Starmer vows to let communities “take back control” in Labor’s first term | exhaustion

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Keir Starmer promised Labor would launch a “take back control” bill aimed at devolving sweeping powers to local communities in his first term if he wins the next election.

In a speech outlining his vision of a future Labor government, the Labor leader pledged a major push to shift power away from Westminster as part of what he said would be “an end to sticking politics”.

In an attempt to capture the political center and rid Labor of its reputation as the party of big government, Starmer said the answer to the problems plaguing Britain’s public services was not to open the “big government checkbook”. Instead, he said, his party would cease power over those services being hoarded by a handful of people in Westminster.

Referring to issues such as the Brexit vote and the push for Scottish independence, Starmer said: “It’s not unreasonable for us to recognize that communities want to get back on their feet – that’s what taking back control is all about.” But he added, “We will adopt the message of taking back control, but we will turn it from a slogan into a solution of exchanging catchphrases.

“We will spread control beyond Westminster and devolve new powers to support employment, transport, energy, climate change, housing, culture, the provision of childcare and how councils manage their finances, and we will give communities a new right to demand powers beyond that.”

Starmer was speaking less than 24 hours after Rishi Sunak laid out his own vision of the United Kingdom in exactly the same place east London.

But while the prime minister’s speech covered a wide range of topics from antisocial behaviour, to inflation, to maths education, Starmer focused on political reform, which he said is the long-term response to Britain’s multiple public sector crises.

“Every crisis hits Britain harder than its competitors,” said Starmer. But he promised “a light at the end of the tunnel,” adding: “Britain will get through this.”

He said the solution to problems such as long NHS waiting lists and delays in urgent care was not just to spend more money. “We won’t be able to fight our way out of this mess – it’s not that easy.”

But he did not go as far as his predecessor Tony Blair, who vowed before the 1997 election to match the Conservatives’ spending plans. “It’s going to be a different approach,” he said, “let’s be absolutely clear, it’s a different way of working.”

He said that many of the Tory government’s responses to the economic crises facing the UK have been short-term fixes for long-term problems of its own making. He said capping winter energy prices, for example, was a necessary measure given the war in Ukraine, but was exacerbated by past policy choices.

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He said, “The war did not abolish home isolation, the war did not ban wild winds, and the war did not disrupt British nuclear power.” “The Conservative government did it.”

Instead, Labor will seek more partnerships with the private sector – including in the NHS. Wes Streeting, Labour’s shadow health secretary, said earlier that private companies could provide the answer to long waiting lists, to the chagrin of some on the left of the party.

Starmer said he would support public-private partnerships to provide services, saying he was “comfortable” about the companies’ involvement. He added, “This is what I am proposing today… an active state that works in partnership with private companies.”

He said a Labor government would bring “a decade of national rejuvenation”, saying there would be “no more prickly politics, no more Westminster power, no more curbing of the economic potential of this country”.

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