Keir Starmer says ‘every day’ he is finding ‘more mess’ that the Tories left behind
Keir Starmer said the “hard graft of rebuilding this country has truly started” as he accused the previous government of leaving a “rot of shortsightedness and self-service” for Labour to clear up.
Giving a speech in Runcorn, Cheshire, the prime minister said “every day” his administration is finding “more mess” that the Tories left behind.
“The hard graft of rebuilding this country has well and truly started, and it is vital that we begin immediately because the last government dropped the ball,” he said.
He added:
They left us the worst inheritance since the second world war, and every day – every day – we’re finding more mess that they’ve left for us to clear up.
The rot of shortsightedness and self-service that has weakened the foundations of our country.”
Key events
MPs voted 323 to 81, majority 242, in favour of approving legislation designed to allow thousands of prisoners to be released earlier than planned.
Justice secretary Shabana Mahmood told MPs that the prison population remains “within a few hundred places of collapse” and the government will continue to monitor it closely in the coming weeks.
The legislation reduces the amount of time prisoners must spend in jail before they are automatically released from half of their sentence to 40%.
The move, which does not apply to those convicted of sex offences, terrorism, domestic abuse or some violent offences, is expected to result in 5,500 offenders being released in September and October, reports the PA news agency.
Kalyeena Makortoff
Fewer borrowers are likely to default on their loans and mortgages, Lloyds has said, as the banking group upped its forecasts for the UK economy.
In fresh estimates released as part of its second-quarter results, Lloyds said it expected the economy to grow 0.8% in 2024 – double the rate of growth forecasted in April, when it predicted a 0.4% rise.
Improving economic conditions are good news for Lloyds customers, who the bank says are less likely to fall behind on costly loan and mortgage payments.
Lloyds, which is the UK’s largest mortgage lender and owns the Halifax brand, set aside just £44m for bad debts and defaults in the second quarter. That is down 89% from the £419m put aside during the same period last year when there were serious concerns over whether mortgage borrowers, already squeezed by the cost of living crisis, could afford higher interest rates.
“We’ve seen both across individuals and small businesses, positive economic developments,” the chief executive, Charlie Nunn, said on Thursday. “There is a real resilience we’re seeing in the first half [of the year] and it’s linked to now three-quarters … of real wage growth. Many businesses’ cashflows are also strengthening.”
The smaller provision for defaults helped offset a 9% drop in Lloyds’ net interest income, which is an important measure of profitability, and accounts for the difference between what a bank makes on loan charges versus what is paid out to savers.
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Reacting to the government’s Greath British Energy announcement, Isabella O’Dowd, head of climate policy at WWF, said:
This is a really exciting moment for the UK. Accelerating the rollout of clean, cost-effective energy is a triple-win, giving us lower bills and higher growth while cutting our carbon emissions.
Addressing the climate crisis is vital for safeguarding nature but the UK government must also prioritse restoring nature to build a truly strong and sustainable economy.”
Keir Starmer said he will not tell people what to do with their boilers as he answered questions after a speech on the government’s clean energy strategy in Runcorn, Cheshire.
Asked if people should ditch their gas boilers and whether the government would help them to do so, he said:
I’m not going to tell people what to do with their boilers.
This is not about bearing down on individuals imposing a disproportionate burden on them. I don’t think that’s the way that we take anybody through a transition.
So this is not about a government that’s going to go around the country saying ‘you can do this. You can’t do that.
He said the best approach is to “put in place the difficult decisions to make sure that renewable energy is a reliable source of energy and meet our mission which is to have clean power by 2030”.
The best selling point for the general public is that “their bills will go down and they will go down not just for a short time, but for the long term”, he said.
Downing Street said the public expects high standards of conduct from police officers.
The prime minister’s official spokesman said:
Clearly we understand the level of concern members of the public rightly have from seeing this video clip.
The public rightly expect a high standard of conduct from our police officers, who are there to protect our communities.
Asked whether Keir Starmer shared the Reform UK deputy leader’s view that the police action was “reassuring”, the spokesman said:
No, he wouldn’t characterise it like that.
As I say, he understands the concern that members of the public rightly have in relation to that video, the public rightly expect a high standard of conduct from our police and it is right that the police have reported themselves to the IOPC.
More from the speech:
Keir Starmer said nuclear power was “very much part of the mix” as he gave a speech in Runcorn on the government’s energy strategy.
Nuclear is very much part of the mix as we go forward. And we will be pushing hard on it.
I’ve already had discussions with the energy secretary about how we can speed up when it comes to nuclear.
He said he was “pretty appalled” at what Labour is discovering about the previous government’s decisions in terms of the speed of projects and the funding put behind them.
He added:
We will clear them up and we will move this on because nuclear is very much part of the energy mix as we go forward. And the task I’ve set the energy secretary is to take such steps that are necessary to make sure this is delivered faster and more efficiently and to do that as quickly as possible.
Steven Morris
Meanwhile, it looks as if the new first minister of Wales won’t be installed for almost two weeks.
Eluned Morgan, the current health secretary in Wales, was confirmed as Welsh Labour leader on Wednesday.
Vaughan Gething, who announced his resignation as Welsh Labour leader after the donations scandal, has now said he had written to the llywydd (the presiding officer) to recall the Senedd, the Welsh parliament on 6 August.
Morgan is expected to be confirmed as Welsh first minister then. Gething remains first minister for the moment.
In his speech, Keir Starmer said he stands by the figure from Labour’s manifesto suggesting that the party’s net zero energy plans would bring down household bills by £300 a year.
H said:
Yes I do – I stand by everything in my manifesto and one of the things I made clear in the election campaign is because I wouldn’t make a single promise or commitment that I didn’t think we could deliver in government and that’s why we carefully costed and funded everything in our manifesto.
That does depend on early firm decisions being made, which is why we’ve set up GB Energy, why we’ve announced the partnership today with the crown estate and why the energy secretary has already taken action in week one in relation to onshore wind, in relation to solar energy and also pushing on with nuclear. So I stand by that commitment.
What this brings us is lower bills, energy security, the next generation of jobs and of course an important contribution to our obligations in relation to the planet.
Here are some of the top lines from Keir Starmer’s speech on Great British (GB) Energy:
GB Energy will “drive down bills”, Keir Starmer said as he launched the government’s plan for a state-owned energy firm.
This will drive down bills, it gives us energy independence” because the UK currently relies on international markets which is why the energy prices have faced a harder hit than other countries, he said.
He said the money the government is putting into GB energy is intended to be a “catalyst” for private investment.
He added:
It will take time for this to develop it will take time before were able to get the benefits of clean power but that’s why were moving at pace.
Home secretary meeting Manchester mayor over police incident at Manchester airport, PM says
Keir Starmer said he understands the “concern” over footage appearing to show a police officer kicking a prone man and home secretary Yvette Cooper is meeting the Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, to discuss the video.
Keir Starmer says ‘every day’ he is finding ‘more mess’ that the Tories left behind
Keir Starmer said the “hard graft of rebuilding this country has truly started” as he accused the previous government of leaving a “rot of shortsightedness and self-service” for Labour to clear up.
Giving a speech in Runcorn, Cheshire, the prime minister said “every day” his administration is finding “more mess” that the Tories left behind.
“The hard graft of rebuilding this country has well and truly started, and it is vital that we begin immediately because the last government dropped the ball,” he said.
He added:
They left us the worst inheritance since the second world war, and every day – every day – we’re finding more mess that they’ve left for us to clear up.
The rot of shortsightedness and self-service that has weakened the foundations of our country.”