling them he understood their impatience for real change.
Those difficult decisions include building new prisons so that justice could be served, overground pylons to provide cheaper electricity, and accepting that a serious system to tackle irregular migration would also include accepting some asylum seekers.
Starmer attempted to draw a line under a week of bruising rows over donations, telling delegates he would not be distracted by noisy criticism of his government which he regarded as “mere glitter on a shirt cuff”, a reference to a protest during last year’s speech.
The prime minister left the gathering in Liverpool early to travel to New York on Tuesday for the UN general assembly, with senior aides pressing for meetings with the US presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
But aides said that he had now started to address concerns, some of them internal, that he had been too gloomy since taking office while trying to “level with” the public about the economic inheritance.
They believe that he is now beginning to explain why the tough choices in front of him – including tax rises and public spending cuts, which are expected in next month’s budget – will be worth it.
“People ask us now, as we seek patience in pursuit of national renewal: ‘What will we get to show for it?’ I understand that. After all, what they are used to is a lie. An act, a charade, a performance,” he told party delegates.
“You can call it populism – many people do. But I prefer to call it the politics of easy answers. Because at its core that’s what it is. A deliberate refusal to countenance tough decisions because the political pain is just too much to bear.”
“The time is long overdue for politicians to level with you about the trade-offs this country faces. Because if the last few years have shown us anything, it’s that if you bury your head because things are difficult, your country goes backwards.”
In a speech that used the word “Britain” 21 times, Starmer condemned the summer’s rioting, drawing loud applause when he said the UK unequivocally rejected those involved in violent thuggery and “vile” racism.
“To those who say the only way to love your country is to hate your neighbour, because they look different, I say not only do we reject you, we know that you will never win,” he said.
“Because the British values we stand for, not just the rule of law, but a love for this country and our neighbours, the respect for difference under the same flag, that is stronger than bricks and you know that.”
In a policy-light speech, Starmer announced that veterans, young care leavers and victims of domestic abuse would be given a “guaranteed roof over their head”.
All three groups will be exempt from local residency tests, which most councils currently have in place to determine who can qualify for social housing.
In a message particularly significant in Liverpool, he confirmed that the government would bring forward a Hillsborough law by the time of the next anniversary of the 1989 football stadium disaster in April.
And he confirmed that GB Energy, the new publicly owned energy company, would be based in Aberdeen, drawing months of speculation to an end.
Starmer’s 54-minute address, watched by the cabinet and his wife, Victoria – who was wearing a £1,105 reportedly borrowed red dress by designer Edeline Lee – was interrupted by a Gaza protester.
The prime minister angered some on the left of his party when he responded with a prepared line: “This guy has obviously got a pass from the 2019 conference,” a reference to Labour’s catastrophic election defeat under Jeremy Corbyn.
However, he also made an unfortunate slip-up, calling for the return of “sausages” from Gaza, rather than the Israeli hostages taken during Hamas’s attack on 7 October last year. He quickly corrected his mistake.
Starmer said that he understood public cynicism in politics and that he knew how hard it was for the public to hear politicians asking for more. “But deep down, I think you also know that our county does need a long-term plan and that we can’t turn it back,” he added.
“I understand many of the decisions we must take will be unpopular. If they were popular, they’d be easy. If you can’t take that on faith, perhaps because you’re concerned about the winter fuel allowance, then I get that. If this path were popular or easy we would have walked it already.”
He said he would not be distracted by noisy criticism of his government. “All those shouts and bellows, the bad faith advice from people who still hanker for the politics of noisy performance, the weak and cowardly politics of fantasism.
“It’s water off a duck’s back. Mere glitter on a shirt cuff. It’s never distracted me before, and it won’t distract me now.”
Starmer repeatedly promised to create “a Britain that belongs to you”, an extension of his election mantra of a government of service, and believed to be a reference to the Labour party’s 1959 manifesto.