UK PM Keir Starmer pledges national renewal at Labour conference 2024

LIVERPOOL, England — U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer insisted on Tuesday that tough decisions taken now will spark a new era for Britain, as he sought to shake a fog of pessimism that has clouded his new premiership.

“Change must mean nothing less than national renewal,” he told a crowd of Labour Party delegates Tuesday.

“The truth is that if we take tough long-term decisions now, if we stick to driving purpose behind everything we do … then that light at the end of this tunnel, that Britain that belongs to you, we get there much more quickly,” he said at the close of Labour’s annual party conference, its first in power for 15 years.

Starmer lambasted the previous Conservative government for decimating public services and destroying trust, insisting that politics could be a “force for good” as he outlined Labour’s plan for progress.

“We must build a new Britain. We must be a great reforming government,” he said.

The prime minister’s efforts to instill a sense of optimism come after the government has been accused of doom-mongering over the state of the U.K. economy and providing little detail on how it plans to improve things.

A decision to limit winter fuel payments for pensioners and controversy over ministers’ use of donations for clothing and hospitality have also hampered enthusiasm for the new government less than three months after its landslide victory in July.

“If this path were popular or easy, we would have walked it already,” Starmer said, defending the fuel cuts.

Among his government’s progress so far, Starmer cited settling the NHS doctors’ strike, new solar projects and offshore wind farms, planning reforms, stopping no-fault evictions, the creation of a National Wealth Fund, and legislation to renationalize railways.

“The work of change has begun. The patient, calm, determined era of government as service has begun,” he said.

“And we’re only just getting started,” he added, citing plans to reduce knife crime, introduce a new industrial strategy and combat benefit fraudsters, among others.

Starmer used his speech to repeat his five priorities for securing the so-called national renewal: boosting economic growth, reforming the National Health Service, enhancing Britain’s borders, improving education and shifting to clean energy.

He also declared his success in shifting the party to the political center from its previous left-wing leadership under Jeremy Corbyn, and restoring it to “the service of the working people.”

“People said we couldn’t change the party, but we did. People said we couldn’t win across Britain, but we have. People say we can’t deliver national renewal, but we can and we will,” he said.

“We will stabilize our economy, clear out the Tory rot, fix the foundations and deliver the mandate of…